GUTGAA TAG...No Party's Complete Without It!

I want to start by saying thanks so much to Heather Bryant for tagging me! Make sure you guys check out her awesome website, "Into the Cuckoo's Nest"

Now, onto the questions about my WIP. :)

What is the working title of your book?

Haha…Well, a lot of my followers already know, since they helped me choose it. I had three choices but, in the end, I decided to go with: AGAINST THE FALLING MOONS

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I’ve always loved really strong romances and I liked the idea of a guy pining away for the girl he loves, rather than the other way around-- which is more typical for YA. I also really loved the idea of a character who was lost and needed help finding herself. I figured how much more lost could you be than if you came here from a whole other world, but had no idea what had happened? So I put those things together and out came my book. 

What genre does your book fall under?

 I’ve been querying it as a YA light sci-fi romance. It also has a dash of paranormal and fantasy (although I’m not including that in the query) 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in the movie rendition?

 Ha ha...I totally had the cast picked for my first book, right down to minor characters. I haven't done that with Against the Falling Moons but--off the top of my head--I'd say that Fen (still using my fake names because I'm now in the top four kissing scenes at Luv Ya. Yay!) would be played by Zach Efron when he was the same age as in Seventeen Again:

(It's make-believe, so I'm allowed to make him younger.)

Hmmm...for Seria, maybe the girl that plays Lydia in Teen Wolf: 

Fen's best friend, Sin, would be Logan Lerman: 

And, more importantly than any of those, Digger the dog would be played by this big guy: 

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

When Auri falls through a rip her world and lands on Earth, her memory is erased. Luc risks his life to find her, but she no longer knows him.  (I know that's two sentences. I cheated.)

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agent? 

 I’d love to have an agent but, if push comes to shove, I’m willing to consider other alternatives.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About six months.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? 

The fact that the so-romantic, extremely-hot Fen is willing to do anything to save the girl he loves, even risk permanent banishment from his home to travel to Earth and find her. 

Small excerpt:

Seria’s the most important part of who I am. There’s no risk I won’t take, no chance, however small, I won’t grasp. If she doesn’t return with me, it won’t matter if I’m banished. Without her, my life seems pointless and purposeless, like I’m nothing but a gaping hole that walks and talks, but holds nothing real inside it.

My turn to pass it on!!

Tag! You're it!

Amy Kennedy & Christine Danek

Back on the Query Coaster and Don't Forget Pitch Madness!

So here's me today: (I included my husband because I definitely always drag him along for the ride)

So, I revised, rewrote, revised, rewrote, revised, rewrote. haha And then I did it. I hit the send button on two queries.

 It was all I could bring myself to put out into the world. Baby steps. haha  I find querying so nerve-wracking. This is my second go round with it. The first time got me a few partial requests and two fulls but, ultimately, nothing panned out. It's made me even more nervous now but I'm also hopeful too. I know I learned from the mistakes I made in the first book, so maybe I'll have been luck this time around.

How about you guys? Anyone out there in blog world getting ready to query/querying right now? How do you feel about it? Scared, excited, nervous? A mix of all three? Is this your first time querying or have you been through it before? Talk to me! (It will make me feel less alone)

Okay. Adding something to this post. I just want to remind you guys that today from 8am to 8pm Brenda Drake Writes...under the influence of coffee is hosting a Twitter Pitch Party!! Here is the blurb, as copied from her website:

After The Madness Twitter Pitch Party!

We're hosting a Twitter Pitch Party on Thursday, September 13 from 8AM to 8PM EDT on the hashtag#PitMad.  

How do you twitter pitch? You tweet your twitter pitch each time you see an agent on the hashtag. The agents will request the tweets in the feed that catch their attention. Make sure to include the hashtag in your pitch and don't @ the agents. By using the hashtag, the agents will see  your pitch.

You can tweet as many times as it takes or as many different tweets and manuscripts you wish! It's that simple. Game on! 

What's In A Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

How do you guys choose the title to your book? Does it just come to you? That's what happened in my first book. That one was about time travel. I'd just gotten done watching that movie, "Jumper" so I kept calling it "jumping" when my characters would travel through time.

I didn't like the tie-back to the movie though, so I decided to change it to "skipping" From there the title "Skipping Time" was easy enough. To this day, I love that title.

Unfortunately, I haven't had anything like that jump out at me this time. So far, I'm considering these titles:

The World Next Door

Against the Falling Moons

A World Away From Forever

Which one of those do you think you'd be the most compelled to pick up in a bookstore? If you want to know what the books about, you can scroll down to my Pitch Polish Blog hop entry, which is right below this. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this, but I'd appreciate any help I can get! The title is the first thing anyone sees, so getting it right seems pretty damn important. Thanks everyone!

Also, while I have your ear, (or actually eyes as the case would be) if you haven't voted yet, could you PLEASE head over to LUV YA for the kissing scene contest. I'm not allowed to tell you which entry is mine, but I made it to the top five, so I've got my fingers crossed that you'll pick me. :) First prize is a twenty page critique by an agent, so I'd pretty much die of happiness if I won. 

And before you leave, make sure you tell me about how you came up with your book title!

GUTGAA Pitch Polish Blog Hop...REVISED based on feedback.

Okay. So, I feel like I have this query all over the place online, but I suppose that's a good thing. Since I didn't get chosen in Pitch Madness, I chose to take place in the Pitch Polish Blog Hop (Thanks for hosting Deanna!)

This has been through the wringer, but here's my latest try. Oh, and for anyone reading my query who recognizes it from somewhere else and gets confused at the change of names, I'm in the top five kissing scenes at LUV YA. (PRETTY PLEASE GO VOTE!!!)  I'm not allowed to "pimp" my own entry, since the contest is based strictly on the writing and all entries are anonymous. Since my MC's names are used in both entries, for the purpose of my query over here, I'm temporarily changing them. That way, nobody who goes from my website to LUV YA could recognize the names and know which entry is mine. I would hate to inadvertently cheat. :)

I also changed the title of the book. I'm trying on a few different titles to see which one gets the best response.

Against the Falling Moons

Fen's sixth birthday is marked by tragedy when his best friend, Seria, falls through a rip in the fabric of Trillua and disappears into a parallel world--Earth. But Fen soon discovers that the strange bond he always shared with Seria survived. Over the next ten years he watches through his dreams as she grows into a beautiful sixteen year old girl who doesn't trust anyone.

When the leaders of Trillua open a Portal to travel to Earth, Fen risks banishment from the home he loves to hijack a spot on their mission and rescue Seria. But the fall has wiped Seria's mind of all that came before it. Fen has just one month to convince her she belongs with him before the Portal back home closes.

As the clock ticks down, Fen realizes that his proximity to Seria has somehow made him faster, stronger and almost invulnerable to pain or injury. He knows his unheard of powers seem like magic, something punishable by death on his world. Unlike his dreams of Seria, his new abilities are impossible to hide. When the leaders learn the truth, they demand he take the Portal home to be examined as a potential danger to Trillua. If he fails to immediately return, his family will be banished into the treacherous Outerlands.

Now Fen must choose. Abandon the girl he was born to love, or save the family who's depending on him for their survival.

First 150 (But not really--fair warning, I'm cheating on my wordcount. This is the first 200, but only because I made some changes based on feedback and wanted to see if they worked, but that necessitated making it longer. Sorry!)

 Outside the window, the ThriceMoon is slowly replaced by the glare of the rising sun. Deep in a daydream about kissing Seria, it takes me a few seconds to understand what's happening.  I blink in confusion.  The sun? Cursing, I bolt upright from the hard floor. The low rumble of Sin’s snores fills the room. I scramble to my feet and punch him in his arm. “Sin! Blast it. Sin! Wake up!” I wave my hand, as if I can physically brush away the ashy black emotion-trails surrounding me.

On his bed, Sin jerks as his eyes fly open. “I wasn’t with that girl.”

This earns him another punch. “I’m not one of your girls, dolt. It’s Fen!  We lost track of the hour. Look!” I point out the window that takes up the whole west wall of Sin’s bedroom. Beyond it, the blue sweep of valley is brightening as the sun peeks over the horizon.

Sin’s eyes widen so fast it would be amusing under other circumstances. “It’s daybreak? But your…”

“Test is today. I know. Emelina will banish me if she realizes I stayed out all night.”

Sin’s voice takes on a lilt. “You must be well-rested for your Test, Fen. I cannot convey the importance of a good night’s sleep.” He does a disturbingly good imitation of Emelina. 

CAGI Auction and Stuff...

Hi Guys!

So, right around the time I was entering GUTGAA, I also entered CAGI (Come and Get it) over at Cupid's Literary Connection.  I was actually able to get my query and first 250 words in. I'm entry 29 if any of you guys want to check it out. I actually changed the very beginning of my entry (you can't change the actual entry) but I changed it down in my comments section, based on awesome feedback I got from people, so now I really need to know if the new beginning works. haha. If anyone could take a look, it would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, even if you didn't get into CAGI, Cupid's Literary Connection is having an awesome auction over there that starts next week. A list of things being auctioned off: (as copied from Cupid's website)

Query Critique - offered by Molly Jaffa (Folio Literary Management, LLC)

50 Page Critique - offered by Natalie Lakosil (Bradford Literary Agency)

Phone Call - offered by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg (Larsen Pomada Literary Agency)

3 Chapter Critique - offered by Julia Alexandra Weber (J.A. Weber Literaturagentur GmbH)

Query Critique - offered by Linda Epstein (The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency)

Phone Call - offered by Terrie Wolf (AKA Literary, LLC)

Teen Eyes Critique ($60 dollar value) - offered by Taryn Albright (Teen Eyes)

So, if you haven't bookmarked her page yet, get over there and check it out. Good luck to any fellow CAGI entries  and I wish you guys all the best of luck in the auction. See you over there!

Meet and Greet GUTGAA

Meet and Greet Questions for GUTGAA

Where do you Write? On my bed with my laptop and comfy pillows behind me.

Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see? My husband most of the time. If not him, then one of my five kids and--if none of them are taking up the second half of the bed--one of my four doggies.

Favorite Time to Write? All day, whenever I get the chance. 

Drink of choice while writing? My husband makes the best Frappe's in the whole world, even better than Starbucks. It's like having my own personal barista. :)

When writing, do you listen to music or do you need complete silence? I've done both. I can write either way. I really like listening to music but, half the time, I forget to turn it on. One of the best things about writing while listening to a playlist is that those songs are forever tied into my book so, whenever I hear one, I can see the different scenes in my head, which generally makes me smile.

What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it? Haha. I was about three-quarters of the way through the fourth re-write of my first manuscript when a bunch of people in my old critique group got ideas for second books. I panicked, wondering if I was ever going to have it in me to write anything besides the book I'd been working on. Then I remembered a short story I'd written the year before. I went back to it, re-vamped the ideas and the characters and got excited about book number two--The World Next Door--which is now complete and close to being queried. Strangely enough, now I'm worried I'll never be able to think of another idea again.

What's your most valuable writing tip? I've read this so many times that I feel totally unoriginal, but I have to second it. Read. I find so much inspiration/knowledge in reading my favorite writers. My writing is so much better because of everyone who's come before me.

Some other facts about me:Hmmm....My favorite books are the Harry Potter series, but I also am a huge fan of Cassandra Clare. I can't wait for the movie, City of Bones to come out next year. I also love all things Disney and, because of that, my house kind of looks like a five year old decorated it. I have five kids, four dogs and five cats. Chairman Meow is one of my cats, he's named after Magnus's cat in TMI. My favorite number is four because all of my kids (with the exception of the last one) were born at four. My oldest daughter 4am, then my middle daughter, 4pm, my middle son 4pm, my next son 4:04 pm. My youngest daughter broke the chain, but--since she was born at four minutes after twelve and her birthday is on 12/4 I forgive her. ;)

One of my favorite people to hang out with:

Hello.....

Hi everyone,

So, I decided to hop back into the blogging world. I used to run a great blog, "Chimera Critiques" with the amazing Zellie Blake. We had a lot of fun on that site together and Zellie had some great ideas for what she wanted to do. When Zell lost her battle with cancer--two years ago today--I no longer wanted to blog. But now it feels like it's time. So, here I am again. This is our Chimera--a nod to Zellie and the old site.

I'd like to use some of Zellie's ideas for this blog. She was such an amazing girl and she was so excited about the opportunity to connect with other reader's/writers. One of the things we did on Chimera Critiques was offer query and chapter critiques. I did a ton of critiquing during my time with our site. I'll be offering critiques again. For those of you wondering what qualifications I have, let me start by saying up front that I haven't gotten an agent yet. But I do have a lot of articles published with our local paper, I've been published in Woman's World Magazine and I've run a homeschooling writing group with teenagers where we studied critiquing in depth. I obviously hope to get an agent and land a book deal, but I also just love writing and helping other people. I find critiquing is an excellent way to stay on top of my own writing.

I also really like doing crafts that are book related. I have a few, along with tutorials, that I plan on putting up on the site--hopefully to inspire other people or just to have fun. I hope to do some author interviews, fun contests, book reviews, writing tips and whatever else occurs to me. So, that's about it for now. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you come back!!