I have that ‘ick’ feeling about my current WIP. I am just exhausted over trying to rework the beginning. Evidently I can’t seem to get to the action fast enough. My recent attempt to try to speed things up, cut to the action quicker, got the same response from my critique partner…’you probably don’t need all this’…’I think it might work better if didn’t tell all this right at the beginning.

I guess I just like that slow, meandering path some authors take to get to the heart of the story. I’m one of ‘those’. As a reader, I don’t feel the need to ‘know everything’ on the first page, and as a writer, I don’t feel compelled to tell everything.

Last night, Kimberley Raye was the speaker at our RWA chapter meeting. She spoke on ‘Bang-up Beginnings’, which was really pertinent for me personally and a great program, all things considered. Basically, in her opinion, the first sentence (or sentences) should set the tone. It should give you a sense of the protagonist, give you some action, and toss in a little emotion too. I felt like saying, ‘Is that all?’

She read a few of her favorite first lines, at least one of which, in my opinion, didn’t even come close to doing all this, and then she read the beginnings of chapter members brave enough to have theirs read aloud. It was anonymous, so I was brave enough.

I’d written the beginning I submitted yesterday before the meeting in reaction to my critique partner’s comments, so I was eager to get an opinion. Her opinion was pretty much this…the first paragraph wasn’t really ‘bang-up’, but it interested her enough to keep reading. She thought the third paragraph should be moved up to the first and I should start there. So basically, my trim-down (which was a trim-down) needs to be trimmed down. My WIP is going to be the size of a picture book once I get through with all this trimming!

I probably should have trimmed this post…

Yesterday I was sick–I either had some sort of weird 24 hr. bug, or else my Zicam doses worked wonders, condensing my cold down into one single day. Either way, it was actually kind of nice. I wasn’t too sick so as to be miserable, just under the weather. So my husband was in charge of the boys and even took them off somewhere for several hours in the afternoon. So I read–and finished the ARC I need to write a review for: Too Wicked To Tame by Sophie Jordan. Really, really enjoyed it; highly recommend it. And I watched Anne of Green Gables (the version with Megan Follows) and about half of Anne of Avonlea. I LOVE those movies, based on the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery (which I’ve never read). They are just so simple, elegant, and moving, while also being funny. Highly recommend those too.

And today we went with the in-laws and the boys to see Bridge to Terabithia. TOTALLY not what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it, and the actor and actress who played the two kids were just fabulous–ones to watch. She’s been in something else, but I can’t think what… I’m thinking now that I’m just going to have to go and get the book…just to see how different it is. How the author put into words what the movie makers brought to life on film. Just for fun.

This past trip to the library, I checked out two 2007-2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees. One was more at my kids’ level: George Crum and the Saratoga Chip about the invention of the potato chip, and we enjoyed it, but the other, Bella at Midnight ,was for kids a little older, and I thought it was
wonderful. It’s a fairytale told in about fifteen different POV’s, all of them first person. It was so simply written, with such a fresh, unique idea that I was enthralled. Plus, despite having 278 pages, the margins were wide–lots of white space–so it only took me a few days to finish it. (Still not impressive, but that’s all I can manage right now). When I was in fifth grade I had to read the entire list of Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees, and I loved it. Maybe it’s time to try that again…

On a completely different topic… A new author recently told me that she’s gotten the general impression that while chick-lit is a hard sell, anything light is also tough…romantic comedy, light paranormal, light Regency, etc. When did this happen? And why is it happening? Did readers suddenly shift their tastes en masse to dark, suspenseful, deep, emotional themes? What about the crazy popularity of Jennifer Crusie, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Mary Janice Davidson, and others? It doesn’t seem as if the marketplace is flooded. I don’t know…I guess I’m just bummed at that perspective. I don’t think I’ll ever manage to write dark. Maybe the tide will turn…

Oh, and if you’ve read a good book lately and are willing to post a review today, hop over and Debut a Debut. Great idea, great prizes!