What does 今からしようとしてたところよ mean?

Question

Ran into this line in something I was reading.

From my understanding, a volitional verb + とする means "to try to do something," so I suppose 今からしようとしている might mean "I'm trying to do it now" or "I'm about to do it."

Then, the dictionary says that a past tense verb + ところ means "to have just finished something."

But when I try and put the two together, I get something like "I just finished trying to do it now."

I think the tenses are confusing me, with 今から suggesting that it's present tense but ～たところ suggested that it's past tense.

Would the correct translation simply be "I just tried to do that?" And if so, why the 今から?

Answer 1

How about parsing it as...

｛（今から）しよう｝としていたところよ。

今から modifies しよう. You can think of 今からしよう as the volitional form of 今からする, "do it now" "start it now".

～したところ means "I have just finished something" but ～していたところ means "I was right in the middle of doing something."

So 今から(～～)しようとしていたところ(だ、です、よ etc.) is literally like "I was right in the middle of trying to do/start it now", thus "I was just about to do it."

Answer 2

する means "to do".
今からする means "to start".
今からしようとしていた means "I was trying to start".

So the literal translation is:
今からしようとしてたところ
I was just about to try to start.