Synopses and Home Cooking

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." - W. Somerset Maugham

I have a writing friend who just completed her first story that she plans to submit. She emailed me with a cry for help last night -- she is working on her first query and synopsis.

BLECH. YUCK. ICK.

I emailed her back with a pile of URLs telling how to write them, sent her a couple of mine (which are NOT perfect at all, but at least she's familiar with the stories and can see how the synopsis worked around the actual full length piece) and then told her that writing a query/synopsis would be the hardest thing (writing-wise) that she'd ever do.

I read back on the agent queries I sent out on "One Love for Liv" and, ugh. They are not good. Despite the feeling that I still can't write a query/synopsis to save my life, I guess I am getting a little better with practice.

In any case -- anyone out there have hints or ideas to make the torture a little easier? I'm sure my friend would appreciate it, and I KNOW I would.

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Well, the dog food saga with Dakota continues. I've decided to go home made and will start this weekend. She's actually gaining weight on the Evo (which shocked me -- she's always been so skinny!) despite feeding her less and her fur feels coarse. Also, for some reason that food makes me feel a little out of control.

I found a couple fabulous books that really talk about keeping your pet healthy from the inside out and feeding them right (as well as making certain the meals are balanced). I thought I'd share in case anyone else might be interested.

The first is called "The Whole Pet Diet" and is for cats and dogs. What I liked about this book is that the author addresses all parts of an animals life and actually sets up an eight week schedule to ease you into learning a holistic approach to caring for your pet. This person also started a company -- Halo Pets -- that sells the same foods she gives recipes for in the book (in case you don't want to make them yourself). Additionally, she has kibble for those times when making food is difficult or impractical (for instance, folks who have cats and go away for the weekend will usually just leave food down -- can't do that with homemade as it will spoil). What I really appreciate about this author is this: she doesn't have some secret supplement you have to buy in order to use his book. She actually gives you the recipes. BUT, you can also buy them if it's easier. Even if you don't want to feed home made food to your critters, you might give this book a read.

The second book is a cookbook, but also contains a nutrition guide to assist you in making absolutely sure your pet's meals are balanced. It is "Better Food for Dogs", and I'll be basing most of my meals for Dakota from this. I'm also going to start making my own wet food for the cat (she takes glucosomine daily that I mix in wet food). The cat is on organic food, so I worry less about her kibble. I can afford it for her as she only eats 1/3 c of food a day.

So, the journey begins this weekend. Cuz, yanno, I didn't already have enough to do.

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You Are The Brain

You're the type of person who's always on, always churning. You are alert and quick to react. You like to stay busy. You are responsible but also demanding. You take up a lot of energy. You are someone of deep mystery. There's a lot below the surface that's hard to figure out.

What Internal Organ Are You?

Okay... Yeah...

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Me and My Sunny Disposition!

"People on the outside think there's something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it." - Harlan Ellison

A quick health update... The hubs is worse, though he says if he could just cut his sinuses out, all would be well. Dakota is, unfortunately, about the same -- though I did get to sleep a solid three hours between midnight and 3 a.m.! She woke me every hour prior to then, but I'm counting my blessings. So far, DD and I have avoided all the creeping crud around the house, and yesterday it was warm enough (and we had a fire in the woodstove) that we opened all the windows and aired the joint out. Bye bye, germs. I hope.

We're expecting 5 - 10 inches of snow overnight tonight. I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am about this little development.

I'm so ready for spring.

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I had to write and polish a synopsis for "Kitchen Matches" recently. Have I mentioned that I hate writing synopses? The hardest part for me was this: "Kitchen Matches" is a little quirky...along the lines of "The Christmas Curse" -- not "Yuck-yuck" grab your stomach funny, but a little...silly.

I wanted to get that across in the synopsis, but it was next to impossible. I have no idea if I accomplished that goal. What do you think? Here's the first bit following my tagline intro (note: Cori is the heroine, Micah is her cooking teacher and our hero):

From the moment Cori met Micah, she turned into a klutz: flying poultry, apron fires and more dotted her inauspicious time in cooking class. And yet, despite his obvious annoyance, Micah consistently treated her like a lady, something few people did. Just because Cori worked as an auto mechanic and tow truck driver, most folks figured she had more testosterone than the average female. Cori’s mother suggested the cooking class as a way to get in touch with her feminine side, and her brothers double-dog dared her into taking it.

I firmly believe that synopsis writing is the hardest part of writing a book for publication.

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Your Daily Dakota:

Life is hard...(she's actually sleeping with DD in this pic)...



I need to take some new pictures. I will soon... though at the rate she's purging her body of food, she's going to look like a concentration camp survivor soon considering she's already skinny. Really, I DO feed my dog...

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From Charity:

I am a Daffodil What Flower Are You?

You have a sunny disposition and are normally one of the first to show up for the party. You don't need too much attention from the host once you get there as you are more than capable of making yourself seen and heard.

So NOT me... a sunny disposition? HAHAHAHA! And, the only reason I'd be first at a party is because I'm anal about punctuality.