Wednesday Check-in
01 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Wednesday Check-in, Writers Write Tags: Donald Maass Workshop, writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook: 74 tasks completed out of 591 possible, 5 since 7/28.
Lesson 11: Developing the Antagonist only gives credit for about a third of the work. I agonized over the villain, revising twenty-seven individual scenes. The follow-up began with the secondary antagonist. I changed seventeen scenes. The checklist gives the writer credit for five. Five. Not twenty-seven plus seventeen. “Did it help?” you ask. Absolutely. The fact that I found so many things to add makes the story god smile.
Now I’m on to the second part.
Lesson 11: The Antagonist’s Outline.
Another First Day
23 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Joined at the Heart, Writers Write Tags: family, writers, writing
Summer vacation is over again. Here are my girls on another first day, Cherry’s last of elementary school. Coco’s shirt says THINK. It seems appropriate. Below are last year’s and the year before’s photos. Click for a larger image.
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- 2010
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- 2009
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- 2008
The Empty Sack
21 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in Goals, Writers Write Tags: loss, perception, Trusting Your Instincts, writers, writing
At the beach, I grill hot dogs while Bacon watches Cherry and Coco swim. When I open the back of the van to get out the condiments, a Dollar Tree bag floats gently overhead. I don’t want to be one of those losers contributing to the flotilla in the Gulf, so I jump. And miss.
The wind propels it around the dune and down the road. I’m right behind pounding the sand, huffing and puffing, but the bastard is beyond reach. With each step I hurl my body forward. Dollar Tree drifts. My lungs burn. I kick the sand with my flip-flops.
Why am I still running? Over my shoulder, the car is a half-mile back. I’m chasing a sack that I’m never going to catch. Leaning forward, hands on knees, I let it go.
What have you chased lately?
And They Said It Wouldn’t Last
18 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Joined at the Heart, Writers Write Tags: family, Mothers, vacation, writers, writing
In the middle of our first adoption, a guy I know asked if I could get my money back if I didn’t like the kid. I wish I’d said, “Do your parents want their money back on you?”
Ten years ago this week, I became Cherry’s mom. She was a smiley Chinese version of the Gerber baby. Today, she is a Barbie Doll. You know, the one that comes dressed in the nuclear physicist suit.
We celebrated with a weekend at the beach.
Come on in. The water's fine.
No thanks. I'm fine right here.
The Thief Within
13 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Housekeeping, Writers Write Tags: family, writers, writing
When I was a child, my family took a road trip to Canada. Along the way, my dad had the car serviced.
The mechanic pointed to an apparatus under the hood. “What’s that?”
My dad said, “The air conditioner.”
“Hey Ralph! Come get a load of this. This guy’s got an air conditioner. Bet you feel like a fool for spending money on that?”
The air conditioner in my minivan went out this week. In San Antonio or Sauna Antonio, if you aren’t indigent and living under a highway overpass, your car has an air conditioner. Panicked that destitution would surely follow, Bacon led a convoy to a garage owned by a friend of a friend. Too late for business hours, we left my Mommy-mobile in front of the overhead door under a security camera.
Panic never pays. While we were gone, Lilly, the bird killing schnauzer, helped herself to an unsecured cheese pizza. Let me rephrase that. The dog ate her weight in cheese pizza. We came home to an empty box neatly propped against the leg of the kitchen table and a dog wider than she is tall.
crisp |krisp| adjective
