After a couple of weeks of preparation where I completely reevaluated by contemporary romance. Once I thought about what it was I wanted to do and the general direction I wanted to take, I tucked in and: redefined my characters (I had a lot to learn about them apparently), reshaped their GMC‘s, drafted out a timeline, then worked on my W Plot. 

Once I got these 4 things done, I had the foundation I needed to do my synopsis.  The synopsis took a lot of work, even though I told myself to keep it high level and to concentrate on just moving the story from beginning to middle to end.  So 4 hours and 7 pages later I had the complete synopsis in my hand.  (And yes, it took me 2 hrs longer than I’d planned to finish it).

So today, I woke up with a plan.  A plan to get through at least the prologue and first chapter of the new & improved draft.  Silly me, I went into this little challenge  thinking this would be a breeze since I already had (in theory) the prologue through chapters 7 already done (from the previous draft).  Let me tell you, small changes to an outline can have a huge impact to the actual chapters.  So about 6 hrs later (probably more, but I refuse to acknowledge that I have now been sitting on my butt in one spot for over 6 hrs), I have my new prologue and chapter 1 down in the books.

CHA-CHING!!

I had to do a fair amount of deleting (painful), re-writing & tweaking of old words (time consuming) and addition (which was flowed much better than I’d thought).  I produced 4.895 words today, a personal best for me; yet one I don’t think I will ever try to do again.

Congrats to one of my writing buddies and critique partners, Mynfel, for selling her book today.

WOOHOO!! Congrats lady

And not only did she sell her book, but she got a 3 book deal in the process.  So big shout out to Mynfel, you go girl.

I want to take a minute and congratulate one of my chapter members on the publication of her first book. Today marks the release of Along Came Quinn by Suzanne Rossi.

Congrats Suzanne!!  

 So I asked Suzanne to share a little about the book  with me & she sent me over the book trailer and a blurb:

     Alexandria Montgomery doesn’t like or trust adventurer, Quinn Rafferty, but needs him to guide her through the jungles of Guatemala in search of her thieving ex-boyfriend who has stolen a priceless treasure map.     

    Deep in the jungle, Alex learns love can strike at any time with the least likely of men, and Quinn comes to the realization an uptight antique store owner, who upon their first meeting shot him, just might be the woman of his dreams.     

    But what will happen when Quinn discovers Alex has lied, and the treasure, earmarked as a way to provide for his mother and grandmother, doesn’t exist? Can he forgive her betrayal, or will he just walk away?  

If you like what you’ve seen and read so far about Along Came Quinn, please visit Wild Rose Press and pick up a copy.  Available in both ebook format and print.  I’ve already ordered mine, I’m getting a sexy “Indiana Jones in the Jungle” type vibe from the trailer and the blurb.  Now come on, what not to like about that combo?

You may or may not know, but I have been actively working on my first contemporary romance novel.  I spent some time getting my characters and plot together, then I hit the ground running.  I ran into a few snags here and there, but I pushed through it because that’s what writers do.  Then I got to the halfway mark and felt I was pushed into a corner.  Things were not moving along fast enough for me, I wasn’t feeling a particular element of the plot and I was far more interested in working on a new project I’ve been brainstorming.  Not a good sign.

So last week while chatting with my CP, I told her of an earlier version on my story and something clicked.   I turned away from an idea in favor of what I thought was a better plot point.  Now, 12 months later, I’m going back to my original idea because apparently that new idea was NOT the way to go.

So I’ve started over by rethinking the plot and doing some indepth character development.  I must say, I am really feeling a better energy surrounding this project now so I am beginning Worth Fighting For anew.  My goal is to complete my first draft within the next 4 to 5 weeks.  I know I can do it, I have fresh energy & motivation on my side, plus I have close to 50,000 words from the first draft that can be salvaged in some way, shape or form. 

I’ve reset my word counter, untied myself from the current draft (which was much harder than I thought) and now it’s time for me to get busy.  Today is Day 1 on my new journey with this project.

The River City Romance Writers’s (my local writing chapter) annual Duel on the Delta contest is open and accepting submissions in the following categories:

1. Mystery/Romantic Suspense
2. Historical
3. Contemporary
4. Mainstream/Single Title
5. Young Adult
6. Inspirational
7. Paranormal

New this year, the submission process is 100% electronic.  So polish up your first 15 pages and enter.  For complete contest & submission details click here.