STILL Working on Synopsis

I sent draft #7 of the synopsis for Novel #2 to a fellow writer/reviewer a few weeks ago. It took a couple weeks (first it was his schedule, then it was mine), but while I was on vacation (skiing in Montana!) last week, we connected via phone and hashed over it for nearly two hours. (Two hours! Over three pages!)

It still amazes me that every time I think something is "close" (in this case, I thought maybe 2-3 more drafts) ... I've so much more to do than I thought. It's bad but it's good - after all, it only gets better each time I re-work it.

Or perhaps I'm too much of a perfectionist with this synopsis. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on it. Its sole purpose is for the agent query letter... So what if I can't get an agent to consider the novel? I've self-published once; I can certainly do it again.

But there's just something in me that compels me: if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it RIGHT. I want to do it to the best of my ability. (And it's not just writing that I feel that way about.)

I will say this: writing the synopsis is HARDER than (and certainly not as fun as) writing the book! And until I finish it, I'm stuck in one spot. I can't work on the novel because I need 'distance' from it while writing the synopsis. And, of course, I can't send out agent queries without a synopsis. And - as always - time is an issue. So I'm going to sign off now and work on it some before my daughter wakes from her nap...

What I'm Working on Now: a Random Selection from Novel-in-Progress

Written today...

Aaron woke to an insistent tapping on his arm and a small voice saying, "Can we watch another one? Can we?"

Startled, he glanced at the clock: 4:40. Holly would be there within a couple hours. "I think we can do that," he said. "Until your mom gets here."

He felt a little guilty for falling asleep on the job, but as he was changing the movies, Nick surprised him -- and nearly knocked him over -- by throwing himself at Aaron and squeezing him tight. It was what Holly called his "aggressive form of love" and it touched Aaron in a way that he wasn't ready to analyze...