Writer-In-Progress

WOOOO HOOOOO…it’s done.

 

No, I mean *really* done.

 

Finished the article and had an editor friend proofread. Giving it a day’s rest before fine-tooth combing for spelling & grammar…then sending it to the editor.

 

Interesting process in working with my friend, M, in editing. As a true-blue editing mind, she really made me think long and hard about stuff in my article–mostly structure. I write with A LOT of emdashes. You know—like this—to offset my thoughts. While I know perfectly well how to use commas, I prefer emdashes. I even told her (a dirty little secret) that I honestly THINK in dashes. When I see words in my mind, I see dashes, too. Always have.

 

WEll, she broke me of that habit right quick. The final article has only two dashes, and those were direct quotes from an author. Reads so much smoother…amazing.

 

What’s really amazing is that I managed to get this article done, finish a research paper for my graduate class, pack to move into a new house and pack for two weeks at summer camp with teenagers in 3.5 days. Tomorrow I”m planning to spend the day trying to relax since I leave for camp Friday morning.

 

yeah, right.

 

I’ll share the details on the article once I hear from the editor.

 

Til then, happy writing…

 

Beth

Ok, the truth.

I didn’t have the whole rough draft done when I posted last time. I had 99.50% done. I’m just horrible when it comes to conclusions–fiction, nonfiction, letters, articles, stories…you name it, I can’t finish it on the first go-round.

But now I really did. And I’m excited.

 

Even more excited because I sent emails to a bunch of my published-author friends with a questionnaire on dialogue and I got back some AMAZING responses that will make my article sparkle.

 

Just gotta get to the second (and probably third) drafts….I have til Thursday….but the hard part is done.

 

Honest.

I thought summer was for sipping lemonade under an umbrella by a beach….yeah, right.

 

Instead I find myself loading up on the caffeine to beat deadlines and stay sane in this rush I’m calling “life”.

 

First the good news…

The rough draft of the article on male-female speech patterns is done! WOO HOO!! Not that it was tough, just had to finish researching and find a time to sit down and put it all together. Not bad, either. It’s due to the editor by August 5th, but I’ll be out of town (working at a summer camp for diabetic teenagers) then and wanted to zip it off to the editor by July 21st (the day I leave).

 

What, you don’t turn in articles early? I can’t believe I, the princess of procrastination, do now but I’ve learned it really helps out the editor. If they can count on me to be on time for one article, they can count on me again when they’re pressed for time and need something put together on a whim (at least I’m hoping for that…).

 

Anyway, the article is still really rough draft (long hand by fountain pen–the only way I can compose rough drafts). I have lots of excellent feedback from a questionnaire I sent out to several of my romance-novelist friends to incorporate, and that’s the game plan for tonight…second draft.

 

I even had a dream last night about the final article layout. I can see it now…..

 

And other good news….

I’ve wanted to redesign my website for some time. I like what I have content-wise (did it all myself) but wanted a new design…something clean, fresh, pretty and professional….so I approached a designer who several friends have recommended and she sent me her first ideas on the design this morning.

 

They’re awesome! Really. She took ideas I didn’t even know I had and made them come alive through pixels. It’s a totally rough-draft phase–but she wanted my opinion on the stuff before she went further. I’m sooooo excited. I’m hoping to have the new site up and running by the time the article comes out. Neat-O!

 

The OK news:

We’ve managed to sell the house (no small feat, and we did it in less than a month with the help of our wonderful real-estate agent-friend) but are still up in the air about the house we’re moving to. We made a bid on a house we like (well, the DH and DT (teenager) love it more than me but I think it’ll grow on me) and are waiting for the acceptance or counter offer–which we should have today.

 

I’m mostly worried about a good kitchen (I’m a cook & bake-a-holic) and a peaceful place for writing. I’ve established the spare room here as my writing refuge (no one enters when I’m in there unless there are severed limbs) and am having anxiety attacks about moving to a new spot and disrupting the writing karma. Ah well…such is the life.

 

At any rate–hope you’re still writing. I found a great exercise on creating characters in a recent issue of Writer’s Digest, so maybe I’ll share that next post.

 

Til then….

 

Beth