Drafting Synopses

I sent off my first 5 pages and synopsis for analysis and no doubt much red inking at Get Writing in February.  5 pages when they're double spaced doesn't add up to many words ... I had to edit hard to get as much of the opening plot line in as I could.  I really like working to a tight structure, it makes you ensure every paragraph works hard to be included.
There's no time for nail-biting as I need to work on a synopsis for my most recent project which I'll be pitching in a 3 minute slot at the same conference ... I've just started writing chapter 4 and know how it's going to end, it's just the bit in the middle I need to work on.  Will be working on some loose ideas for the next couple of novels in the series too... there will be steam coming out of the keyboard tonight :)

Three days to go until I have to submit the first five pages of my novel ahead of my 10 minute facetime slot at the Get Writing Conference in February.  Eeeeeeek  I've hashed, re-hashed and trampled all over my first chapter and it's still not quite right.  I've consoled myself with half a tin of Quality Street, sat till gone midnight and stared at it till I'm blind with staring.  In a way I can't wait until Saturday, the last day to email it over, so I'll be forced to go with what I've got.
Meanwhile ideas for my new project are bubbling under the surface and I keep making notes full of pure brilliance ... or so they seem at 1am ... until I've finished my synopsis and 5 pages and can get back to it.  I'm pitching the idea of this one to a separate agent in a 3 minute slot so I need to come up with a slick, no-nonsense synopsis between now and 11th Feb. 
In the meantime the allotment is looking good ... I love this time of year as the weeds have stopped growing and I can actually dig a section over knowing that when I go back a week later it won't be covered in nettle seedlings.  I made a Heath-Robinson inspired compost bin last week out of chicken wire and old bamboo canes ... the bamboo canes are adorned with up-ended plastic milk-bottles to make them safe.  It looks hideous but better than poking your eye out.

So the disaster that was the lost chapters fuelled my resolve to plan, plan and plan again to get the novel in good shape to be written and submitted...... That was the theory, but in practice I became so bogged down with the wretched thing that I put it away, closed the folder and left it collecting dust under the bed.  I've just begun to re-visit it mainly due to my having booked myself in for a 10 minute face time slot at February's Get Writing 2012 event.  I'd been struggling with writing the novel in third person and trying to successfully get across the character's emotions and ideals so with an unexpected day off from work last Tuesday I re-wrote it in first person.  I think it works, better than before - there's no time to change my mind now.  My first 5 pages have to be submitted in less than two weeks .............. oh yes and I'm also working on a new young teen novel that I'm booked to pitch in a 3 minute slot.  Glutten for punishment or just plain daft?