Monday, August 08, 2005

Still stressed...

The house is coming together, slowly. The new carpeting was installed and was somehow stained in the process. Ugh. So, now I have to have them come back out and try to remove the stain. I do hope they don't try to blame it on us somehow, or I will be upset...to put it mildly.

I'm also in the process of revising another of my stories, in addition to writing the sequel for The Silver Spoon. One of the new techniques I'm trying out is GMC. GMC is short for Goal, Motivation and Conflict. It's based on a book of the same name by Debra Dixon. It's actually been kind of cool to see how it works because when you do it, your characters instantly get these really detailed backstories and immediate conflicts. For any writers out there, the GMC exercise is kind of time-consuming but so far, it's been worth it. I'll try to post an example tomorrow for anyone who's interested in how it works.

I'm trying to teach myself to write more efficiently. I write first drafts pretty quickly but then it takes me years to sort out the mess I've made. For a career in writing, I think you've got be able to cut down the time between first draft and final draft. Plus, I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing, make it more powerful and engaging.

Well, I'm off to finish off GMCs for like five more characters. Eeek. My goal was to have them finished by this weekend, but I didn't quite make it. : ) However, I made more progress that I would have probably without setting the goal in the first place! That reminds me, I'll have to tell you about my cool experience in Barnes and Noble the other day...

2 comments:

phule said...

I'm a little slow, so perhaps you could help. :) Have you guys already moved or is all this painting and carpeting being done in your house pre-sale?

Stacey said...

We haven't moved yet, but we're working on it. We purchased the other home, the one we're moving to, a couple of weeks ago. But it desperately needed recarpeting and painting before we could move in. So, that's what we're in the process of doing. In the meantime, we're trying to sell our current home in Round Lake.

: )