Jumping Back In - ROW80 Round 2

Now that the school semester has ended, all finals have been taken, I am gearing up for three months of freedom.  Free nights and weekends, that is.  Free to read until my eyeballs fall out and free to write!  Which brings me back to A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80).  Even though there are only four weeks left to Round 2, I am going to jump back in and make the most of them.

Overall goal for the next four weeks:

I will be focusing on creating an outline for my paranormal novel.  I have always been somewhat of a pantser, but considering I've rewritten this story around five times and still haven't written the ending, an outline may be the missing component.  First step is to do another read through, re-enter the world of my novel, get the characters talking in my head again.  Next, I'm going borrow Rachel Vincent's method of plotting to help me get started; you can read about it here.  I'm going to write down all the main plot points and romance plot points on sticky notes, green and pink respectively.  After that, I'm going to sticky note all events and turning points I have so far and put all notes up on my white board so I can get a visual on the flow of the story.  I'm positive there'll be plenty of tweaking and shifting of notes.  I'm not sure if I will work on filling in the holes or go back and rearrange/fix my story at this point.

Goal for this week:

Do a complete read through of my MS and write down all main plot points and romance plot points.

Connecticut Fiction Fest 2011

I was blessed once again to be surrounded by writers at CTRWA's Connecticut Fiction Fest two weeks ago.  The food was tasty and the company terrific.  One of the coolest things I got to experience was the editors and agents critiquing first pages of manuscripts that were submitted anonymously.  It was so educational and eye-opening.  They were honest about the things they didn't like but in a way that wasn't discouraging.  They were generous with positive comments and inspiring words.  The workshops were also very informative.  It was a great conference.   

Another fun activity was the raffle.  There was a bunch of fun stuff from a nail salon certificate to an iPad.  I won nothing. :o)  My friend Melanie won a neat looking cloak that I swear was made for her! 

Match made in heaven.

You can read all about her and her writing here. 

I must give a brief shout out to the Holiday Inn in North Haven, CT.  I only stayed there one night but that was enough to appreciate their comfy bed and pillows.  When my alarm screamed at 6:30 AM, I wanted to throw it out the window and just stay in that bed, it was that comfy.   

When Writers Get Together...

...it is a beautiful thing!

I attended the New England Chapter of the RWA's Let Your Imagination Take Flight conference last weekend at the Hawthorne hotel in Salem, MA.  I have to say, this was my third time attending the NEC conference and the committee always rocks it out!  NEC was my very first conference in 2008 and they set the bar high.  Aside from the incredibly eye-opening special workshop with Donald Maass (who is just the coolest cat!), all of the workshops I attended were well planned out and informative.  All of the keynotes speeches left me choked up, inspired and refueled.  Every single writer I had the pleasure to speak with was friendly, funny, warm and lovely.  The writing community is one of the most supportive groups of people in the world.

Oh, and I won the cutest table prize (having had the closest birthday to our sparkling luncheon keynote speaker Annette Blair.)

Each table had a different flowerpot, every one of them adorable!

I'll be attending the Connecticut Chapter of the RWA's Connecticut Fiction Fest next weekend.  I didn't think I was going to be able to go, but I am and I'm so excited about it!

Romance writers are Rock Stars!