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New Chapter One (Again)

Once again I have posted the latest chapter one. You can click the link below to go right to it. I think you'll agree that things have improved. Enjoy!

Steve

Critique Group

I thought I might never make any more progress on this project. It was moribund, that's more-eee-bund-o, my friend, but finally I am involved in a critique group. The first ten pages need lots of work, and will for a while because what I do is apply the advice to the next ten pages each week. And, boy the advice is fantastic! Finally, I have somewhere to go with making this thing fit to read. I can tell it's a good story, because my readers all want to know what happens next. I thought so, now I know so. Anyhow, it will take approximately 21 more weeks to go throught the whole thing, at which time I think I'll have something to show the world at last.

Thank you to my critique partners (they know who they are) and thank you for reading this. Wow. I'll keep this posted as things go along. Later . . .

Why?

Haven't I posted since, what, May?

Well, frankly, I've been busy doing other things.

Maybe my first novel will be the thriller that I'm going to start writing next Thursday evening, November 1st. I'll let you know.

It's during NaNoWriMo, of course.

New Version of Chapter One Posted

Big news: Chapter One, the long-suffering test case for the rest of the novel, has been revised enough to merit a revised posting. Check it out by clicking the link to the left. One big difference is the amount of description. You know what they say: show it, don't tell it. That first draft was basically talking heads. I've gotten it all the way up to "not bad." I ain't saying it's good yet, but it's "not bad," which is better than "awful", which was itself a step up from "totally awful", which was what it was last December when I finished the first draft. (Actually it was the evening of November 30th, since I had to have it done to "win" Nanowrimo. I won. Life has never been the same. Wow.

The thing for me is, that writing the thing in the first place is the easy part. Making it something someone would pay for the privilege of reading is hard. But, my deadline is set, and I'm a goin' for it. Stay tuned, kids.

3 for 3

Yep, three pitches, three requests for pages etc. It isn't my pitch, it's the concept. Don't believe me? Here's the logline from the back of my business card:

Greasing the Wheels

Meet a man who's paid by the brewers, distillers, pharmaceutical folks and shrinks to lead a team into rish-hour traffic and make sure we're all properly frustrated. But don't be mad at him: he's got problems of his own.

**

So now I've got to come up with a decent short synopsis (I hate writing synopses) and make sure I've got twenty or so decent pages to send off. A problem everyone should have, I realize.

An interesting thing about New York people: they don't get the joke right off. If you live in LA you're saying "Hell, that's just a day on the freeway." In Vegas, too, or Denver, or Chicago. But in New York, nobody drives, or at least nobody sane drives. I told one person to ask a cabbie. Still, they bought the pitch, so I'm happy with that.

2007 Las Vegas Writers Conference

The 2007 Las Vegas Writers Conference is being held this weekend at Sam's Town on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas. Sam's Town is the original "locals casino" developed by Sam Boyd and hugely popular. Among other things it has banquet rooms and meeting spaces, and they do a good job for a conference like this one.

I went primarily in order to make a few contacts, and I did. Yesterday I got a request for more information from Sheree Bykofsky, an agent from New York. Today I will be meeting with two more New York agents: Jim McCarthy and Katharine Sands. Why New York agents? Because that's where books get published. There will be another Las Vegas Writers Conference in 2008. If you're looking for a potentially tax-deductible trip to Vegas, you should consider it. The food has been good, and I've made some potentially useful contacts. The sessions are mostly excellent as well.

And, by the way, the advice given by every member of the eight-author panel as last-night's dinner? Write something every day. I'm starting to see a pattern.