Monday 28 January 2008

Shed gets new roof, wise words & synopses



Dh and I re-roofed the shed yesterday. Well, he did most of it but I did help...if you can call balancing on a ladder shouting, "I can't reach," and "I'm going to drop it," and "Oh bugger, I've got glue all over me." I ended up covered in the black glue that he had to paint over the roof before we could place and nail the new ruberoid (I think it's called) on top of it. Now the only way this will come off the roof is if the entire thing is blown away. It doesn't look very different to how it did before but this covering has a slightly green tinge and goes better with the rest of the painted woodwork. Although dh advised me that the colour of it had nothing whatsoever to do with him choosing it.
I was sent an email today and these words were at the top. 'Be who you are and say what you feel...Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter.' It made me laugh as, being one of those people who is constantly getting into trouble for speaking my mind (although I call it honesty, but maybe I'm a little confused) I did find it amusing.
I'm off now to re-write my synopsis for T&OL. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I hate trying to do these. I can't ever fathom exactly how much information I should put in and never manage to make the novel sound as interesting and fun to read as I think (hope) it is.

7 comments:

Lane Mathias said...

I love the 'those that matter' saying. So true!

Very smart new roof there. Have you painted the shed as well or is it a trick of the light?

Annieye said...

Very smart new roof.

As for wise words my mum used to say "If you can't say something nice about someone then don't say it at all."

She used to practise what she preached too. She never used to slag anyone off.

Synopsis - I did one for Twisted Garlands but I don't know if its any good.

HelenMWalters said...

The shed looks marvellous! I am dreading redoing the synopsis for AOP as I really have no idea what I'm doing. Think I'll leave it until I'm further on with actually writing the novel!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

lane - the shed wasn't repainted, it was a trick of the light. The colour does look he same though.

annieye - your mother was quite right with her saying. My problem is that when I'm asked for my opinion I generally get into trouble (with certain people) for saying what I do think, rather than what they want to hear. So this saying struck an amusing cord with me.

I find it so hard to write a synopsis and never quite know how to go about it.

helenmh - thanks, I'm glad the roof is done now and am quite stiff after my efforts to 'help'.

I think most people find writing a synopsis quite difficult. How do you put 100k words into 1k and make it interesting?

Ray-Anne said...

New shed roof? Oh ,,,,,SHINY!
simple pleasures.
The advice I have been given is that the content of synopsis can depend on whether you are submitting to a category publisher or a single title publisher.
Both need the main turning points and the hook, but length and style will be different.
And yes, it is not easy.

Annieye said...

Deb: I wish you were coming to London too!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

annieye - thank you. I shall be thinking of you all.