UNEXPECTED Progress

Those who visited the Alleyway yesterday know I took the last few days off to participate in a few dance shows and to recover from the exhausting weekend. Missed it? Interested? Scroll below. :) However, being gone for three days has left me with a mountain of emails and to-do's, so I might be a bit scarce this week. TY for understanding.

I wasn't available to give the A-Z Challenge the proper adeu! *Waves, eyes glaze over and a tear trickles down my check* I enjoyed the challenge far more than I thought I would. Giving me a letter to focus my ideas on helped to collect my thoughts more readily and write more concisely. *HOTHEADS!!* 

Before I move on to my Tuesday Progress Report, I must give a huge shout-out to Author Elizabeth Mueller for giving me this:

Too cool!! I'm sure lots of you received it, too. *Round of Applause!*

Just as helpful as the alphabet challenge was for me, so now is the ROW80. Setting goals is important; something I'm constantly pointing out to my kids. And joint-pledging with three other writers has made it that more pleasant and meaningful. Not to mention, I've gained an amazing new CP out of it. :)

Goal #1 ~ I am making serious strides in my rewrite of MARKED BEAUTY. I've even reposted my brand new opening on a separate page.

I'm in the middle of Act II, threading in a new plot twist and discovering even more about my two main leads but also, myself--THE WRITER. I've come leaps and bounds in communicating my thoughts more concisely and recognizing my errors in my first completed manuscript of MB--probably the reasons the three agents in January who pursued the manuscript eventually passed. Editing and structure of ideas. Collectively, each mentioned that I could write and the story was quite unique. I think it was the amount of restructuring and the time it would take which gave them pause.

I've been very sensitive to that, careful what, where, and when I feed the reader back story or internal thought information. I've spread it out, giving crumbs through dialog and ponderings from secondary characters, and even at a few points a piece of a character's internal revelation in hopes to reveal it all at the climax.

I mentioned yesterday that I've had great progress. But I've also had some unexpected interest in my rewrite from one on the original agents who passed. Once I complete my rewrite, said agent would like to take a look at it. *Another round of applause!* But those claps aren't for me. They are for you and all who've stuck by my side in spite of the last few months when I was less than a blossoming flower of enthusiasm. Thank you. I am determined not to disappoint. :)

Goal 2 & 3 ~ Basically, I'm putting plotting and outlining my other three stories on the back burner because of the interest in my rewrite. As far as my picture books, I haven't worked on them but I've been lead to an amazing PB critique group who I can't wait to start working with.

Please take a peek at the three lovelies who are in this ROW80 with me.

Susan's PROGRESS
Margo's PROGRESS
C.Lee's PROGRESS

Do you have WIP PROGRESS to share? 

The Renaissance of Writing: Part 2

I had an amazing weekend. As most of you know, I'm a former dancer who still takes adult lessons and dances with the most amazing group of ladies ~ my dancing angels, the Monday Night Hotties.

My daughter Kate & ME

We are woman ranging in ages from 23 to 61, from all walks of life and occupations. There's nurses and massage therapists--yes, for those inevitable boo-boos we incur as we age and it becomes a bit more difficult to 'hit our marks'. *winks and grins*

 Medical/legal transcriptionists, who are there with advice (see previous sentence.) Then, we have educators and even a US Senator's assistant to keep us in line. Waitresses, office clerks, secretaries, writers (well, just me), and more add to the mix...as well as daughters, mothers, wives, grandmothers, and friends.   

Being backstage brought many different post ideas to mind, ways in which we can explore our writing from choreography to music choice to line selection and configuration. But for today ~ (seeing how I am totally spent and will have to spend most of today recovering) ~ I'd like to encourage you to think about what extra-curricular activities enhance you as a person: THE WRITER. What other parts of your life have molded you to be a better writer and given you more to offer within your stories and your character's lives.

I started PART 1 of this thought over on Oasis for YA, this morning, and encourage you to comment here as well as to take a gander over there and answer that question. Inquire minds want to know. :)

*I will be taking today off from blogging and concentrate on resting. I'll also try and rewrite my next chapter of MARKED BEAUTY, which I've been dying to share with you all but have waited until the A-Z challenge was over. I have so much to tell you. :)*