We gots us some news.  Way back last winter one of my peeps and I decided to try our hand at writing a category length romance. These are the time-tested Harlequin-type stories that are beloved by generations of women.  I love romance but really never tried my hand at writing this popular genre. So, I did.  I’ve been taking NY Times best-selling author, Lori Wilde’s mentoring class at SavvyAuthors. Lori writes some of the best Harlequins around. Really, check them out!  What a surprise to find this neat genre and have a world of books to read, not to mention write.  I figured I had this great opportunity, why not learn from the best? So, I did, and so my first category-length romance, The Internet Millionaire’s Copilot  was born.

Copilot, as I fondly call it, is a 50,000 word (category length) romance about the love affair between a socialite-turned-relief-pilot and an internet entreprenuer.  Nice!  I finished Copilot a couple of months ago and began working on the other books in the series which focus on the interesting people who populate high tech startups and the men (and women) who fly their corporate jets.

So what’s the news? Well, Copilot finaled in the Greater Seattle RWA’s Emerald City Opener Writing Contest in Category-length romance. HOLY MOLY!  Was I ever blown away.  I mean, wow!  Anyway, Copilot is now being reviewed by the final judge, Melissa Jeglinski from the Knight Agency.  Well, I could not be more thrilled!

Oh, BTW, since Copilot is seriously on a roll, I also entered it in the Mills and Boon New Voices contest.  You can read and comment on the first chapter of Internet Millionaire’s Copilot here. Not to mention a bunch of other books by talented new writers!

Everyone take a deep breath and read on! Has this ever happened to you?

Your editor, agent or crit partner reviewed your manuscript. She loves what you’ve done! But she has a few things she wants you to look at. She’s sent back her changes in a copy of your manuscript. Maybe she used the tracked change feature, maybe she’s commented in-line but used a different color font. Now, when you look a the document you cannot tell what she added. You need to review those changes, but when you open the file they are gone! Well, not gone exactly but absorbed into your current document, and you can’t tell what’s original and what’s a change!

Maybe you inadvertently “Accepted All” changes or maybe the Demons of Microsoft ate them. Are you screwed? Well, perhaps not. If you need to know what was changed, removed, or added, and you have a previous version of the same document, you are golden. Yes, I do mean that, so pull up a chair and read on.

The wizards at Microsoft have embedded a number of useful yet oddly-named tools in their MS word application. The ability to Merge Documents is one. How can Merge Documents resurrect my lost changes? Because when the tool merges, it actually creates a Merged Document with all differences between the two tagged as tracked changes. Essentially, this tool answers the question:

How does this work? First, you need an older or original version of your document and the new version containing the hidden changes. The screen captures shown in the steps below are from Merge Documents in MS Word 2011 and 2008 for the Mac, but an analogous tool, calledCompare documents in Word 2007 for Windows, works the same and is found in the Review ribbon. See…(Look at windows screen capture on your right…) The comparison and document merging shown below can be done in both the Mac and Windows version of MS Word.

Step 1: In MS Word, open Compare Documents from the Tools menu.Selecting this will open the Merge Documents dialog box.

Step 2: There are really only two things to add and one setting to check in Merge Documents and I show them circled in red below:

1. Choose the old file, the one that has the unchanged information.
2. Choose the new file, the one that has new changes.
3. VERY IMPORTANT! At the bottom underShow changes in: choose New Document. This ensures that your original or revised document will not be overwritten! Luckily, this is also the default setting.

You can also change what you want compared in Comparison settings. Word defaults this to everything and I usually just leave it that way.

Once you have done this, click OK.

Step 3: The new merged file will now open. This file uses the Original document as the base and applies the changes from the Revised document as tracked changes. Sound complicated? It’s not. Here’s what it looks like for my current WIP Internet Millionaire’s Copilot:

You can now review the changes, accept what you want and toss the ones that you don’t need. Easy!

Some ideas stick even though there is nobody blogging, tweeting, posting, facebooking, yodeling, or organizing any marketing campaigns around them.

The examples are all around us.

From Snopes.com:  Friday the 13th is a perilous day. Gum takes 7 years to pass through your digestive tract. Hair grows back thicker after it’s been shaved. Secret flights rescued Bin Laden family  members and other Saudi nationals out of the U.S. immediately after the 9/11 attacks and before the FBI could interview them. Oh, and by the way, none of the above are true! Some from movies and TV stick in your mind like the theme from Gilligan’s Island. (wince, sorry.) Snakes on a plane. “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

Or from politics…  “It’s the economy, stupid.” “…this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

Or even from fables…  The grass is greener on the other side. Sour grapes. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

In their book, Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath examine the similarities across time, space, and media between short messages that “stick” and those that fade away. They suggest a stickiness test you can apply to loglines, hooks, concepts, characters or anything you want to stick like done spaghetti to a cabinet door. Since Made to Stick is a business book, they have a snappy mnemonic to help you remember the key elements that will make your message stick like gum to tennis shoes: SUCCESs! Woot!

Just for you, I’ve summarized some the key messages from Made to Stick and suggested ways to apply them to your writing.

Made to Stick is a book for anyone who wants their message to stand out. I’ve only touched on a few of the useful concepts in this book. I encourage all of you to read it, and apply the message like superglue to your next pitch, logline, query, and manuscript.

Now go out and be sticky!

(initially published Jan 9, 2011 on SavvyAuthors.com column, Connect the Dots.)

Money is a motivator for me, certainly, but also for my characters.  My fictional world in The Box is parallel to Earth. Only special people can move between worlds and the population of my fictional world is pretty small. I need a wealthy ruling class so that pretty much limits  the economy of my fictional world. No vast powerhouse of productive workers. Nope, I need a clever economy that leverages the advantage of a small, intelligent, and technically advanced people…..

Q: What economic system is stable for a small, isolated population and can support a high standard of living?

Cue Jeopardy music

Hmm, what we want is an economy that allows much of the population to live in comfort, if not outright wealth. Most should not have to work too hard and have plenty of time to make trouble. LOL. It should also play into their sense of entitlement and fundamental superiority. Oh, and they are also right next to a  large, fat, cash cow (the Earth).

Ding, ding, ding…out of time! And the answer is…..

An offshore banking (aka money laundering) economy!

Oh snap! This will work nicely! Lightly-regulated, offshore accounts can be found in countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstine or the Cayman Islands. If my fictional world can entice  wealthy Earth people to deposit funds into its high interest, private, off-world banks then my fictional aliens are both dependant on Earth and maintain some control over some very powerful Earth people. Hmm, lots of inherent conflict in that one! I like it.  It gives me a range of careers to play with and instantly creates a potential caste system. All excellent motivators. I can take the economy into the shadier parts of  offworld banking or keep it on the ethical side. I can also pit the ethics supporters against the off-worlders with, shall we say, more flexible ethics. ROFL.

The first page of The Wealth of Nations, 1776 London edition

To quote Adam Smith:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.

You gotta love him for providing some excellent motivation!
Hmm, now all I need is a map!  Maybe, I can even add some crystal waters and white sand beaches….mmmmm

Okay, okay they are LATE! Sue me.  I posted my results from last year’s goals in the previous post. Well, I’ve been busy. Not slacking, working! Yes, yes on my goal targets.  Hey, I had them I just didn’t POST them!

This year’s goals are presented by:  my sons Thelen and Walker (no name comments, please),  my dog, Kyra, and my Nelson’s Albino Milksnake, Audrey Lou.

I set goals last January like I do nearly every year. I use SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. An example of a smart goal is: I will write 1000 words per day 28 days of the month. Or: I will complete the first draft of my novel by December 31. What these goals have in common is that I control the outcome. I didn’t add a goal whose outcome teetered on something out of my control like: I will land SuperAgent Mary Jones by June 3. That’s not a good goal because I can work as hard as possible and still not succeed if Mary doesn’t want my work. Don’t write goals whose outcome depends on the actions of other people or forces.

The best goals are measurable in simple ways and can be tracked on a regular basis in something like a spreadsheet or calendar. Daily word counts that you log and monitor are one example, but you can also think about how many potential agents you need to research, classes you want to take or critiques you want to do. When you think about goals think about how you will measure your success.

Finally, make sure your goals are attainable. Nothing is more depressing than a goal that is beyond your current skillset. Stretch goals are great and encourage you to reach just a bit farther but not so far away that you fall out of the tree.

So onto my goals! I always have fun with them. This year I used animal pictures taken during my African vacation for fun illustration, and used a comic layout. But for the goal report, I’m keeping it simple.

So what did I learn? I seem to be able to write at a pretty good clip; however, next year, I likely need to focus more on finished output and less on piles of words. lol. Averaging 2,000 words per day is a decent goal, and I am likely to keep that for next year as I know I can do it and plan to continue writing 2,000 words per day.

I need to focus on getting more critiquing done. I fell short on this and that’s not good because an excellent way to learn is to review others’ works. And I would like to take an in-person workshop next year.

The next step is to use these goals and their results to develop next year’s goals. I’ll take a few days to do this, but you can be certain that when I publish my 2011 goals they’ll be SMART… and will include completing a finished manuscript in less than 5 drafts. ROFL.

When I am trying to master some author’s technique I often buy the book in print and as performed by a reader. I often read along while I listen to see if I would have read the passage the same way the reader interpreted, using the same inflection and emotion.

I am amazed by how often I would not. At least on a first reading where I didn’t know the characters or story. The audiobook readers bring extra emotion into the story, they add their interpretation of what the author intended.  I think this is interesting for an author to consider when writing.

Aspiring authors are told to read aloud.  I do, I read most of what I write aloud in my voice with lots of emotion and inflection. I pace my office and terrify the dog.

When I read my own work aloud to other people, I’ve heard the comment that what I read was great, and interesting and they wanted more. One person commented that when I read, the story and my characters came to life. Now she didn’t say that it was lifeless on the page, but I’m not an idiot! lol. Clearly, I hear emotion and inflection in my head that sometimes does not ooze out onto the page.  Interesting.

I spent some time breaking down some of my writing that I had read before an audience. I did find that I tend to be spare in my emotion in certain areas. I tend toward subtlety and understatement. Now that I know this I can beef up areas of my writing that need to be emotional. I can use my own lively reading style as a double check on the emotional content of my words.

And the audiobooks? I just love them. I do. lol.

This NaNo I’m going for something completely different.  No plan, no plot, no mindmaps or spreadsheets. I’ve been very busy with other WIPs and October just got away from me.  This will be different. I hope I will not end up with the output from the milllion monkeys at the end of the month.

We’ll see.

I’m not completely lost in the pantsing forest though. I found some great online resources that I have bookmarked.:

TV Tropes:

This is a community of folks who are entertained by documenting all the story tropes in current popular media. This includes not onlybooks and film, but also anime, computer games, and real life examples. This is an amazing site and I challenge you to leave without new ideas about your story.

The internet pubic library:

Where a great deal of information on the seven plots and 36 dramatic sitations live as well as the hilarious Classic in a Minute. I encourage you to read The Collected Works of EE Cummings. C’mon it only takes a minute!

The Random Plot Generator:

Which takes it data from the lists of Advice to Evil Overlords, Starship Captains and Murphy’s Laws of Combat.  It gives such gems as….

Further Evil (Advice on Fortress Construction):

Your Command Center should have a heavily guarded room at the bottom of a 100-story subterranean shaft that contains a sophisticated bus-sized computer with a fake encoded plan, no external links, and no real function whatsoever. The real command center will be a satellite-linked laptop on a card-table with a folding chair, near the top of the elevator shaft, behind a door marked ‘standpipe valves’ that’s accessible through the unlocked janitor’s closet.

When I get stuck with this month’s story I will refer to my list of evilness and tropes. But I am missing one important element! Romance….yes, well that is easily solved by the Telenovelas.  This site has all the Telenovela plots, all I need to is choose which….Hmmmmm..

I wasn’t sitting behind an oxe or slogging through the sage brush, over ridge after ridge but I got the basic sense of things. Long spans of open desert cut by high ridges that the pioneers had to cross to get to California.

That is a grueling trail. It must have been hellish in 1848.  It’s pretty damn lonely in 2010 and I love to drive alone. I turned onto Hwy 50 in Nevada and glanced down at the GPS on my Mini…HOLY COW…250 miles??? Yikes, not a lot out here.

OK, no comments about driving and taking pictures. Look, I wasn’t even going very fast…yet.

The landscape that rolled out in front of me was stark and forbidding. Beautiful, but I was very happy to be in my air conditioned Mini sipping water and listening to Audiobooks. I chose the Diary of Lewis and Clark for that crossing. Appropriate, no?

Hwy 50 also runs the old Pony Express route and there are the decaying remains of Pony express stations at regular intervals along the side of the road. They are small, no bigger than 10 feet on a side at the crumbled rock foundations. Our forefathers were cut from pretty tough cloth.

As I drove, I couldn’t help but think about the men and women who risked everything for the chance to strike it rich in the gold fields of California. What a spectacular leap of faith, to just set off into a an unknown world, facing who knew what terrors.

Makes me feel soft and squidgy and I look at the stern picture of my own Great Grandmother, a pioneer in Montana in the late 1800s, and wonder if I would ever measure up. I honestly don’t know. I’d like to think I would, but how would you know unless you were dropped into that?

In Utah, I pulled off the side of the road at the most spectacular overlook down a canyon that appeared nearly limitless. My pictures don’t come close to what I felt looking down this canyon, but a part of me didn’t want the drive to end.

Gee, I guess that’s why I love time travel books, eh? lol.

Philip, Mimi and I go ‘way back. We love to go fast! I can’t wait to hit Hwy 50 and the Great Basin that the gold rush pioneers struggled over to get to California. I’ve certainly studied enough diaries of that crossing writing A Fault in Time!  I’m going to go a lot faster, but there is one stretch on Hwy 50 with 249 miles between towns. Yikes! I’m bringing water and a camera!

Here’s Philip and Mimi in our first training day. I know, it doesnt look like much but he kept that car in a circle with the throttle only, no steering wheel action, no brakes. Just gently depressing and letting off the accelerator. It was fun!  Next month, we’re doing a road ralley!