...at the hair-pulling, top-of-my-lungs screaming, want-to-throw-Rocky-out-the-window difficulties I'm having with synopses. I'll think, "Wow. I was such a newbie. I can't believe I thought it was so tough." I'll pull out early synopsis efforts and giggle uncontrollably. Then I'll whip a new one off in a few short days and send it out.

That's my fantasy. Well, one of them. I do have some much more interesting fantasies than that, but that's the one that applies here.

What brought this on, you ask?

Most of you know I've been battling with a synopsis for IH for months. Writing. Re-writing. Changing the focus. Writing again. All of that intermingled with a tremendous amount of healthy bashing my head against the wall.

Okay. Maybe not so healthy.

Anyway, I've studied and learned all I could about The Dreaded Synopsis. I've poured over article after article on the Internet. I've purchased books about the subject. I've taken workshops. Yet still, the ability to effectively summarize my 115,000 word book in just 3-5 pages evades me. And does so gleefully, thumbing its nose at me as it skips and dances just beyond my reach.

So I'm taking another workshop: Mastering the 1-2 Page Synopsis with Mary Buckham. I'm hoping that during the course of this month-long workshop the proverbial light bulb will flash somewhere in the vicinity of my head and I'll yell, "Oh my god! That's it! That's the secret!"

And if my sudden yelling startles my husband and children, well, that'll be a bonus.

The first worksheet was a short one about our protagonist. I agonized over this thing. Wrote, re-wrote, and wrote again. Finally finished and sent it in. The bad news is, based on Mary's comments, that ol' light bulb isn't just burned out. Somebody's stolen the little sucker and tossed it in the trash. The good news is she gave me some wonderful advice on how to fix it. So I've edited and resubmitted. No word yet on if I'm still off in La La Land.

I'm determined. I will learn this. I will finally get this synopsis done and sent out. As far as I'm concerned, there's still hope.

They say that which does not kill us makes us stronger. Hell, I'm He-Man now. Anybody have any idea what they say about that which makes us bald and adds extra lines to our faces?

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PROGRESS: I did manage to get a bunch of edits done yesterday on BMO chapter 1 for my RD mentor!