Thursday, July 28, 2005

The Saga Continues...

I've done it. Gone and started on another book. This one is in between a chick lit and a hen lit book. I say this because the heroine is 35. Could go either way or hen? I don't know, but I'm into the third chapter and am standing on 5,957 words and 25 double-spaced pages. It's a start.

I've had this manuscript in my files just waiting for the right time to start it. Time is not a problem, getting the muse started is. Sometimes it just takes me a matter of a few months to write a book but if the muse isn't there, I let it sit until it is there. After all, I have too many other projects going on and can keep quite busy finishing those up.

Actually, Unpublished Book #1 has to be reworked. Or something. I think. Actually, I have only sent it to one agent and she never got back to me. That was back in December. I figured she didn't have the heart to tell me it stunk. Sob. Pout. Another author told me that's the way they do business. They don't return emails, although they tell you to query by email. Go figure. This one was about a romance novelist who finds love in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I loved writing that book. I actually did find love in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains and that's why I wrote it. But that's a long story for another time.

While I was waiting on word from them for that one, I wrote another. This is Unpublished Book #2. This is dubbed my "hen lit" because the protags are about to turn the big 5-0. Cute premise if I say so, but seems Agents 1, 2, & 3 couldn't take it on. Bah. Humbug. Well, along comes Agent #4 and this is a BIG agency. What's the odds of them taking this on, I thought? Practically zip. So, then I did a little evaluation of what I sent them. The first chapter tells nothing of what the book is going to be about and instead concentrates on the main character and her life. Okay, so what's the big deal, huh?

Well, the big deal is that nothing made the agents go, "Wow. Sign her on. This is going to take her to the top and make lots of money for us."

So, I've got to rework that first chapter to make them do that. Which I've started on and then when I finish and send it off and if they reject it, I'm going to jump the next plane to Zimbaywe or something. Bad mispelling, but you get my drift.

So, anyway, I don't know what I was doing, but I found Unpublished Book-To-Be in my files and I went hmmm. Looked good but instead of having the main character like this, I'm going to make her like that and I think it's way better than what I started out with.

Some things are better if they have time to stew awhile.

Wanna read a little bit? Okay, let me find something...hold on...okay, here's a little part....

“So, Molly,” Clint said, leaning closer to me, “tell me your story.”

Want it made up or are you ready for the real McCoy? I giggled to
myself.

“Not much to tell,” I answered. “How far back do you want me to go?”

He laughed and a whiff of his cologne drifted by. I made another mental note to put that on my list of things my soul mate just had to have.

“For beginners, tell me how you’ve managed to stay single all your life,” he continued.

Eek. Uh. Because I’m too picky?

“I’m looking for my soul mate and until he comes into my life, I refuse to marry
someone just because I fall in love with him.”

There. I said it. In a nutshell. Like it or leave it.

“Soul mate?” he laughed. “So you are looking for The One, are you?”

“Well, not actually looking. If it happens, it happens.”

Clint leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “As in fate?” he asked, slyly.

Hm. Good question, Clint.

“No, I don’t believe in fate,” I replied, taking a gulp of my daiquiri. “I have a system.”

He laughed gregariously. “A system?”

“Sure, everyone has some sort of system they use,” I said nonchalantly. “The thing is, mine works.”


Well, that's only a little bit of it, and it's a rough draft, but as you can tell I think I have mixed soul mates and chick lit into one book. Kathy Holmes, bless her little pea-picking heart, suggested I do this since I knew a little bit about soul mates and that is what made me decide to go back into this book and give it a whole new angle. And I do believe it's going to work. I hope so anyway. Okay, back to writing!

Au revoir mon amie....

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, Kathy! I sure hope this works. I'll have to blog about it, but I'm trying to keep the chick/hen lit feel and I don't want it to turn into a romance but it's so heading that way! Eeeeekkkk! Stop me!!!!

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