I Reached Another Goal – Rough Draft – The Munroe Mansion – Synopsis is Done!

Just as Susan Boyle sings I dreamed a dream, I can say I’ve written my dream.

To finish my first novel.

I’ve accomplished this goal within 4 months.

Book One of The Munroe Series, was especially written because my original story was critiqued by two people who said I wasn’t giving my readers time to connect with the characters in my first paragraph.

Here I am over 140,000 words later and I’ll have two books stemming from their ten sentences of ideas.

Yes, I did it!

I finished my rough draft for my Synopsis.

I have a 64, 498 word count manuscript with 448 pages and 49 chapters.

Now how do I condense 49 pages of synopsis into 25 or even 1 or 2?

Another challenge for me!

Although I must say, as of tomorrow, this project is going on hold for a month.

For in November I want to participate in the NANAMO challenge.

Writing a novel, 50,000 word count in 30 days.

Only this time I’m supposed to revise it?

Good lord, this will be fun.

It is Chic Lit that I’m penning this time, and the title is The Calamity Girl.

I have already started a website about the book, but I’ve only written about three chapters online so far.

I have only five characters, and some are from The Munroe Series.

I’m not sure, if I’m going to create a whole new world of characters but this time, my story will be set in New York City.

The fun part is this.

It’s in the here and now, but the catch is I’ve never ever been to New York City.

I’ve always held a sort of fascination for it, for many years now.

I loved Sex in the City and used to watch the show religiously every week.

Sometimes I had to miss it, due to work schedules at the time. ( I worked steady afternoons and didn’t have cable.)

I would go visit a friend who had cable, or I would get the DVDs from the library.

I could honestly say that the character “Carrie” that Sarah Jessica Parker played , really encouraged me to take up writing.

I just loved her character and what she wrote about.

It struck a cord in my heart and I could relate.

Then I realized that being a Gemini and having the stars in my favor, I’m supposed to be a naturally gifted writer and communicator.

Tell that to my brain.

Yes it knows and loves to communicate.

But it’s been having trouble for the past three years to pen it’s thoughts clearly on paper.

It’s been a struggle because of a car accident that happened to me in September of 2006.

After hitting my head on a steering wheel, I’ve suffered from jumbled thoughts, repetitive actions and gurgling speech problems.

I am getting better as time goes by.

I wrote my novels in simple English, so even a grade 5 level student can understand each and every word that is written.

I know loads of people that I’ve talked to that all had to STOP reading because of a car accident, or because they are slow and cannot understand a normal romance novel.

I even have trouble understanding some of it, at times.

So with this in mind I kept it simple.

I hope a publisher will agree with me that there is a market place for such books.

How about we make an EASY READER SECTION for Adults?

What do you think of my idea?

Writers – Manuscripts – Publishers – Book Proposals – Create a Playlist on Youtube

I find as I do my research, I like to go back from time to time and watch a video that was very inspiring or helpful with what I am doing at the time.

Today I created a Book Proposal Playlist on Youtube.

I’m still not sure how to share it with you and I’m trying to figure that out.

I did find a video teaching you some new tricks on creating your own playlist on youtube.

I wasn’t aware of the Quick List feature, till today.

What a time saver!

I’m going to try out this feature later on, once I’ve completed my to do list for today, then I’ll be back to working on the research and watching some more interesting youtube videos.

Research Day – The Canadian Writers Guide – Book Proposals

Today I am reading about Query Letters and Book Proposals. It’s interesting to learn that there is a big difference in the type of Book Proposal you would present for Fiction or Non Fiction.

With Fiction you do less research and you expand more on the book that you are writing. The manuscript has to be completed and basically your providing what the book is about and it’s main theme. You can also mention the type of audience it will appeal too as well.

In Non Fiction you only do the first three chapters, then provide a TOC – Table of Contents. You also have to research who your competition is, why your book is different from theirs and you have to provide some statistics on the type of marketplace there is for your book. It’s like a sales gig, you have to promote the idea of your book and prove that you are a capable author.

I’m mainly reading the sections about Fiction, Writing Mystery and Romance and Book Proposals today in The Canadian Writers Guide. I also grabbed a new notebook to jot down some ideas along the way.

As I was reading, I had a few ideas on how to revise my novel again. It seems that the first paragraph is the most important part of your manuscript.

Judging by the articles and books that I’ve read so far, if your first paragraph doesn’t grab an agents attention, your manuscript ends up in the waste basket.

Hard to believe that we can work on something for a year, investing hundreds of hours into it and someone can just dump it. But this is a fact of life.

Your manuscript has to prove to be convincing, articulate and exciting within the first ten pages.

Mine is pretty exciting after the first ten pages. So now I have to switch Chapter One around.

I found out how it should be, now I’ll have to rework it to perfection.

I had some awesome ideas while I was reading what other authors suggested for the opening of a fiction novel.

The great thing about The Canadian Writers Guide, is that you have a slew of authors sharing their professional insights and experiences in writing and being published.

Every one that writes a piece in this book has some pretty extensive writing experience, so they really know what they are talking about.

I’ve read this book several times, just to let it sink in over the past 12 months.

I always do a different chapter and I never start a book at the beginning when I read it.

I like going backwards, it’s fun.

This time I skipped the chapters that I’m not currently working on (like magazines, newspapers, journalism techniques, and non fiction) because I am pressed for time.

I did a few more chapters of my synopsis yesterday but I had to stop due to this cold or flu that I’m fighting.

Today I feel worse and I’m wondering how I can cure myself in time for Halloween. I really want to go out and have a good time this weekend.

I’m drinking lots of green tea with honey, eating chicken soup and doing hours of meditations on healing and nurturing my spiritual side.

Do you find that when your ill you concentrate more on your spiritual side of life?

I think we find more time to pray about things or study things that interest us in a spiritual way.

I like reading material about different kinds of religions and cultures.

I also take the time to do some extra research by reading books about writing, publishing and anything that will develop my craft of being a writer.

It’s important to take notes during this time, because you might be suffering from a foggy brain as you sit and sneeze every five minutes.

Do yourself a favor, spend an extra dollar or two on those nice soft Kleenex boxes, to save your nose and stop you from looking like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I grabbed a different box at home here, not realizing how DIFFERENT it feels to have soft Kleenex as opposed to using SANDPAPER on my nose. So much more comfortable!

I also recommend spraying straight white vinegar on your hands and rub it on your face and nose, this helps kill germs and it seems to make your hands nice and soft too. This is better than moisturizer!

The next video is a better learning experience from JuliaMcCutchen on youtube

expertvillage on youtube shares their ideas

I have created a Book Proposal Playlist on Idea Girl Consulting You Tube.

The Mozart Brain Waves – Helps Your Writing

There is nothing worse than having a cold and trying to write.

I suggest you listen to some Mozart.

It will refresh your brain, stimulate your intellectual brain cells and help you think clearer.

There is something about the music that affects the parts of your brain you don’t normally use.

Listen to it for a few hours and you will either be exhausted or energetic.

Depending on your systematical constitution.

That’s a word my dad made up.

It means how your brain is affected by the sounds of music.

How is your brain today?

Have you taken some time to refresh and pamper it?

Or are you too busy worrying about all those bills you have to pay, the gifts you need to buy, the party you need to plan?

As a writer, you dedicate hours of your time to mastering your craft.

You must take time to relax and refresh.

It will give you renewed energy and allow you to write and compose some wonderful pieces of work.

If your under the weather (like I am this week) then it helps you to feel better and happy inside.

We get those rainy day blues, and we need a quick pick me up.

Try some Mozart Brain Waves – It will help you with your writing!

I’m Too Tired – I posted My Blog on the wrong site. :)

Tiredness strikes again. Here I thought I was posting my blog on the correct site and I end up putting it on the wrong one, again! I put up four movie reviews and some information about my first novel that I’m writing.

Yes I’m droning on about The Munroe Mansion – Final Editing and Revising.

I share how to fix errors in your manuscript (you can use my ideas but I won’t guarantee that they are the CORRECT way to do things.)

I’m just going simply by common sense.

I realize that I have bought a total of 20 paperbacks at the Flea Market, that I’m supposed to be doing “Research” on.
I’ve got 3 Library books to do “Notes” on.

I was already to tackle them, then I went to the Flea Market last week and spoke to a woman about my manuscript.

She knows some people that might be able to help me pave the way to success.

So I was told to get my manuscript in shape, completed and ready to roll asap!

I also have to finish Chapters 12 – 49 in the Synopsis for The Munroe Mansion – The Beginning.

It took me 8 hours to do 3 chapters.

Do the math, this is taking me forever and driving me batty.

So this is what I’m going to do instead.

I promise myself I’d get up around 7:30 a.m in the morning and work till 3:30 or 4:00 pm each day until this novel is completely finished, that means manuscript, synopsis, cover letter and Query Letters.

Everything has to be finished before I can start Book Two.

My deadline is the end of October because NANAMO starts on NOVEMBER 1st, and my goal is to write a whole new novel in 30 days!

It’s going to be chic lit, and I have NO idea what it’s going to be about.

But it’s going to be so much fun just to sit and write and create.

I don’t use the typewriter for this, I like writing it out in paper and pen. (I’m old school)

But then I find typing isn’t too bad at times.

What I did last time was write for five days then type for two days.

Yes with this project you work on every single day of the month.

The goal is to write a 50,000 word count novel, revise it and have it ready as a manuscript?

Last year I wrote the novel, but failed to revise any of it.

I’ve actually written Book One from scratch back in June of 2009 and it’s pretty much done as of October 2009, except for the final readings and synopsis, which I am working my butt off to complete this week!

It doesn’t help that my darling sweetheart is home sick this week and driving me nuts with constant interruptions.

I kicked him out of the house yesterday, told him to go do whatever he wanted.

He returns two hours later and doesn’t know what to do with himself. LOL

I told him he needed fresh air, to feel better.

He was sick for about 5 days, then got better, now he’s under the weather again.

And now so am I.

We walked from 2 am to 330 am to get home in the dark along some stupid TRAIL that I thought would be a 10 minute shortcut.

This was after watching Michael Jackson’s This is it from midnight till 2:30 am.

All the way home I was reprimanded that if we had gone HIS way, we’d be home in 30 minutes. It was really dark out there with lots of trees, shrubs and mangled vegetation. It was scary too!

Needless to say I ended up on some god forsaken railway bridge with BIG gaps in it and I was scared sh*tless that I was going to fall!

Thank god for my small little LED light that I had on me or I would have been royally screwed.

To top it off it began to rain and all I had on was a thin sweatshirt.

So both of us are feeling like crap.

Me, I’ve been up since 7:30 this morning working on the manuscript and coughing like a trooper. I’ve eaten half the bag of halls and i’m on a sugar high?

But anyways usually I’d crawl into bed when I feel this crappy but I’m determined to get something done.

I was already out of commission last weekend for 3 days in a row.

Currently I’m listening to 528 hz, which is supposed to vibrate your brain and body and bring healing and DNA repair.

It works, plus have a few cups of GREEN TEA with some honey and you will feel better too.

OMG I’ve written 718 words of whining. Sorry about that.

Hope you found it entertaining.