I've Got Links and the Self Lovin' Bloghop

As you know, I'm chin-deep in revision/re-imagining/rewriting/re-everything with FRIENDLY FIRE, so here's some inspirational links to keep us going.

There's a lovely checklist on this one and suggestions for polishing it off. Check out the links at the end, too.
How Do You Know When Your Manuscript Is Ready?

I love this one! There's so many words to weed on this list, it should keep us busy for a while.
Plague Words and Phrases

I particularly like Ame Dyckman's "Door Test" and Lisha Cauthen's list of when to let it go.
How Do Authors Know When Their Manuscripts Are Ready?

And for you OUTLANDER fans:

Outlander Starz Instagram 

STARZ Outlander 

DianaGabaldon
 
And if you aren't a fan...What are you waiting for?  

And now the Self Lovin' Blog Hop from Tara Watson. She wants us to do something radical. She wants us to tell something positive about ourselves. I didn't have to go far to find something. Look at the rest of this blogpost. I'm want to encourage others with helpful links. That's right, I'm a natural-born encourager. If you know me from the Goals posts at Book and Writers Forum or from the WFWA Write-A-Thin, you've gotten a taste of my love of making others feel good about themselves. That's the goal of Tara's Bloghop! So, go on board and make some positive noise!!!

I'm Back....

...Well at least to a degree. Last Friday marked two weeks since my surgery and my foot is now completely unpacked and I can wear my shoe again. Even better, I can take a bath in the shower, not the sink. ; ) That said, I still have to take it slow to manage the swelling.

While I was laid up, I have been rereading FRIENDLY FIRE as it stands now. Unfortunately I've fallen into two holes caused by an earlier version of the story. I'm happy to report that I've been brainstorming "earth-moving" ideas to fill these holes. And, even better, I've finally crossed over into areas of the manuscript that I've read and worked on earlier this year. That means the road has smoothed out to just bumpy.

FRIENDLY FIRE started out as MOTHER'S DAY and centered tightly on Laura Grace's journey from childlessness to motherhood, but the story was much bigger than that narrow focus. As it branched out and widened in emphasis, it became a story about how widespread abuse is. As this theme was revealed, the front of the story no longer fits. That's what I've got to address. Some really good scenes will have to be ditched, but that's the story of most books as they make their journey from idea to finished (or at least final) draft.

How do you handle old scenes that no longer fit?
Do you struggle with cutting them or do you try to "renovate" them to fit?

And there's something really great to look forward to!
Rachael Harrie and Cally Jackson are planning the Fifth Writers Platform Champaign for September!!!

Check out these posts and get ready to rumble. ; )

Rach Writes    and   Cally Jackson Writes

Musical Chairs

First, it was moving the living room and study furniture into the spare bedroom, dining room, solarium, and back bathroom so the new carpet could be laid. Once that was done, we moved some furniture back in its rightful places and rehung the doors. Then we moved the dining room chairs from the back bathroom and into the spare bedroom where the doors had been stacked. That makes getting to the toilet a bit easier. ; ) Now, we've moved the dining room furniture into the study so that floor can be tiled.

Someday, we'll be done with this wave of renovation, but don't hold your breath. It's going to take awhile yet.

Until then, the analogies of house renovation to writing will just be too easy to ignore.

Think about our musical chairs game with the furniture. It's a lot like rewriting.We shift scenes around to make the story flow and juggle sentences to make a paragraph smooth out. And even continue on down to word and comma level. Getting finished takes a lot of shifting, fitting, cutting, and moving. Then we still worry that we are not done. At least until that glorious day when we decide there's nothing else we can do and we send our 'babies' into the world for others to read.

Come to think about it, it's kind of like hosting an open house to show off a new renovation, isn't it?