According to Cindy

The work at Woman's Corner is now defunct.
Sorry. Too lazy to take down the links at the moment.
I'm taking a writing class at Earthly Charms and loving it. I'm going to sign up for the June classes too.

Here is a listing of my work online that is archived:

Happy Woman 1 The Babe Factor Act http://www.happywomanmagazine.com/Features/babefactor.htm

Happy Woman 2 Twelve Hot Ways To Get A Man's Attention http://www.happywomanmagazine.com/Features/12hotways.htm

Woman's Corner: His Sexy Secret Santa
http://www.womanscorner.com/id44.html

April 2005: Mother Wouldn't Understand
http://thewomanscorner.tripod.com/april2005/id9.html

June 2005: Gossip Lady on Magnolia Drive
http://thewomanscorner.tripod.com/june2005/id16.html

September 2005: Formerly Known as Katrina
http://thewomanscorner.tripod.com/september2005/id37.html


Hope some of you read these and enjoy!

I didn't do any actual writing last night on my nove.
Brandi had a crisis of the first grade proportions and I attended to that.
I did read a chapter in "Writing the Breakout Novel" on Premise.
Tonight I will read the chapter on Characterization and get to work on finishing up the character profile for my MC and for my villian.

Starting with my MC - Tara. She's the mom/wife.

I'm supposed to answer 20 of the 50 questions for her but what the hay? I'll try and do all 50. I got through 11 last night.

After answering (or having her answer) the 50 questions, I'm supposed to write a scene including this information, or a lot of it, then post my word count to the website. After doing this for the MC, I'm supposed to do this for the Villian. Originally my villian was to be the land and the hardships, but now I'm thinking I need a human bad guy. I'll work on that as well. Maybe a "big guy" at the Bio Organization that let the bacteria loose in the first place.

Here goes the interview:

1. Tara, how is your heath, dear? "My health is great! It can only get better because we're getting out of the city. Away from all the pollution, somg, noise, you name it. Back to the fresh air, sushine, physical labor, and long evening walks."
2. Didn't your grandmother have some home remedies? "Oh absolutely. Now granny doesn't drink a lot, mind you, but she was a believer in medicinal whiskey. She'd pour it on cuts instead of using rubbing alcohol and she'd give a spoonful of it for pain. I remember once I had cramps, terrible cramps and she gave me two tablespoons of whiskey. It certainly worked! Worked too well, in fact. I got to where I'd claim to have cramps nearly every time I came over. After a while, she caught on!"
3. Tell us of a trait or ability you are proud of. "I can grow anything. Even living in town on a tiny plot, I managed to grow flowers and even a few herbs and tomatoes. I can't wait to see what all I can raise on the farm!"
4. Tell us of a trait you wish you had. "I wish I had faith as strong as my husband Cole has. I can't just let things happen. I have to be in control of everything and I don't like relying on others, be it people or a deity."
5. Where was your favorite childhood vacation? "The time we went to the mountains and visited an underground cave & an Indian reservation in TN."
6. Tell us about your wedding day. "I got married at the age of twenty outdoor in a gazebo behind an old antebellum mansion. At what point do women stop being 'brides' and start being 'wives'?"
7. What do you think your retirement life will be like? " When it's time to retire we will sell the farm, provided neither of the children want it. Then we'll move to a nice retirement community and relax!"
8. What was you favorite reading material as a child/now? "When I was a child I love d Nancy Drew mysteries and pirate stories. Now I love mysteries and adventure stories. My favorite authors are Anne Rice and Clive Cussler."
9. What do you consider the biggest world event of your lifetime? "Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq, of course."
10. What are your feelings toward this yard you are buying and maintaining it? "Living on a twenty acre farm will be a lot of work, but I have to say I'm very excited by all the planting we will be doing, the corn, beans, tomatoes, and so forth. We'll also grow a field of hay and corn for the horses, cattle, and chickens when we get them. I look forward to planting flowers and shrubbery around the house. I don't even mind cutting the grass."
11. Describe the last family reunion you attended. "Our family always gets together at Thanksgiving. Mohtre makes the turkey & dressing. I always bring green beans and pecan pie."

I didn't work on my novel this weekend, due to a combination of teenagers in the home, depression, and laziness.

I'm going to get to work seriously on it this week. SERIOUSLY.

I have the first scene pretty clearly in my mind, as well as a few later scenes.

In the opening scene, I plan to have the Brittany family arriving at the gates of their new farm. They will be staring at the sign "Dea th Farm" and the "R" on the sign has fallen off. Each of the character's reaction to the sign will tell something about their individual personalities.

Joshua (Josh) - the little boy is calling his sister "Jelly" (short for Angelica) and bouncing around laughing, oblivious to what the others are staring at.
Angelica - the teenage daughter who doesn't want to live way out on a farm thinks the ominous sign is a bad omen and a good reason to just leave and go back to the city.
Tara - the mom/wife is practical, just picks up the "R" and asks her husband to replace it later.
Cole - the husband/father who has just found the Lord, thinks that it is a sign they should all pray for the land and for themselves.

"Family finds their newly-purchased farm has dead bodies and makes their daughter sick. They determine that the land had been poisoned by past genetic engeneering experiments gone wrong. "

This means I have to do a ton of research to find out how this could have happened....


Assignment 1B-Here is what I have so far on my six-point plot plan:
1. Goal for my MC: A happy quiet life on Dearth Farm.
Goal for my villian: Feeding off the living things at Dearth Farm.
2. Crisis: All the animals die as soon as they are brought to the farm. The dog, the replacement dog, chickens, the horse, etc. Tara (the MC) has a misscarraige also.
3. Obstacles: animals dying, remote location, money (they spent a lot moving to the farm), heat, and hard work
4. Disaster: 2 human bodies are found and the Brittany's (the family) decide that they couple must have died from being on the land and wonder if it is "cursed." Soon after their small daughter becomes ill and they must make a decision quickly.
5. Solution: The family races to discover what is causing the death and illness on their new farm.
6. Resolution: They discover that the farm used to be used for genetic engineering experiments. A terrible mutation happened to some of the bacteria they were working on and it poisoned the land so that all who eat the food grown on the land are poisoned.

Ok, so it seems my plot summary was more of a blurb. It should read something closer to this:

"Family finds their newly-purchased farm (trigger event ) has dead bodies and makes their daughter sick (conflict). They determine that xyz-cause is the source (resolution). "

Only problem is, I haven't decided what the cause is. I will work on this and update my summary.

Assignment 1B-
Here is what I have so far on my six-point plot plan:

1. Goal for my MC: A happy quiet life on Dearth Farm.
Goal for my villian: Feeding off the living things at Dearth Farm.

2. Crisis: All the animals die as soon as they are brought to the farm. The dog, the replacement dog, chickens, the horse, etc. Tara (the MC) has a misscarraige also.

3. Obstacles: animals dying, remote location, money (they spent a lot moving to the farm), heat, and hard work

4. Disaster: 2 human bodies are found and the Brittany's (the family) decide that they couple must have died from being on the land and wonder if it is "cursed." Soon after their small daughter becomes ill and they must make a decision quickly.

5. Solution: Find out what is causing the death on the land. (I will update this later today or tomorrow. Still unsure myself.)

6. Resolution: Stay and fight the problem on the land or leave while they are still safe. (Again, I'm unsure in my mind how this will play out. Update coming.)

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Also, a lot of the writing on this blog was "notes" I took from a writing book I read. I did summarize a lot and put in most of my thoughts on what the book was saying, however I fear it may have been dangerously close to plagerism so I am privatizing those entries for my own referral and no one elses.