grammar - What does 今からしようとしてたところよ mean?

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

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."