Tuesday, October 20, 2009

While I'm Gone, Don't Feed the Demons!


I've been driven to finish my wip as if I'm being chased by the procrastination demons. I've been working so hard, I even thought it might have a proper title. When I googled said title, I discovered it had been used by an author for a 2006 coming of age novel. But I figure for now it makes a good working title and looks snazzy topping a query letter. I'll reveal my new working title at the end of this post, but first--

I've got to unplug for a week. I've been making such good progress on Mara's story that I need to give it the attention it deserves, especially if I'm going to sign up for NaNo. I haven't even allowed myself to think about my dark, delicious NaNo fairy tale while I'm still working on my WiP, that's how serious I am about finishing this first draft.

But if, while I'm gone, anyone wants to leave questions for me in the comments of this post, I'll answer them to the best of my abilities. Anything from "What's your favorite ice cream?" to "How many places have you visited?" (Answers are, respectively, lychee sorbet, and not as many as I want to. ;) ) It's been a while since my last personal post, anyway, and there are just so many wonderful things to discover about yours truly. *bats eyelashes*

To tide you over until then, I leave you with an exceedingly rough query for my almost finished, as yet working titled WiP (constructive criticism welcome!):

Query: Strings Attached, a 65,000 word YA paranormal

When the boy she refused to marry goes missing, a selfish young Gypsy girl discovers that the gift she's always denied might be the key to finding him.

Mara has always known she’s different. She can see muló, the spirits of the dead still chained to this earth. Some are helpful, like Kira, the old wise-woman, and some, like the Tinker, have much baser desires. Far from being a normal Romani girl, Mara is still surprised to realize she wants more from life than to marry Alex and become a wife and mother. Spurned, Alex leaves for Paris. Following the death of her father, Mara decides to go find him.

Mara's quest to find Alex leads her to a Parisian cabaret where nothing is as it seems-- particularly not the backer's handsome son, Guy. And using her unique gift only seems to get her into trouble. After Alex's body is found in the Seine, Mara knows she has only until winter's end to discover what happened to him before her family moves on to a new campsite. The longer she stays at the cabaret, however, the less she wants to go home. When she discovers Alex's murderer might be someone at the cabaret, Mara needs to use all her wits to keep from being the killer's next victim.

Have a great week, everyone!

8 comments:

Carrie Harris said...

Good luck, and your book sounds mucho mucho interesting!

I'd like to know your position on sparkles. Are you pro sparkle? Anti sparkle? I like to ask the tough questions.

Susan R. Mills said...

Your book sounds like a winner. I'd like to read it. Have a great week unplugging, and I hope you could everything done.

Abby Annis said...

Sounds cool! Can't wait to read it! :)

Thanks for the fabulous button! Looks awesome! I'm totally stealing it. :D

Have fun unplugging. You'll be missed, but don't worry. I'll find a way to harass you. ;)

XiXi said...

Ooooo, sounds suspenseful and lovely. Setting is a rich and important part of every story, and I love yours.

I love lychee!

Good luck with unplugged week.

Rebecca Knight said...

It's exciting that you're so close!! Good luck! *pets a demon*

Tere Kirkland said...

Thanks, y'all! It's gonna be rough, but I think I can do it. I will still be checking my email, if anyone wants to send me a pity message, and I've got to dig up a Hallowen pic to mail to Abby, but as of tomorrow morning I'll devoting the bulk of my writing efforts to my WiP.

And I'm thinking I could devote an entire post to the contexts in which I do or do not enjoy sparkles... but would anyone want to read it?

Abby Annis said...

Oooo, sparkly! Sweet! Now, you're committed. Don't know if I'll be able to wait until your un-unplugged for that post. ;)

Karen Denise said...

I like the query a lot! I'd probably leave out the word selfish in the hook. There is nothing to back it up in the query and to me, she comes off as someone who just wants more out of life and that's not selfish. Just my opinion, but the story sounds great!