I’m a writing fiend this week. Or, rather, Penny is. Her new (and in fact first) ER “short” is motoring along. I’ve found it a little challenging focusing on the, ahem, subject matter with my adult/teenage kids and their S.O.’s in the house, but I’ve managed. I can now see the ending in sight. Yippee!

Now, I’m not the type to impose word limits (by that I mean expectations) on myself, because I usually wind up disappointed, because of the affliction that causes me to revise and edit as I write. Whenever I join a goals group or some such, I get bogged down in the requirement to produce new writing. To me, if you’re revising it, that makes it new. However, usually in goal groups, “revising” didna = “new.”

For those who like the crack of the whip, check out Write or Die. Let me know if it works for you.

I’m finding it really hard to get used to My Liege taking nearly every Monday off work. It shortens my week!

I’m brainstorming a new story for Penny. Pretty much have a title, maybe a setting, and maybe some character names. Oh, and a theme. Or plot. Whatever you choose to call it. Let’s just say it has something to do with the number 3.

Seeing as my mind is otherwise occupied, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of my flower pics. These are from my mother’s garden, taken 3 (there’s that number again) or so weeks ago. Enjoy!

“Dying Tulips”

Don’t you love the feathery edges? (They were feathery before the tulips began their descent into oblivion).

“Tiger, Tiger”

That bud thing looks like it’s pushing the tiger.  If I were the tiger, I’d snap its head off. This is why I’m not a flower. Too violent.

“Bee-Have!”

I believe this is called an Onion Flower. All I care is that it’s purple and spiky, and that my monster zoom lens allowed me to capture the bee.

Is dirt ever really done? You can always till it, plant something in it, jam it full of water so you can pack it into mud balls and chuck it at someone.

It’s the same way with writing. Are we ever really done?

I’m finished my WIP! Finished like spinach! Done like dirt! Over like clover! Kaput like…whatever.

Okay, I lie…a little. I’m still working on the last line. I like my last lines to somehow relate to an overall theme in the story or a thread of conversation, etc. I’m currently toiling to come up with a clever last line for SEX, PIs & PACKING TAPE that will accomplish the latter. However, so far  it’s eluding me. So I’m fuggettingaboutit and declaring myself done. The manu is going bye-bye for two weeks, so I can clear my mind and return to it with fresh eyes. So I can see the forest and not just the proverbial trees. Or the entangled branches, as per this offering from one of my Sunday Walks:

What will I do during those two weeks? A lot and lot of filing. Some long overdue shopping. Updating photo albums (I’m only behind 3.5 years, which is actually fantastic in the Updating Photo Albums world), maybe clean a bit of the house (note: a bit), THINK about painting the deck trim, which sorely, sorely needs it, but, honestly, the thinking could take me 10 months. I’m also going to start brainstorming a new project for Penny. She’s going to try writing her first short story. So the next time you hear me whining, it’ll probably be about that.

In the meantime, Elle Muse is taking over with PACKING TAPE. She can mull the whole thing over, so when I come back to it in two weeks, it’ll read like an amazing, saleable, totally marketable story I should submit right away. However, I’m already thinking I might need one more scene that includes the villain. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t want to consciously think about it now. We’ll see in two weeks.

I am writing/revising the last scene of my WIP. Yippee-yahoo! That’s all that needs to be said. There were times I never thought I’d get here. But I’m here. I’m really here! And I like me. I really like me! Er, um, it. I really like it. The book, that is. Until I’m done writing and revising the scene, it’s “not my baby” (as Allie McBeagle would say). So the jury’s still out on whether I actually like the scene or not. Rest assured, I will love it when it’s done.

Phew. What’s going on in your world?

Or is it whipping me?

Lesson Learned: Never announce on a public forum that you WILL have your work in progress finished by such-and-such date. Because unless you’re working to an editor-set deadline and have no choice but to deliver the project by said date, odds are something will happen to trip you up. Trip me up, anyway.

I’m still writing and revising the last few scenes of my mystery romance. No excuses, really, other than Elle Muse kept wanting me to change the villain at the last moment. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to change the villain, but because she kept hankering about it, of course I had to spend tons of subconscious thought time subconscious-thinking about it. Not to mention the additional conscious thinking time. I don’t know about you, but all that subconscious- and conscious-thinking time impacts on my writing progress. In the end, I went with my original villain. Thanks a lot, Elle Muse!

Then, as a result of the crappy economy, My Liege has begun working four-day weeks, using his amassed holidays to enjoy wonderful long weekends every weekend. Which is great! But when everyone else in the family is having a long weekend, it’s much harder to treat Mondays like work days.

Eldest Son returned home from university two or three weeks ago. He started his summer job on Tuesday, and Youngest Son began his college summer session last week. So, as of this week, with both kids absent from the house during the days, and with the little exception of having M.L. around Monday mornings (he usually golfs in the late mornings, so I can get some work done then), I’m finally back to making decent headway on this book. If I weren’t wise enough to follow my own advice, I might even declare that I WILL finish writing/revising this book by the end of next week. But I’m not that foolish, no. You’ll just have to keep checking in and see.

So, about the American Idol finale last night. Kris Allen won, as my buddy Shelinda predicted. I expected him to win, just like last year I expected David Archuleta to win. But I was still hoping Adam Lambert would win, just like last year I hoped David Cook would win (and he did!). I wished Kris had shown a bit more excitement about winning. Instead, he appeared to be in shock and did that Aw-shucks-it-should-have-been-Adam thing. You won, buddy! Soak it up!

Warning: Could get graphic!

Why, Cindy, why?

1. I’m still writing the WIP. I do believe I’m in the second-to-last chapter. A couple of days ago, I thought I was in the second-to-last chapter, but now I’m almost certain I am!
2. I have a chiropractor appointment on Friday, and I. Can’t. Wait.

I talked about Southland yesterday, the new cop show on Thursday nights that’s replaced ER in the NBC line-up. Recently, someone mentioned to me that the problem with shows like Southland and ER is that they don’t show the boring parts, which could lead viewers to believe that cops and emergency room personnel spend their workdays consumed by adrenaline rushes. That these jobs are in fact 90% humdrum and 10% exciting, and those low points should be shown. Not just in the characters’ off-hours, but during their workdays as well.

This got me to thinking about the boring parts in fiction. One of the primary “rules” (okay, okay, guidelines) for writing novels is to leave out the boring parts (or strive to—I guess it’s a matter of perception). Readers’ eyes glaze over the boring parts, and when readers eyes glaze over, books get put down. We don’t want readers to fall asleep reading our books, so we skip writing the boring parts. Instead of “showing” (writing) the character eating, bathing, getting dressed, having a going-nowhere conversation with the grocery store bagger (hi, how are you, weather’s fine, don’t put the eggs on the bottom of my shopping cart. While you’re at it, don’t put my bread on the bottom, either. Are you listening? DON’T. PUT. EGGS. OR. BREAD. IN BOTTOMOFBLEEPINGCART and stackthreecasesofCoke on top. Never-freaking-ever. All right????)

Um, sorry.

You get what I’m saying, though? Unless the conversation furthers the story somehow (like sets the reader up for the possibilty that the bagger might wake up the next morning six feet under with cart wheels all over his face—and no one’s left him a little bell to ring to alert the gravediggers that he’s still alive either, heh heh), it doesn’t belong in the book. It’s boring.

Think of the movies that have put you to sleep. Likely, they’re packed with boring parts, too. The same holds true for TV. Showing the boring parts might be more realistic, but would viewers tune in? I think not.

(Quick quiz, how many people reading this are still awake?)

I participated in an interview recently along with 12 other romance writers including Allison Brennan, Rebecca York, and Kasey Michaels. The interview, Romancing the Genres, is now on-line at WOW! Women on Writing.

Please check it out if you get a chance. Penny makes a quick appearance.

Here’s the direct link again.

Thank you to Beth Daniels for inviting me to participate!