Back to the Beginning

Before I get into the main portion of my post, I have a fun announcement. I'm one of the GUTGAA finalists over at Deana Barnhart's blog!! This past week anonymous judges voted on their top 50 queries and first 150 pages, and next week, 11 agents will pop over to Deana's blog and look at them. They can make requests if they want, so fingers crossed!! If you have time, pop over and cheer me on. My book is called Everdream.

Okay. On to what I'd originally planned. So, I've completed three novels now. Completed being the key word, since I've written many others, but not finished them (mostly in my teens). My first completed novel was Countless, about a witch. It wasn't strong enough, so I had to put it on the back burner last year and started writing Martinis with the Devil, about a vampire. Well, that book is very strong, but vamps are a super hard sell right now, so no luck with that so far. So, my third book is Everdream, a middle grade fantasy. GUTGAA is it's debut into the world; I hadn't started querying it yet. So, if I don't have any luck with the agents next week, I'll be jumping on the query train and will need a distraction.

So, I'm finally circling back to Countless, to rewrite it from third to first person. It's a great story, but I never got the voice strong enough. It was just missing that vital sparkle dust that takes a book from good to great. I realized a while back that I really should have written it in first all along. Not only do I write better in first, but the story goes so deep into my MC's thoughts and feelings that it really is best in first. And you know what? I am so super stoked to get back to those characters and the journey they're on! I adore them, and I can't wait to dive back in and make it shine like it deserves.

That's pretty much the plan for the fall. After that, who knows? No writing plans yet for next year. We'll just have to see how the literary cookie crumbles. What about you guys? What's your main project this autumn?

I'm Over at Charlie Holmberg's Blog Today!

Please pop over and visit me there. I am her "Someday Star" of the week. Can you see me blushing?

Also, if you're looking for my GUTGAA entry, it's here. Hope everyone's having a fab week!

Pimp My Query

I'm participating in Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up To Get An Agent contest (aka GUTGAA)! Deana is a great blog friend, and even though she's now repped by Sarah LaPolla, she's still so awesome that she wants to pay it forward by hosting this contest. Go follow her if you're not already, and check out the contest. She has helpful contest links in the upper right hand corner of her blog.

And a quick update for those of you who read my last post on virus woes, I'm using hubby's computer this week while I wait for my Toshiba recovery disks to come in the mail. He's just going to wipe my hard drive. So, hopefully my cute little laptop will be healthy again soon.

Okay, so on to GUTGAA! I'm entering my recently completed upper middle grade fantasy. For those of you that don't know, middle grade is usually readers between 7 and 12, and upper middle grade is the oldest category, usually the 11 and 12-year-olds. This is my first full length middle grade novel, though I wrote a short novella for my son once.

So, what we're supposed to post is our query and the first 150 pages of the book. The judging round is next week, so please offer up your feedback so I can polish! Tell me what works and what doesn't. I really would appreciate any and all constructive criticism. Also, definitely let me know if you're participating in GUTGAA too, so I can make sure to visit your entry. I know I'm not going to be able to make it to all 200 or so entries, so that will guarantee I return your visit. And, please feel free to provide feedback even if you're one of my regular blog friends not in GUTGAA!

Query:

(Agent's proper salutation),

The last of the dreams are running out…

It’s been thirteen years since the Queen of Ravens cast the spell to strip all Taravel’s inhabitants of dreams. Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to her, there is one remaining who can dream unaided, twelve-year-old Eleven, the dreamseer.

An orphan, El has been raised in a black market dream caravan, caring for the ponies who grant people the ability to dream. The citizens of Taravel pay generously for a ride on the dream carousel, a chance to touch the magical, dream-inducing manes of the ponies. But when the ponies start losing their ability to spin dreams, El knows she must do something.

Accompanied by Dusti, a persnickety pony, and Ryn, the pirate-poet, El sets out to break the Queen’s spell. The three companions’ adventures take them from crystal pirate ships, to cities in the sky, to underground palaces and the home of a sea witch. Along the way El realizes there’s a lot more at stake than the ponies: a rebellion is brewing, the Queen has learned of her existence, and the truth about her parents is far different than she ever imagined. And worst of all, if El doesn’t free the dreams soon, they’ll be gone forever.

Everdream is a 50,000 word upper middle grade fantasy. Per your submission guidelines, I've included (whatever requested) below. Thank you for your time and consideration.



First 150 words:

Dreams seeped through the flaps of the tent, escaping into the sky like multi-colored ghosts. It was a busy night in the caravan. Though the metallic taste of thunder sat on my tongue and dark clouds pressed down over the crowd, we were still packed. The other merchants had begun to close up for the night. But we weren’t exactly ordinary merchants.

I counted bodies as I walked along the line of people snaking out the purple and white striped tent. Sixty-two. Eight-eight. Ninety-six. When I hit one hundred I cut in.

“Sorry, but this is the cap for the night.” I watched the opposite expressions of relief and disappointment on the faces of the two people I stood between. Groans and angrier protests rose around me.

I walked back to the tent as the crowd behind lucky number one hundred dispersed into the darkness.



Thanks for taking the time to read my entry! Good luck to all GUTGAA participants. And everybody have a great week!

There Should Be a Special Circle of Hell...

Reserved for people who create computer viruses. My practically brand new laptop has become infected to the point where it is completely non-functional. This is the third time in a year I've gotten a bad virus. And I even have anti-virus software. Very frustrating... and since Best Buy tells me that new computers don't come with a backup disk for your operating system like they used to, I'm probably going to have to pay a lot of money to get Geek Squad to take care of it. And don't even get me started on the horrendous service I've gotten from Norton after I paid them to remove the virus.

Okay, rant over! Anyways, I'm borrowing hubby's computer at the moment, but I probably won't be able to visit as many blogs since we have to share at the moment. Just wanted to let everybody know... As I said to my husband yesterday, it's probably a really good thing I don't have those special witch powers I always wanted or there would be a lot of virus-creator carnage in my wake...

So, has anyone else experienced such bad luck with viruses? Any words of wisdom?

Glorious Bookstores

While I was in Colorado I had the pleasure of visiting two of the three Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver. It's a locally owned business, but the store is even bigger than your average B&N or Borders (before they went out of business). Each location had mostly new books, but a small used book section as well. And awesome gifts and greeting cards (such as the 'Yay Unicorns!' magnet I got) (oh yes, I totally did). AND a yummy cafe with coffee and tea and scrumptious treats to eat.

But what was most fabulous was the books. Tens of thousands of books with gorgeous, touchable covers and pretty white paper and glorious black ink. Books in little nooks and crannies, on all different levels (at least two stories in each store), which were so much more creative and magically arranged than the chains I'd been to before. I thought, please let there not be a day when bookstores don't exist. I get the lure of e-readers. I wouldn't mind having one for traveling. But I will never lose my adoration for old-fashioned books I can touch and smell and worship in a way that electronics will never hold a candle to.

Here are a few pics of Tattered Cover, though they don't do it any justice at all:

 

 

Ahhh, I'm going to miss Tattered Cover. So, what are your favorite bookshops? Either in your town, or ones you've visited...

I'm Back! Updates on Writing, Querying and Colorado

I'm back from my blog break! I missed you guys. I've been really curious to know what everyone's up to. At any rate, I accomplished what I set out to do on my break: I finished writing the first draft of my middle grade fantasy, and I sent out a final round of queries for my second urban fantasy. And, I had a lovely trip to visit my bestie in Colorado (pics below!).

My first draft wrapped up nicely, and then I immediately thought of a better opening scene, so I messed with that even though I usually let my manuscript sit for a bit before starting to edit. It's been a few weeks now though, so I'm going to do my first read through this week and get started on edits. My query news is that there is no news. No bites for my urban fantasy, which I strongly suspect is because my MC is part vampire, and everyone seems over vamps right now. So, that's pretty disappointing because I think it's an awesome book. Yes, that sounds narcissistic. I am a writer, after all :) I put my first urban fantasy on the back burner because I knew that it needed to be stronger. I really feel this one is ready though. Alas. That's why you just keep writing - my disappointment is lessened since I have my third book done and ready for edits. Of course, I still have a number of queries out there, so I could still hear something better than the dreaded form rejection.

A couple other notes before I share my Colorado pics: first, I've decided to take a break from my urban fantasy newsletter. I really, really love putting it together, but it takes me a lot of hours each month, and I think I'm getting stretched a bit too thin. I'd rather put my time into chatting with you guys here and on Twitter. Maybe I'll start up again in the future - we'll see. Also, I've heard lots of news lately of a blogger that was sued for using photos that weren't hers on her blog, even with proper citations and whatnot. So, I took down all the pics that I'd found on the net for various posts, and wanted to spread the word to everyone I know so you can look into this for yourself.

Anyways, on that note, here are pics I took myself of my awesome trip to Colorado:

Oh, wait, Christina took this. I think I'm safe, though :) Me on the Millennium Bridge in Denver.

Also on the M Bridge... I thought this was super cute.

Me and Christina on an overlook in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Me. Notice my hand touching the rail. I am deathly afraid of heights and couldn't stand there without touching something solid. Totally illogical, I know.

A gorgeous river we hiked along on the Fern Lake trail at RMNP.

After many, many attempts to get a pic of these bastard chipmunks, who would run around my feet taunting me, hold the perfect pose until right when I snapped the pic, and generally do everything to make fun of my attempts, I finally got a good pic.

This was in the Roxborough National Park. I thought my camera didn't get a good pic of the dew drops and everything, so I was stoked when I uploaded it and saw that it did.

This was a very placid deer that let us take lots of nice pics of her, unlike the demonic chipmunks.

So, what's up with you? Tell me if I missed any big news!

Summer Break

I'm taking a little blog break. I want to finish the first draft of my MG fantasy and do more querying on my urban fantasy. I'm also taking an actual physical vacation in early August to visit a friend in Colorado. I'll definitely still be popping on Twitter, so hit me up there if you want to show me some love. I'll be back to the blogosphere in mid-August. See you then!