Best Seller

Bum's Rush is among the best sellers on Smashwords. I am offering my free coupon PW42C to my blogging friends. Enjoy.

Does Outlineing Really Work?

I don't know if you could call what I'm doing a really outline, but let me tell you, it is working. I'd like to share with you what I'm doing and how it's working.

First of all, as I've mentioned before, I wrote Bum's Rush by the seat of my pants. It took me more than four years to finish, but it's done and it's good. Then I got this idea from another writer, about a high school prom queen and how she betrayed her best friend from second grade. It all takes place five years after they graduate. Having loved her all his life, Matthew Drako finally gives up on Halle Winters and moves on. That's it. That's all I had. That was last fall when the idea hit me. I had to take some time off from writing it to launch Bum's Rush, which if you look in the box above is now available on Amazon and Kindle.

In between then and now, I've been making notes. I wrote the first chapter which has changed three times already, then googled how to outlining a novel. I read everything I could find and finally came up with my own design. Since I was essentially clueless, I hit a dead end pretty quickly, but I believed in this idea and started writing and outlining simultaneously. Still making notes as I wrote, I wanted to hurry and get to the end. I did that, but it's only got 18 grand. Then suddenly it all started clicking and it's beginning to get some depth. The outline is actually taking over. It's a living document with tendrils that are becoming far reaching. So yeah, outlining really does work and if it's not written in stone, it's a fabulous tool for writing a novel. I doubt this book will take four years. I'm hoping by late summer, I'll be ready to publish, if not, at least by this time next year.

That Girl Update

I'm moving right along with my new novel, That Girl. My goal is to get it completed by the end of this summer. What do you think? Is it possible. It took me more than five years with the last one, but I had problems with that one. A severe case of writer's block for months at a time. I've learned with that first novel. I was a seat of the pants writer with that one and I kept having to rewrite. So, with That GirlI'm doing an outline. My first outline ran through the general scenes as I had them written. Then I concentrated on my characters and did a Character outline, now I'm on a scene by scene outline and as it turns out, I'm outlining each scene, then writing it. We'll see. I'll post a few paragraphs of the first chapter below.

First, I want to remind everyone that Bum's Rush is still free at Smashwords, or if you really want to contribute to my fortune, you can buy it at Amazon, now in book form as well as on Kindle. Thank you everyone who have already taken advantage. I love you for it.

Okay, as promised here's a bit from That Girl. Feel free to comment either way. You like it, you hate it.

Dinner was souring in my stomach. Negotiations ended, bargains made, papers signed. My business would be solvent once more, and I could pay off my future father-in-law, bless his retched soul. Now the conversation was redundant and I was nothing more than a smiling bobble head. A good woman and a tall glass of Moscato were waiting for me at home.

I caught a reflection from the door and looked at it longingly. If only I were on the other side heading away. Here I come, darlin’ start pouring the wine.

My heart leapt to my throat just as I was about to take a sip from my water glass. A brief visual of spewing my guests with water and spittle prolonged the inevitable awestruck, adolescent goddess worship. Time slowed.

They say, or so they should, the love of your dreams will be just that, in your dreams. She’ll never be the love of your life, or so they should say. My dream had just arrived.