Revising

I spent the better part of this week revising and polishing a 50 page proposal to go out. Here's how it went:

Step one:

open Word doc

Step two:

Procrastinate by reading blogs instead. Find lots of interesting info then come across Jane Kennedy Sutton's blog on Overused Words and Redundancies think, fabulous this is what I need to revise. Follow her link to a list of overused words. Print out list.

Step three:

Use find and replace to replace all words on list with a blank space. So that I can go back later and fix. Oh, boy, notice many other words I over use. Write them on list-creating my own list of repeated words.

Shred manuscript into thousand holes- who knew I liked to use the words so, that and glance so much?!

Step four:

Run from holey manuscript convinced I am a hack and am only published because publisher was desperate.

Step five:

Go back to procrastination by reading great blogs. Discover Howard Hopkin's blog "Who do you think you are?" about Creepy Thought Gnomes

Realise that I might be a hack but I can always revise. Thought Gnomes are hacks!

Step six:

Go back to shredded sentences with thesaurus in hand. Discover that holes make sentences stronger. Writing better. Revising easier.

Step seven:

Print out final copy of proposal. Place in envelop with Query letter, bio and SASE. Take letter to the post. Celebrate!

Step eight:

Thank ALL new blogger friends-wish I could mention all the great blogs but that would only cause more procrastination on my part.

Fun Stuff

This week I was honored with my first blog award and my first Meme. (A blog award is a form of Meme.*)

Thank you to Jane Kennedy Sutton- http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/- who gifted me with the Butterfly Award. Please check out Jane's blog-Jane's Ride for great views from another author.

This is a “meme” award-see below- so it gets passed on. The rules for passing it on are: 1. Put the logo on your blog. 2. Add a link to the person who awarded you. 3. Award up to ten other blogs. 4. Add links to those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs.

Now as you can tell- my link button does not work for me-so I have to write out the links instead of coolly embedding them in the name as others do. Sigh. But I am still honored and will list three really cool blogs that I think deserve a butterfly. Please check them out.


Ann Victor- http://annvictor.blogspot.com/ (Love her and her blog)
Marilyn Brant -http://marilynbrant.blogspot.com/ (Great new author)
L. Diane Wolfe - http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/ (Spunk on a Stick)

The next bit of fun came from Morgan Mandel ( http://morganmandel.blogspot.com) whose explanation of "what a meme is" is shown with the asterisk below. Morgan tagged me with the following meme:

Provide a list of six things that make me happy:

1)Doing something anything with my grown kids-they are witty and fun to be around.
2)Writing out the stories in my head-especially those scenes that make you stand up and jump around with excitement.
3)Playing and cuddling with my dogs George and Gracie.
4)Flowers- "Daisies are such a happy flower, don't you think?" (from the movie You've Got Mail.)
5)A good movie makes me happy even if I'm crying.
6)Reading great blogs on the Internet.

Now- I'm supposed to tag this to other bloggers to this meme-so I tag Pamala Knight - http://pamalaknight.blogspot.com

I'm enjoying my discovery of new blogs and learning so much following them. As most of you know I blog here every Sunday. I also keep a daily blog on my website (www.nancyjparra.com) called A Room with a View-come check that out as well.

*What is a meme? Wikepedia describes it as "a neologism used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an inside joke." A meme usually involves using a blog to acknowledge and link back to the person who named you, plus pass along the meme to a specified number of bloggers by naming and linking to their blogs. (For more info go to http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-are-memes-or-tag-games-do-you-love.html )