The Memoir Challenge- Enter at your own risk

Challenge, create, embracing uniqueness, happiness, love.

I found this six six word memoir challenge on Erica Orloff's Blog and thought I'd play. (It was harder then I thought.) Now I just have to figure out who to tag.

These are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post .
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Send us a Synopsis...

Thats what agent's say. Send us a query, synopsis and a couple of chapters. I can find lots on writing queries (the best on that was over at Bookends ), and I have my chapters ready to send...now I have to write a synopsis...

Is there a good site on how to do this? I've written these before, but was never sure if I'm doing it right. Turn a three hundred and some odd page book into three pages? Oh yeah, easy.

Do I condense every chapter into two sentences? What do I leave out? Are they judging my writing on this chop job?

What I really want is to read the synopsis on Stephen King's The Stand or even Misery. Ok, I'll take Cujo--do you think he'd share that with me???

Is there a formula to this process? How do you approach your synopsis?

Help!

Wife Swap & Writers

There's a show called "Wife Swap" on ABC. They take two wives from different kinds of lives and make the change places for two weeks. First week they have to live by the orginal family's rules, second week the family has to live by their's. Free thinkers to devote religious types, uptight type A personalities who rule with an iron fist to wild hippy types. Most are shocked by the way the others live their lives and think their own way is better. They cause trouble, protest and in some instances throw up their hands and walk out. One had a vegan go live with a country type family who just went out and hunted their own food. When the Vegan stand in wife said, "Sorry, we don't have any meat for tonight." The husband picked up his gun and went out and shot them some dinner.

You can see all types on this show except writers.

I doubt they can ever put a writer on a show like this because writers observe life and love to experience new point of views. You never know when you can use that in a book! Put a writer on a farm? Koool, we could learn about planting and cows. Put a writer in the home of a hard core, animal rights activist? Yes, lets see what thats all about. Would there be any place a writer wouldn't want to go for two weeks?

As a writer, what kind of lifestyle would you like to try? Where wouldn't you want to go?

Pig Fly in NJ-Mr. Corzine, Can you hear us now?

Friday over 700 people gathered at the State House in Trenton to protest the governor's 800% toll hike. They released hundreds of pig baloons to prove a point to a Governor who is just not listening to New Jersey.
He spoke at schools around the state and was met with loud catcalls, Boo's and Oinks. And still he wasn't listening.
The flying pigs were something the Govenor brought on himself by making the statement, "Pigs will fly over the state house before there's a realistic level of new taxes or spending cuts that can fix this mess." He also denied hearing any oposition from the residents he will be extorting money from. Exactly what does "Booooo" mean, anyway?
My own husband travels over two hours on these toll roads everday. I hear Corzine saying the state had debt to pay but does he realize the people who have to travel the farthest to get to good paying jobs aren't the richest people in the state? That these people work hard for their money and some are going paycheck to paycheck just to get by? So Mr. Corzine, where are these hard working New Jersey residents going to get the money to pay your toll increase? Do we need to get a second job? Start working nights? Are you trying to increase the mass exodus that NJ has been experiencing over the last few years?
Well, the pigs have flown. Govenor Corzine, can you hear us now?

Favorite Quotes

"Anyone who thinks Sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain."

I don't know who said that, but it inspires.

I found it on my daughter's away message. It made me hope I taught her to dance in the rain. (I know we've howled at the moon a few times!)

Redline and Deadlines did quotes in their Thursday Thirteen yesterday. They were all book/reading quotes and they were great too.

So, what's your favorite quote?

The Amazing Mark Terry

The past few days Mark Terry has been giving Freelancing lessons on his blog. Jump on over and check it out. I think the man's a genius.

I'll be facing unemployment in a few months so I'm trying to come up with a stategy to stay out of the 9 to 5 world. I want to go to work in my PJ's, sip a decent cup of coffee while pounding the keyboard and staying home with the puppies to play the let dog in, let dog out, let dog in game all day long. Ahhh, heaven!

Since I don't have a bevy of agents and editors knocking my door down with six figure deals I have to come up with something else.

So, let me know how you stay away from that 9 to 5 world and stop over and see what Mark's been blogging about. Its like information heaven!

THE DREADED REWRITE...

First draft finished and (if I have to say so myself) I'm pretty pleased with it. Some parts tugged at my heart, other's scared me to death. AAAhhhhh, feels like a winner.
However, I've been here before. Finish off a novel. Hundreds of pages of writing that felt sooooo good when I sped through the first time, now I reread it and wonder--what the heck was I thinking?
All chapters aren't that bad, some are coming across damn good. (okay, just my humble opinion) Other's need work. Lots of work!
The rewrite and polishing are even harder then writing the story the first time. Right now I'm ready to move on to my next story-which I kinda started when I was about 100 pages into this one, sometimes things just jump into your head, I can't help it-but if this one is ever going to move from shelf to agent the dreaded rewrite has to be done. I just don't feel like it. I want to move ahead into the next story which is currently mapping itself out in my brain. And then there's the many solitare games that keep me sidetracked. (see photo)
Question: How do you keep up the motivation to get from first draft to finished product?