Ow - Physical and Mental Anguish Attacks.

So my stomach is sore. I did 1 mile walking Sunday night followed by 10 minutes of stomach Pilates. Then last night, I did another mile walking then the 10 minutes of Pilates on my stomach and then 10 MORE minutes of Pilates on my butt.

I hurt.

So, I know you're all DYING to know how the writing schedule is coming along. I didn't write yesterday...I had a bit of a headache. So today, let's see. Hmm.

~looks to her left~

~looks to her right~

~leans in closer to you and whispers~

None.

Shhhhhhhhh.............Don't tell anyone, okay? It's our secret. BUT, I have to say that I did start the researching of the ever dreaded synopsis. By the time I study this stuff, I'll be givng classes at Nationals. And, I think that any type of study on my craft would be considered WORKING on it, right? Right.

Of course!

Besides, CF (control freak) is way busy and won't know anyway. All's grand in the World of Brenda.

I don't have many thoughts to share with you today. And considering I didn't post yesterday, I guess my life is getting beyond dull. But, with my mind on writing, and what to pitch for Nationals, I think I want to pitch Liz and Alex AND one of the new comedies. But the idea of having proposals for both is a little daunting.

It's kind of like when the house is sooooooo gawdawful messy, yanno, like Walmart just blew chunks in it, and you stare and stare and you wonder WHERE the hell to start and it's so tiring just to LOOK at it all that you end up doing nothing. Well, that's kinda like my writing right now. There's just SO much to do, I end up doing nothing at all.

I have reading to do to know my line. I have craft books to study, and that's horribly important because that can save me bucketloads of time later on. If I read them NOW, I won't make the mistakes that will be addressed in the books. Right? Of course.

So, that has me reading craft books as well as reading my line. That's a LOT of reading!!! On top of that, I have the deadline for The Molly breathing hot and heavy on my neck, and that's just downright ewwy because "Molly" makes me think of a girl and I SO WAY do not swing that was anyway.

I've lost my mind.

Speaking of contests, the always fabulous Gina mentioned a contest I hadn't heard of, called Always the Bride (I think that's it). You can only enter if you've finaled in a contest, which I have! (No, still not ONE WORD on getting me another certificate! Grr.) According to the webpage, last year's entries (not winners, but ENTRIES), 80% were requested by editors/agents. That rocks. And it should be that way. I mean, we've already gone at least one round with the contests as it is. Surely we've learned from that, applied it and re-polished that same freakin' first chapter. I swear, I've worked more on that chapter of THOE than anything else in my entire LIFE! It's really interesting to see where that chapter started, (crap) and where it's landed (not crap) and the growth of me, as a writer, and my application of learning as I went along. Chris (CP) says I'm a fast learner. I have Lisa Gardner's synposis workshop all printed out to study. I have Gina's critique of my crappy synopsis ready to whack apart and apply her suggestions, and this Saturday, the ever wonderful Julie Kenner is giving a synopsis workshop for the chickas of ARWA. How cool is that?! I'm sooooooooo gonna tap her brain! Or rub her foot or SOMETHING. Everything Julie touches lately is gold, I swear.

Austin, overall, is just brimming with news. There are the new sales for Julie, and Emily McKay (emilymckay.com) got another award, and Samantha Saxon (samanthasaxon.com ...crap, I don't think I have that listed on the left yet! EEEKS! Doing that as soon as I'm done here!) got swooped up by DoubleDay. How cool is that?! They so rock. I'm so jealous. I love to be a part of them and share their news with them. It's really, really neat.

Back to my writing...~sigh~

Apparently I also like mental anguish, because I'm still thinking of contests.

Shari (other CP) is excited about my continuing on with THOE. She has a thing for Alex, I think, and he is nice to look at, so I can't really blame her there. I haven't actively worked on THOE in months now, so maybe it's time to revisit him and Liz, drag them out of bed, hose 'em off and make them come OUT of heat long enough for me to rearrange their lives yet again.

I do have a new opening for THOE that I wish I'd thought of before submitting it to The Daphne. But, at least I can get it in shape for Always the Bride. I may not enter The Molly, actually, if I'm going to target the first one. I don't know yet. I do know I need to get this crap going and stop making excuses.

Tonight I did open up Word and THOE and stared at it and pondered the changes I'm making to Chapter 1 so that the action is immediate and interactive. But that's all I did. It's still opened, but I'm here instead of there.

Yes, it's like the Walmart Spewing/House Issue. But instead, it's like Brenda's Brain Chunks/THOE Suffers. I dunno. I do know I'm tired.

And, totally and completely out of character, I will end my post tonight with a positive thing. I have lost 5 lbs. ~Woot!~