Skeleton

The jitters through not writing have now got sooo bad I'm doing crazy unpredictable things. Things like ironing (don't faint). I even washed the kitchen floor for the second time in a fortnight (unheard of). If I don't pull myself together soon and get my nose back to the computer screen who knows where this might end? Cleaning out the wardrobes? Tidying up my desk?

I'm so totally not a panster by choice. I like to have my skeleton in place so I have the general roadmap of where we're going (even if my characters do constantly nip off into the bushes once we start for, um, inspiration). But so far all I have is the beginning, a bit sort of in the middle and a rough idea of the ending.

Which, as one of the witches has been telling me, is more than enough to get started with. Er, excuse me? Are you sure? Isn't that, like, scary?

So why am I getting all excited at the thought?!

Skeleton

Limbo Land

I'm between books. It's a place I don't like to be because it gives me a severe case of the twitchies.

The day after I finished Neo my brain felt like it'd been scrubbed out with a wire brush and was scarily empty of clamouring voices. I think it's a form of shock, as in OMG I finally finished the book. How did I manage to do that? Where did all the words come from and will I ever be able to write another one again?

So the day after that I tricked myself into polishing and editing the ms, agent searching and query letter drafting. Yes, very good! I was Keeping Busy.

But it's not the same as writing! I hate not having something on the go. I feel all disconnected and it's like having a wobbly tooth hanging by a thread. I keep having to prod it with my tongue (I'm not being absolutely literal here...this is just the warped way my brain works when it isn't plotting dreadful dilemmas for my characters).

After a couple of days stumbling around in the abyss, inspiration struck for my next effort. Can I just say Thank Goodness for That?! Of course it involves a bit of research (all hail the mighty internet!) but at least it's a glimmer of something I can sink my fangs into!

Limbo Land

Next Up

So now I'm agent hunting. A brilliant place to start is here http://www.agentquery.com I use it all the time, lots of great info on that site.

Half of me can't wait to query, the other half is sick with nerves. I always think I'm going to make some huge pathetic blunder on my letter, such as forgetting to actually type a vital word (I've done that before - AND I read the flipping thing at least twenty times before printing and sending it off. Can I just say.... ARGH)

And let's not go to my weird aversion to the copy and paste function. I tried to copy some pages of my ms today and every time I hit paste what did I get? The blurb! Cue me having a hot flush and heart palpitations thinking I'd somehow buggered up my ms. I mean, the blurb? I couldn't get rid of it. It's still there, lurking in my paste function waiting to leap out at me when I least expect it. What I'd like to know is - where have my copied pages got to??

Next Up

Ta Da

Yesterday I typed THE END on my very first full length paranormal romance!

Yay! I am sooo excited.

I spent today reading it from start to finish, editing and polishing, tweaking and twiddling. My head is throbbing and my eyes are fit to pop out of my sockets but hey, it's done!

Guess what happens now?!

Ta Da