Well, gentle readers after my gmail mail mishap yesterday I ate almost 10 pounds of virtual chocolate and went to bed at 8:00 eastern daylight time. I awoke this morning around 5 with the dream of the East Side of Providence still in my head and some crazy man, his wife, and a most adorable baby, getting in the back seat of my old VW rabbit while I was trying to get on the connector to get back down-town (there's been a lot of re-routing of the old highway to make room for the new I-way.) Anyway, these people were trying to get in the back seat with my big dog Jon sitting there. And I asked him, in a rather nasty voice, "Are you out of your f*%$ing mind? That dog will eat the baby!"
And he laughed and they got in and off we went to the east side. There was a man in the front seat with me, (he was the actor that played the 'numbers' guy in the movie The American President -- short, dark hair with glasses) and the reason we were going to the east side was I was looking for an apartment. (I can't afford to live on the east side, that's where Brown Univ. and RISD are, where Edgar Allen Poe used to hang out (and a couple other famous poets too whose names escape me at the nonce) And for some crazy reason I was also trying to have an affair with a man named Peter and he was married. I know him from a long time ago and did not in any, way, shape or form want to have an affair with him back then. Or now. hhhhmmmmmm.
Don't know why I dreamt all these crazy dreams. Must have been the *chocolate*. There's a warning to you. Limit yourselves to small quantities of virtual chocolate. It must be better than real chocolate. More cacao or something. (Note: I did not consume chocolate at all yesterday. As a matter of fact, I haven't had chocolate it quite some time.)
Anyway, thanks for commiserating with me yesterday. But we shall press on, what.
(Have been thinking in British for quite awhile now, makes the dialogue so much easier.) I'm going to work on paper today instead of the computer. I will print off the 16 versions of the query I have and then go sit at my kitchen table and take pieces from each. A friend gave me a template to work with so I'm going to take all the best pieces out of the 4 (was only kidding about 16 -- well, I wasn't I do have like 9 or 10 but I've narrowed it down to 4) and put together something fantastic.
I will then have my beta's, alpha's and whomever else wants to read the bloody thing and see if I can't get out these queries tomorrow. Or at least over the weekend.
My plan of attack will be to e-query the people who want just the query, and then those who want a synopsis and pages second, then those who want snail mail. I went to Agent Query to get my list but I have to back pedal somewhat because a bunch of those names do not take romance, like Nathan Bransford, he was on the list, and I know it would have to be truly exceptional for him to take on a romance, it would have to be a literary romance or something, because I can't see Nathan taking on The Steward and Miss Higgins. *laugh giggle laugh* And just for kicks, I think I will also requery the agents I queried before. Well, maybe one, or two. I went to one of their websites and she said, if you've put a lot of revision in it and a lot of time has passed you may requery. It's not a guarantee or anything but hey, why not give it a shot. I was such a freaking newbie when I queried the first time, my word count was 124K, duh, I even gave the page count. *hides my head in shame*
So, here we go, another new day, with crazy dreams and all. Anyway, that was basically the question I was going to ask you all today -- do you work on the computer all the time, or do you feel the need for paper and pen at times?
8 comments:
Actually, just the other day I had a lot of driving to do for work, and I had two ideas that were kind of bursting out of my skill. I balanced a notepad on my knees and scribbles two short flash fiction pieces. While going 65. On the NJ Turnpike.
Multitasking, baby. Good luck with the queries!
Simon you're a maniac! On the turnpike no less, what are you nuts! But hey, I hear you. I get ideas in the shower and have kept a pad and pen in the john for years. People wonder why and I say, "Well, when an idea hits, it hits and if I don't write it down just then, it's gone."
Thanks for the luck. I need all I can get.
Good luck!
I do roughly 98% of my work on the computer, but I've had so many problems with crashes and loses and whatnot that I'm anal retentive, bordering on obsessive, about saving often while I'm writing, even if auto-save is enabled, and backing things up in multiple places.
I do carry a delightful Moleskine with me everywhere though, and keep lists and ideas and random scribblings in that.
Oh, and the numbers guy in American President is Joshua Malina. He's an Aaron Sorkin favorite: he played Jeremy on the excellent Sports Night, popped up on the West Wing, and even has a bit part in A Few Good Men.
Does Nathan really say he doesn't take Romance? I'll have to go check that.
Good plan of action! You know I'm always willing to help. :)
Good action plan. Very practical.
I personally do a split between computers and paper depending on where I am, what's available, and what the situation really calls for.
Teebore -- hey thanks for stopping by. I hear you on the anal/obsessive. I have so many floppies it's scary. And thanks for his name, it would have driven me crazy until I put the movie in the DVD player tonight.
Glam -- it's not that Nathan doesn't say he takes romance, it's on his genre list on Agent Query, but it would have to be some kind of literary work for him to look at it...he doesn't seem the sort to read or rep my brand of noire.
Dominique -- sometimes I just have to do paper and pen, my fingers don't get so cramped and I can cross stuff out instead of deleting it because sometimes, a great line is one I need to look at again and if it's gone, I'm crazed.
i do all my actual writing on the computer. But when i'm working on a query, i'll generally start on paper until i've reached a final version, then type it up.
When i get around to doing a synopsis (sigh, i don't think that will be fun) i'll probably start out on paper as well.
Luckily I wrote my synopsis a long time ago and so don't have to do it. I just have to look it over and make sure none of the stuff I cut from the book is in there.
Fun fact if you want it -- I found it a lot easier as I was writing the book to keep a list of the important moments in the book, kind of like a chapter review but not. It made the synopsis process a whole lot easier.
Post a Comment