Barring a Stunning Breakthrough Tomorrow...

I'd say I'll be foregoing the Golden Heart after all.

I had the day off today courtesy of the remnants of a migraine which, believe me, wasn't bad enough to explain why my word count went backwards and I added only three paragraphs worth keeping.

I'm forcing it and it's not working. And there's no way I'm entering something that's not ready just because I paid my $50. I need to go back to writing something I'm enjoying. This isn't it.

Which is a shame because it's my only full-length historical and that market's hot now. But I can't make myself feel the story for the market. It's either there or it's not and right now, it's SO not.

Progress!

I started out the day at a little over 10,000 words and added about a thousand.

Unbridled


Rock on.

Synopsis Conquered

Thanks to crits from Ericka and another CP of mine, the synopsis for Unbridled is complete at 2,185 words and exactly seven pages. I don't see how I can get it any shorter without losing important elements of the internal and external conflict. I've got a couple more people to send it past, but I think it's in good shape.

Now, I just have to write the new scene that rounds out the Golden Heart entry. My goal is to write the first draft today and tomorrow then send the contest entry out for crits on Wednesday. Since I expect the long weekend to be a lost weekend, writing-wise, that'll give my critters five days to read, comment, and return. Then I can polish the heck out of it and put it in the mail to Dallas at the end of next week.

So, go me.

(If only I had the opening line for the next scene. Once I have it, I think the scene will flow like butter. But I gotta have it!)

Today, I...

...wrote a big chunk of the synopsis for Unbridled. And though I didn't quite finish, as I was putting the Cornish hens in the oven, I had a mini-breakthrough and realized how the ending should go now. Woot.

Here's the meter:

Unbridled Synopsis

Frustrated!

So, I wrote myself into a corner in Carnally Yours, which currently sits at 20,800 words. Knowing I must whip Unbridled into shape ASAP for the Golden Heart, I started working on reoutlining yesterday. And promptly worked myself into another corner.

The problem I'm having with Unbridled is balancing the competing needs of the story. On the one hand, there's the sub-plot, which is what brings the hero and heroine together in the first place. Without the sub-plot, there'd be no romance. On the other hand, I can't let the sub-plot overshadow the romance.

So, what I'm finding is that the sub-plot is keeping the hero and heroine apart in the partial, but I need them to be together because the romance is the main plot and should develop first. At the same time, I can't figure out how to make the story develop in a logical, step-by-step fashion without developing the sub-plot in the partial.

Argh! I may just give up and put the story in the Magical Mulch Pile under the bed. I'm out $50 for the GH entry, but maybe I'd rather be out $50 than nursing a massive headache.