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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Just write

8/24/04

I'm going to do it today. I'm going to yank that poker out of my rear end and just write. I do not need every little detail outlined before I start. I do not need every scene pre-plotted in a spreadsheet before I set prose on paper. I do not need the color of my heroine's chewing gum before she opens her mouth in my first scene.

I even started writing a scene in my head on the way home from work. Actually, two scenes. One was for my wip, the other was in a spartan room lit by a naked lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, which splashed macabre shadows on the faces of hulking Yakuza threatening calm heroine. Haha. Potential romantic suspense idea?

Last night I finished a writing article for Rubyzine (http://www.our.homewithgod.com/rubyzine/) for next month. I also posted all the articles I've written in my Writing.com portfolio: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item.php?user_id=camy

I also just received RETRIBUTION by Randy Ingermanson. It comes out next month, so I'm totally stoked I have a copy. I want to read it quickly and get a review up on Amazon before it's released. Randy has such a neat concept on his website. His take on websites is that it has to give something to the reader. He has lots of informative articles, not just on writing (his famous "Snowflake" method) but also on the Bible Codes and the James Ossuary. Totally cool stuff. And then for his books, he offers to send anyone a free copy of his latest book, plus 25 advertising brochures. If the reader likes the book, he asks that he/she give the brochures to friends and family for him. If the reader doesn't like the book, he says to just throw the brochures away. Isn't that amazing? Such a neat concept for an author. I wonder how it's been working for book sales/ author marketing.

I really should work on my website. I haven't done anything besides register www.camytang.com. I'd love to put up all my author friends' websites, and the cool links and articles I've accumulated.

No! I will not procrastinate. I will get some writing done today. Okay, here I go...

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