Common Ground

I've never been a believer in buzzwords. Three-act, GMC, the Hero's journey and archetypes--hey, it hasn't changed since Aristotle's Poetics. And that was what--two THOUSAND years ago?

I tell people there is no magic book that will fix things, that study and hard work make better books--and writing, you gotta write, but here I am reading like the magic bullet will shoot me in the ass and I'll find something that will keep me in the chair.

There's a stack of ten books under my bed, two back issues (unread) of RT, one unread issue of RWR, the judging packet for the Golden Heart, and a clipboard with snippets of Dead Gorgeous. Maybe I'm just tired. When I'm not AMP'ed up, I'm tipped over unconscious. I did thirty six hours at my real-job last week and forty two hours at my Christmas gig. Not a good combination for anything but my bank account.

I've been thinking (since I don't have time for anything else?) about the emotional levels in my opening. Dunne says the h/h should be at the same level, and I never really thought about it before. It's why I think books grow with you, because you're never the same person doing the re-read. The me before wouldn't have known what the me now knows. So here I am fleshing out points that will probably get cut in edits. Cowboy says I need to do it because one day I can do a Bujold and re-release my stuff the way I'd originally wanted. Putney did that in her re-lease of the Rake, but I liked the original Super Signet.

The pdf edits on Hot Contract are finally done. There was a problem with the file, so I had to proof it a couple of times--with each time adding to the larger issue of "is this thing ever going to come out?" The last time I did it with a totally open attitude and found myself nodding. It wasn't how I pictured it, but it was good.

Guess I was searching for Dunne's thoughts unconsciously because the emotional levels were where they needed to be. I think...maybe I just needed some distance without the baggage of--hey! I liked that page/chapter--whole damned scene.

I've got Connor all fleshed out. Now I need Jacey. She's pretty shadowy and I need to get in her head. She's got so many issues I think that's where the two of them connect. In denial, although Connor is finding that he can run, but he can't hide.

The mall opens at seven. Glad I'm stuck in the back of nowhere. Projections are up, sales are down and I'm loosing people like water through Kleenex, but Christmas is coming.

It just can't come soon enough.