Trying Outlines ... Again

Speaking of trying again, a few things you may not have previously known about me: 

• I don't write in chronological order. 
• I don't outline until I'm done with the book. 
• I don't write chapters at a time. 
• I don't know how long my books going to be until it's written.

I really shouldn't have ever said "don't" because . . .

I just finished a pretty extensive outline on my current wip that I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. This is a written-down-on-paper-with-enough-detail-I-don't-have-to-try-to-remember-everything-in-my-head outline. I tried this before once. The outline was more one wordish and I had no idea what I was thinking when I wrote it. I don't think it was supposed to be an outlined story.

From a pantser trying to write from an outline, I'm curious, have you tried going against your norm? Are you an outliner who's tried writing from the hip? Are you a pantser who's outlined your latest wip? How's it going?

Try, Try Again

I'm back now. For real this time, (I hope). I'm running with the theme of this week's Quote and starting over. Sort of. I'm still working up to 100%, slow going, but I keep getting these "friendly reminders" to take the time. You know who you are!

Well, some of you may know, I've been swimming a bit in the vast query oceans and with all querying comes rejection. It totally sucks. There's a lot out there that tells you not to take rejections personally, but seriously?

These projects have taken months . . . years of our lives to complete. And have probably taken years off our lives just to get to this point!

Everyone deals with rejection differently and no matter how much we try to let it roll off our backs, the sting of it lingers.For me, I send off my queries, up to 5 at a time, and then just don't let myself think about it. It's a wonder what being distracted by your health, two small kids, a full time job, a monstrous reading list, and just the regular dealings of day-to-day life can do. And if a request comes up, Woohoo. If a rejection comes, well crap, but I can always drown myself in some Starbucks ice cream (my new fave!) and send out 5 more queries and try again!

So how do you deal with rejection? Some ice cream and more queries? A cup of tea and some agent research? Or how about 2K new words in your latest wip?

Quote of the Week

"Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist,

but in the ability to start over."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plan vs Actual

Ahhhh! It would seem, I don't truly know how to "take it easy" as everyone (including the doc) has advised. So maybe I shouldn't have been so gung-ho about trying to get back on top of my blogginess. Grrrrr me. I'm disappointed in myself.

What I planned: Back to F/T blogging (4-5 posts a week) beginning last Wednesday.
What happened: I posted on Wednesday.

What I planned: Taking it easy over the weekend, getting some rest, before starting back in the office on Monday (today)
What happened: My entire in-lawish family came into town (Husband's grandma has 8 kids plus ALL of their kids) and stayed the entire weekend. My immediate in-lawish family is still here through the end of this week. = No rest for Windy

And finally. . .

What I planned: Opening up the Not-So-Holey contest today
What happened/is happening: It isn't gonna be a Not-So-Holey day. Sorry guys. I wasn't able to get my act together enough to get everything I needed to organize this contest. I am hoping for some catch up time later this week, so I have now been made truly aware that the planned and actual don't always go together. *sigh* So give me a couple more days and I should be ready!

I feel like such a slacker! Sorry sorry sorry. . . this whole recovery thing, it takes a bit longer than my brain and body realized and I'm not sure I really like this :(

It's Only Been 2 Weeks

But it feels like it's been FOREVER! Oh, how I've missed you guys!!

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for your kind words, concern, thoughts and prayers as I've gone through all this health stuff. But looks like, we should be all good now. I'm on the mend from my broken-ness and hope to be back to 100% in a few months. Yay!

And honestly, it really does feel like it's been so long. You miss so much when you walk away! I'm going to try to do some catching up and reading of your blogs as I'm able, because besides being back in the blog-o-sphere, I'm also back at the day job now.

On a different note, here's a few things that have happened during my "leave of absence" that I want to share:
1) Had heart surgery. But you already knew that.

2) Read lots and lots of books (this will be really important in a minute)

3) Planning a camping trip for the end of the month. I am such a city girl-what if I get eaten by a bear?!?!

4) Have decided distractions like possible life-threatening/altering health complications are really great to get your mind off things like querying

5) Got oodles of writing in

6) I turned 30 - OMG, now I have to check the 30-39 box in all those little questionnaires...

7) Outlined 3 new-ish projects

7a) Decided I hate outlining

7b) Knowing what's going to happen before I write it (i.e. the outline) makes me want to try to make it perfect the first time and, yeah, right.

8) Discovered I like Diet Cherry Coke

8a) But I like regular Cherry Coke better. Full fat, baby!

8b) Although, I'm still a Pepsi girl at heart. . . Coke has a weird aftertaste, I think

9) Big Kidlet turned 5 :'( I'm such an emotional mother

and

10) Had to make a list of all the MUSTS I have to pick up for a "Thanks for being patient with me and letting me recover from my holeyness CONTEST!"

That's right. This is your heads up. Check back on Monday for a "Not So Holey" contest and your chance to win great prizes and fantastic books!