Monday, September 19, 2005

Writing Progress-Chapter 19...Trifling Times, Trifling People


This post goes out to my two bootleg, i.e., "work for free" editors "Sunshine" and "Ol Mean Ass Cynthia".

And to all my manuscript critiquers: Hen-Dog, Cowgirl Cre, Sista T, The Good Sista, Regina, Kim, Melissa, Meek-Meek, Monica, Cotena, and whoever else I didn't mention.

I meant to give an update to ya'll once a week, but as you all know, I have busted down to a crashing halt.

I am oh so trifling. Yes I admit it. My name is Ladylee, and I am trifling....

Chapter 19 was 10,800 words. It took me 2 months to finish it. I was at a point where I'd rather pick fuzz balls out the carpet than work on it. Why did it take me so long?

I DID NOT LIKE CHAPTER 19!!! This was one of those informational chapters. I found it a bit boring.

And what's so doggone funny, most of you did like it. Especially my bootleg editors. They are usually hard to please. Cotena, our friendly neighborhood ATL traffic engineer, hated it as much as I did. (Cotena is a trifling broad, just like myself. She's the reason why ATL traffic is the worst in the country. Just trifling.)

My supervisor "Sista T" has not finished reading Chapter 19 yet. I told her that she was straight up trifling. She looked at me in pure disgust. (Gee, I know my yearly performance evaluation will reflect this.) But she said that she could tell that my writing style was really changing up from earlier chapters...

This made me feel, I don't know, quite teary-eyed and special. Oh so warm and fuzzy inside (LOL). Sista T, who's been in Darth Vader mode of late, could have at least given me half a day off if she really wanted me to feel special (*hint, hint*). She even mentioned a geographical error in Chapter 19. Thank's Sista T! (Now how about that time off?)

I read a couple of horror novels while writing Chaper 19. Hence, there were some really corny lines in Chapter 19:

"His words were shocking, stabbing me like shards of glass flying from a broken mirror." Hen-Dog was happy about that line for some reason. Why? I didn't ask, and I didn't want to know.

"I walked back into a house that was as silent as a desperate blood-curdling scream." Ol' Mean Ass Cynthia telephoned me (she sits two cubicles away from me) and quietly expressed her outrage about that particular line.

(Corny, I know. Just plain outright corny and trifling!! I am NOT the Simile or Metaphor Queen!!)

So that's the gist of it. Chapter 19 is over and out. Most likely it will be culled way down. It wasn't my longest chapter. Chapter 14 was over 20,000 words. Imagine that! This is turning into War and Peace!

And you know what? Chapter 20 is finished. I banged it out in one weekend. It's 6800 words. I just need to make a few corrections. So all my fellow Critiquers, you will receive your copy via e-mail or just stop by my desk.

There will be NO writing for me today, ya'll. I'm off to have my new house appraised. (GLORY! Guess that means I'll be moving soon, hunh?)

Stay tuned for more updates...

Ladylee!





3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:07:00 PM

    Thanks for acknowledging us. I am waiting for the complete edited version of Chapter 20.

    I can't wait until you move in and I can deliver your "house box" than contains some stuff you know about and other surprises.

    LUV YA!

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  2. Cool! You deserve a break today!

    I know what you're feeling with chapter 19. I've had chapters like that that were drudgery and even I didn't like it. What works for me is just getting the basic idea on paper, then going back to it in the second revision or after time. But glad you made it through it! :-)

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  3. Cowgirl Cre...

    Would there happen to be a laptop computer, a washer/dryer set, and a 25 cubic foot black refrigerator in that "house box"?


    Cherlyn...

    Okay, so it's normal to dislike chapters. I thought that something was terribly wrong with me. I think I'll try your idea. That sounds promising. You talked about word counts with me in an e-mail and I think that was what got me back on track with Chapter 19.
    Thanks a lot!

    Ladylee

    ReplyDelete

Slap the *crickets* out the way, kindly step up to the mike, and SAY something!!