The First Five Pages: Subtlety

Okay, I can be subtle without using my words like a jackhammer. Really, I can. The biggest theme in this book at the moment seems to be: be confident as a writer and give the read some credit. Treat them with respect.

I think I do that.

At the same time, I have taken a seven page ‘excessive’ scene and made it, um, one and a half. Except now I have all this backstory and other details that I had stuffed into the scene that I have to shuffle around and disperse.

Grrr…

Does it ever end?

Plateau

I’ve got it!

I’ve plateaued! Sort of.

After writing the last blog entry and replying to a comment another writer made on a post on AgentConnect.com, I came to the realization that I am comfortably sitting on a writing plateau.

Different from writer’s block and actually a good place to be. Why? Because it means that I have been learning, growing and developing! Yes!

I was wondering why this week I can’t seem to spell or write a coherent sentence. Now I’ve got it!

It was like back in my days of teaching skiing. You grow, grow, grow, learn, learn, learn and then poof. For a bit, you can’t seem to move past where you are in your skills. It’s a plateau. You need time to let all your new skills settle and gel before you can move up some more on your skill level.

So, with that in mind…I am not writing anything new other than blogs at the moment. Instead, I am working on my writing muscle by trying out my new skills on an old manuscript and taking a slight breather. I’m not going too far though, I don’t want this plateau to develop into a block or an excuse to not keep developing.

So, there we have it. My week in a nutshell.

P.S. Gee whiz. It’s only 10 A.M. and I have three blog entries for today already. Maybe I should go do something else….

The First Five Pages: Hooks

I have to admit, I was savouring this chapter, sure that it would be the divine few pages that I would cherish. This would be that mystical writing key that would unlock agent’s doors.

Not.

Lukeman was surprisingly vague about how to create a good hook, what exactly can be considered as a hook and all those minor little nuances that a newbie wants. I want you to take that flowing water between your fingers and mold it into a nice solid box for me, thank you very much.

Anyway, his philosophy on hooks was interesting. For instance, a hook can be more than a traditional ‘hook’ at the beginning of the book. He expresses that it can be at the beginning of a page, chapter, etc. It can even be at the end. I like the ways he says that a writer has to use stamina to build up the hooks. Never let up as writing is cumulative.

Cool, huh?

I am trying. I really am.

On an aside, I find that I am reading slower now. I am absorbing stuff. (Yep, that elusive ‘stuff’. Very technical.) I am even finding flaws in timelines and things that could be done better in other people’s books. Now of course, I am re-reading books that I have already read several times over. To be able to do that with my own work, well good luck!

I am also finding that this week I can’t spell worth sh*t. Weird, huh?

I am thinking of entering a writing contest. (Even though I hate the idea of having to pay money to do so.) I looked at one of my pieces that I thought could do okay and as I was reading it, I came across a comparison that made me stop. (I haven’t touched this manuscript in about a month or two.)

Know what thought raced through my mind as I read that line? What writer has been in here messing with my work? I was a little peeved. Someone ELSE was improving MY work! My initial thought was that it couldn’t have been ME who wrote that. It was too perfect. It was just right. I loved it. It was EXACTLY what I thought! How did I do that? Mystical. Totally. Wow. But of course, nobody got on my laptop and messed with my first page. It was me. With some dead writer at the wheel, merely using my fingers to type.

You are welcome back anytime dead writer.

(I’m kidding about the dead writer at the wheel…I think.)

Feeling the Love

January 31st, 2008–Feeling the Love
Today’s temperature -26C. And some wind chill.

I’m not sure why I titled this blog entry as feeling the love, because I’m not.

Maybe it is because my site and email is down. (Again.) Maybe it is because the cable guy didn’t come to check my Internet like he promised. Maybe because I know my car won’t start when I go try later on this frigid morning–and then I will have to call the tow truck. And get a boost. And then go somewhere to charge the battery and my daughter still doesn’t feel 100%–in fact I’m not sure if I should take her to French or Playschool today. And maybe because my daughter woke up so hungry this morning, she was crying. Yet she can barely eat anything without getting a stomach ache.

But, at least we have had at least 30 straight puke free hours. That is good. Okay, no, actually, if we count the cats, we are only at about 12 puke free hours.

Isn’t that nice.

And Buddy-Stink-Bottom is pulling fur out everywhere again.

Oh, and then there is the offer to go do a presentation in Canmore, but they don’t pay you for anything other than a little honorarium. But it is near AWESOME skiing. But it’s not like I would get a free weekend out of it. And it is a lot of driving. And it is just before we zip off for Vegas. And there is the slight childcare problem. But it would be fun. <Sigh.>