Last week was actually pretty productive—up until Friday. I caught up on a lot of promo activities and started a brand new proposal.

Today, however, I’m feeling kinda lazy and need to figure out how to kick my ass into high gear. I had the 4-year-old the last two days, and spent a lot of time playing with her, which meant I made minimal progress on my proposal. BUT the time away from the story gave me some perspective, and I realized I’d made a major newbie mistake when I set up the conflicts. All the hero and heroine’s issues could be resolved if someone locked them in a room together and told them to talk it all out. Misunderstandings can’t serve as strong hinge for an entire plot.

So, who did I call? My sister, Elle James, the queen of plotting. We threw some ideas around, some really involved, which I nixed because I’d have to start all over again (I’ve done that twice already) and, at last, one solution that was simpler and gave my heroine a very strong reason to keep lying to the hero. I’m happier.

This week, I have to finish the proposal (synopsis and three chapters), ship it to my agent, and then get ready to go to Oklahoma. Sis and I are conducting a plotting bootcamp for a group of ladies, and we will be gone Thursday through Sunday.