In Her Hands, words written: 1280
In Her Hands, words total: 10,401

Malaise. I have some sort of malaise. What kind? Now, that is the question…

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The flooring has arrived! Now to schedule Chester the Polish Handyman to come and install it. Ken also bought wood to make the front/top of my desk downstairs, and cedar walls to build a semi-gazeboish-thing around the hot tub (since we will eventually get a bigger hot tub, it’s not worth making a full gazebo, but this will serve as a barrier to the curious gaze of passers-by).

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I was just looking back through my entries about this Brava novella, and realized I hadn’t looked at my outline in days, if not nearly weeks.

One thing Kris Rusch has said to me several times (when I’ve complained about being stuck on the bike and just thinking about writing) is that if an idea doesn’t stick in her head, it wasn’t a good idea. I think she’s right about that. Most of the ideas I’ve had that I’ve scribbled down, forgotten, and gone back to have usually been, at best, vague.

She and Dean talk about is learning as much as possible about writing (and never stopping the learning), so that it filters into your subconscious. That way, when you’re writing, you’re not thinking about plot or characterization or whether you have all five senses on every page—you just do it.

I think the same seems to be true about plotting, as well as the brainstorming/freewriting exercise Dean taught us at the Story Structure/Writing Faster Workshop: once the ideas come spewing out, the best ones lodge in your subconscious. It doesn’t matter as much what you’ve written down; it’s what you’ve internalized that’s the cream.

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Sheez, nobody has commented on my 2 October entry. I would’ve thought that would have elicited some sort of commentary!

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I e-mailed a few folks about this, but I might as well post it here as well, in case some of you lurkers I don’t know about might be interested.

As most of you know (but I mention again in case of new readers), the whole reason I’m writing this novella is because I’m a finalist in Brava's novella contest. The top 20 entries, which are 750-word excerpts, have been sent to a Kensington editor to consider for contracts. There were at least 260 entries, so mine has done well to make it this far.

The contest also includes a Reader's Favorite Poll. I'm not sure if the author of the Reader's Favorite novella gets anything (although winning can't hurt!), but the voters have a chance to win books.

If you are so inclined, you can find info about voting here And if you like any of the novellas, feel free to vote on it. :-) I am _not_ asking you to vote on mine automatically—please don't stuff the ballot box for me. Several of the other finalists are friends of mine, and I'd be just as thrilled if they won Reader's Favorite. Please pick your favorite novella—the one you think is best.

That said, if you vote for me, I’d love it if you told me; I can use all the warm fuzzies I can get. If you didn’t vote for me, I’d still love it if you told me who you voted for, because it then becomes research into what readers are looking for.

(Please note, some of these are R-rated.)

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A decent wordcount today, after the days off. It feels really good to be back at work.