Archive for May, 2009
Busy Week Ahead
It’s Monday again, and I’m recovering from another busy weekend filled with shopping and errands and even a babyshower. The latter reslulted in a sun burn on my arms and chest. I really must me more dilegent about wearing sunscreen now that the warmer weather has arrived.
We bought the paint for the kitchen on Saturday. Yay!! I’m excited. Through the week, dh and I plan to work on sanding down the cupboards and and window frames so that we can paint this weekend. Maybe I’ll post before and after pictures.
Today, I was supposed to book shopping to feed my J.R. Ward addiction (thanks, Bella), but it’s been canceled. Hmm, maybe tonight instead.
This week, I’m diving back into Blood and Bone. I’d like to get three or four chapters rewritten. Keep your fingers crossed for me. 
Mood: Great!
Posted by Dawn Brown @
12:11 pm |
A Great Day to Wirte a Love Scene
It is a gorgeous day here, today. We’re supposed to hit 29 degrees (I think that’s about 88 Fahrenheit). So today I’m working outside. (Oh, how I love laptop.) This is kind of a good and bad situation. The good is that it’s just nice to be outside, there’s a really lovely breeze to keep it from getting too hot that’s fragrant with blooms from the lilacs and crab apple trees. The bad is while I’m out here I can see the state of my garden…and it’s not good.
Today, I’m working on the love scene for Blood and Bone. I find these incredibly difficult to write. They’re an important scene. Not only has the romantic tension been building towards this moment since opening pages, but this is the scene where the relationship is changes irrevocably. Not too much pressure, huh?
The real trick is finding the perfect balance of action and emotion. Too much action without emotion, the scene will lack passion and read like the instructions for hooking up a DVD player. Too much emotion and the scene becomes melodramatic, or worse, riddled with purple prose. And no one wants that. It’s a real balancing act. I usually tweak the scene at least three times (often more) before I’m pleased with it.
Anyway, I suppose I’ve stalled enough and should get back to it.
Music: Going to California – Led Zeppelin
Mood: Relaxed
Posted by Dawn Brown @
4:36 pm |
Happy Tuesday!
Actually, it was the Victoria Day long weekend here so I keep thinking today is Monday.
Okay, we found wheels for the table, put them on and it looks awesome. Glad I did not smash it into firewood as I considered for awhile there.
Not a whole lot is new here. An old friend came to stay this weekend and we had a great time laughing and catching up. That was fun. Sunday and Monday, HellHound was a little upset by the fireworks so he sat beside my bed panting in my face into the wee hours of the morning both nights. Frustrating, but I tried to be patient.
Writing is going well. I’m right on target with the WIP. Blood and Bone is not moving as fast as I’d hoped, but it is moving and I’m pleased about that. On the advice of some crit partners, I’ve had to rework a lot of scenes in the middle. The good news the pacing and tension is great. The bad news, it’s a lot of work, but it will be worth it I think.
That’s it for now.
Music: Everybody Knows – Leonard Cohen
Mood: Focused.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
4:12 pm |
When it Rains…
I don’t know what it is, but lately I could do with another weekend to recover from the weekend. If that make any sense at all.
So Saturday we had to pickup our new kitchen table. Yay, I like new things. Also, that we are finally starting to update the kitchen pleases me immensely. The unfortunate twist in this tale is that our van is in getting repaired and while we have have a rental car, we obviously no longer have the space required to get the table home. So with a few quick phone calls, Dad comes to the rescue by offering to loan us his truck. He even watch DS for us since there isn’t room for him to ride safely. Problem solved. The rest should be easy, right?
Um…not even close.
Saturday, almost from the moment we woke up, we were hit with one thunderstorm after another. Lightening, thunder, torrential downpours, hail. Just lovely, all around. I’d be lying if I said hubby and I didn’t have our concerns as we drove to Dad’s. But once we got there, the sun peaked out from between the black clouds and we thought just maybe it was going to clear up for us. It didn’t. We strapped that table in the back of the truck while thunder boomed overhead, lighten flashed around us and we were pelted with hail. Good times.
Now, while we were in the store it came to our attention that the table seemed, well, short. I’ve seen this before with older pieces of furniture, but this seemed even a little shorter than what one might expect. Still, I love the table, and store owner said that with some levelers it will be fine. Given how my story has gone so far, what do you think happened? Right we get it home and the table is too short. Sigh.
Now, I’ve mentioned how much I love said table, it’s exactly the look I wanted, it fits perfectly in the space we have for it…it’s just about two inches too short. This hugely frustrating to me. We don’t want to have to take it back, (especially after all the hassle of getting it home) so hubby and I decide that if we added small casters to the bottom we’d gain the height we need and it would be in keeping with the era. We find a place that sells what we’re looking for, but they are on the complete opposite of side the city. Oh well, at least it’s not storming.
After hubby checks on their website to make sure they’re open on Sundays, we drive the hour and a half to get there. Imagine our dispointment when we arrive and there’s not a car in the parking lot. No, this place is in fact closed on Sundays, says the sign in the window. Either the information on the website was wrong, or hubby read it wrong. So we turned around and came home empty handed to our short table. Sigh.
Now, I’ve mentioned before that I believe when things are meant to be they just sort of fall into place, and when they’re not things become difficult. I should probably take all that has happened as a sign to take the damn table back…yet, I can’t. Now, it’s become a challenge. I’m even more determined to make this work. I will not be beaten by a mere two inches. You’ll see. YOU’LL ALL SEE!!! Mwu-ah-ah-ahhhh!!
Okay, maniacal laughter aside. I just hope the rest of my kitchen renovations go easier than this.
Mood: Tired. (And maybe a little obsessed.)
Posted by Dawn Brown @
5:28 pm |
Happy Mother’s Day!
You Are Totally Like Your Mom
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You and your mom are practically clones.
You think alike, and you even seem to read each other’s minds.
And while you get along well now, you probably fought when you were a teenager.
You’re definitely you’re mother’s child… and that’s just fine with you.
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Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:43 pm |
Friday Already?
Wow, this week went by fast. I can’t believe the weekend is here already.
Good things this week: WIP is right on track, and I’m loving the chemistry between the h/H. Yay! It’s a gorgeous day out. I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow. I’m also finally going to start renovating the kitchen. I pick up my new kitchen table tomorrow. WooHoo!!
Things that are okay: Got some work done on Blood and Bone this week, but not as much as I would have liked. I’ll be working this weekend.
Things are bad: Too much drama. Spam. Blackflies. Gardening–Blech!
Have a great weekend!
Mood: Okay
Music: Spaceman – The Killers
Posted by Dawn Brown @
2:58 pm |
First Draft Vs. Second
So this month I’m really working to get Blood and Bone finished and ready to submit. I should be able to do it too, provided I stay focused and meet my daily goals.
For me, the second draft is much more work than the first. The first draft is a freer process. I might try to be sure I’m starting with an understanding of who my characters are and a vague idea of where the plot will go, but beyond that, I just sit down everyday (in theory) and write. I like to watch the story unfold and my characters grow as I go along.
The second draft is where I have to pull it all together. It’s not just a matter of polishing the prose, either. The second draft is where I have to add or delete subplots. In the case of Blood and Bone, I dropped a secondary romance that served no purpose and beefed up a villain to fuel the hero’s conflict.
The second draft is also where I double check details to make sure my educated guesses in the first draft are correct, and if they’re wrong, I need to come up with a write-around. In Blood and Bone a perfect example is some early research I did stated that a victim or victim’s family wouldn’t be informed when the perpetrator was paroled. Now, when I double checked this with the my wonderful cop friend who so patiently answers all my questions, he informed me that it was absolutely false. Now, I had a great blindside scene and confrontation for my hero and heroine based on that information, so I had to rework the whole thing while still maintaining the emotional impact. In the end though, I think the rewritten scene is far stronger than what I had originally.
So yes, the second draft is more difficult than the first, but the end result makes it all worth while.
Mood: Focused.
Music: This is Your Life – The Killers
Posted by Dawn Brown @
2:47 pm |
Unwinding After the Weekend
First, thanks to everybody who participated in the contests both here and on my editor’s blog. I really appreciated everyone taking the time to comment and all your kind words. And congrats to both winners. Also, my editor’s contest, where she interviews an author and gives away a book, continues until May 10th. So check in daily, you could win.
Well, it’s Monday and I’m wiped. I had very busy weekend. Friday and Saturday morning, I wrote like crazy and got a lot of stuff done. I still feel a little like I’m playing catch-up from the bookkeeping, but at least now I see a dent in all the things I wanted to get done, and I’m feeling more organized. So to celebrate, I went book shopping Saturday afternoon. I picked up to new paperbacks (a J.R. Ward and a Carla Neggers) and a Killers CD.
Then Saturday night, we had my mom over dinner. Sunday we hosted a barbeque and I babysat my two-year-old neice. I had forgotten how much work goes into watching a toddler. So by nine o’clock last night I was ready for bed. Even today, I’m still dragging my butt a bit.
Still, it was a great weekend. Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!!
Mood: Good
Music: Losing Touch – The Killers
Posted by Dawn Brown @
3:32 pm |
