FINISHED!!!

That's it, I'm done. Not even ten minutes ago, I just finished all my edits in Khaladin! The story went from thirty chapters and 39,000 words to thirty-three chapters and 42,000 words. It sounds so much better now and I am very proud of it! :)

Well, with the query and story done, it is now time to rewrite the dreaded synopsis. Writing a synopsis, so far, is the only thing I have found I hate in writing. It's hard to condense a 42K story to five to eight pages.

I am going to try to write my synopsis in five pages. I have found that's about the average and that will give me a good model to go by should an agent want a synopsis that is longer or shorter.

Hopefully I can complete my synopsis soon. If I'm lucky, it might even get done tonight. Once it is finished, then the queries can go out again. Hopefully this story will generate more interest. Do you know how pumped I'd be if an agent wanted to look at sample pages or read the entire manuscript? Forget a contract, just one reading my work would make me feel so awesome. And if that contract did happen to come my way, then it's a good thing you don't live at my house, cause I'd be screaming. :)

TTYL, guys! :D

Two New Chapters Done

OK, so far today I have added two new chapters to Khaladin. There's more on the way, but I've written over 1,000 words today alone, and that's great, considering I haven't been able to do that in quite a while.

I've had a lot of time on my hands to write. Today especially, because I am SUPER sore. Why? I have taken up a new sport and that sport is horseback riding.

The owners of the barn that I volunteer at are so nice that they are giving me riding lessons for free. I ride a beautiful Quarter Horse mare named Sooner. When I get some pictures, I'll post them so you can see. :)

An Editing Update

So, I have been editing Khaladin the past couple days and have edited nearly half the book. I'm very close to where the revamp is going to be taking place in the story, so I'm trying to plan everything out. I've got a few ideas, but not quite sure how to make it all work yet.

In the meantime, I got my query letter for Khaladin probably as close to perfect as I can. I ran it a LOT on AW and it got to where fewer and fewer people would edit it and then it got to where the edits were nit picky. Once you get to nit picky edits, it's my opinion that you take those hints that you want and leave the rest and lean back, hoping you have the right query letter.

And this one really didn't turn out bad! In fact, I'm rather proud of it. It's the best query letter I've ever written, but I want to share it with you to get your thoughts as well. So, here it is:

Dear Agent:

I am seeking representation for my middle grade fantasy novel, KHALADIN, which is complete at 39,000 words. (word count subject to change with edit *wink*)

Thirteen-year-old Judy never imagined her aunt’s horse would give birth to anything but a normal foal, until she saw the colt’s tiny horn. She’s thrilled to have a baby unicorn to take care of, but she soon learns it’s not easy keeping Khaladin’s existence a secret. When a greedy casino owner discovers him and steals him away to auction him off to the highest bidder, Judy knows she has to save him.

The road to rescue isn’t easy. Judy and her aunt follow the casino owner to his ranch in Arizona where Khaladin is being held. Judy knows that if she can’t rescue Khaladin, he’ll become nothing more than a status symbol- but if she succeeds, she’ll be condemning him to the same imprisonment he faced before. Judy wants Khaladin to be free to choose what life he wants. She just hopes his choice won’t break her heart.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

me

So, feel free to tell me what you think. :)

Just When I Thought I Had It Figured

So, you do know that stories speak, right? Some of them say, "Write me!" which is good. The best will say, "I'm ready, send me off!" Others will say, "I need more work before you query me." But I absolutely hate it when a story says this:

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I was ready to be queried off I wasn't. I'm actually in need of a major rewrite. I know you've already submitted me to the agents you want most, but I really need this rewrite before you send me off again."

That is exactly what Khaladin did to me today.

The rewrite will make it a better story. It's all for the best. But I thought I was done with this one and now it's like, think again. Oh well. I will begin the revamp process and probably try to sell Help! My Parents Are From Outer Space! And if that one calls out for a rewrite, I will send out The Heart and the Horn. And if that one calls for a rewrite again, I might just throw in the towel on writing.

Believe me? Yeah, didn't think so. You all know I love writing too much to ever quit. :)

After Weeks Of Writer's Block....

....I have it again.

Haha, fooled ya! Actually, the reality is that I am far from having writer's block, considering I am now currently working on three novels at once.

Yep, you read that right. Three.

The first you already know about. Yep, it's Confessions of a Redhead. But the other two are more up my alley. They are both fantasy, one being middle grade and the other young adult.

It's pretty fun since one of my best friends is in my new middle grade novel. I created a character based on him several months ago, but never had a story to put him in. Now I do and I am so excited! It's a lot of fun working on this stuff, and one of the reasons why my posting has gotten a little scarce.

I'll try to keep you updated a little more often like I used to. But so much has been going on lately that I haven't had a lot of time to devote to writing. Hopefully that is going to be changing and I think it will since I now have several projects I am very excited about. :)

Happy writing! :D

I Want My Dreams To Go Away

The past several nights, I have been dreaming. I don't like to dream for one very good reason. My mind concentrates on the dream so much that I end up not sleeping well. But there is a plus side to dreaming for me.

Most everything I dream I can pull a story idea from.

The problem is that I already had more than I know what to do with. And last night I added yet another one to the list. The good thing about this one is that the MC is a boy. I don't have many of those. It's so easy for a girl to tell a story from a girl's point of view. The idea is interesting, as it deals with a special hole.

But what's so special about the hole?

I have no clue. Maybe if Mom hadn't woken me up, I would've found out. But as it stands right now, I have yet another idea to flesh out. Part of me is excited and the other part isn't, because I've just got so many dang ideas that are at this same point. What about you? How do you feel when you have too many ideas? Or do you never have enough?

Writing Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAY!!!!! I am writing again! I started again this morning because one of my best friends gave me an idea for a book when we were talking on the phone last night. And he didn't even mean to give me an idea! It just sort of happened.

But here's the neat thing. It's not YA or MG. It's not even fantasy or science fiction. I guess it's what you'd call a literary novel. I'll have to look up that term to make sure that's exactly what it's called. And it's non-fiction!

Anyway, do you want to know the title? Well, if you don't, quit reading right now, cause I'm gonna type it. And I'm not going to tell you what it's about, because I think the title is pretty self-explanatory.

It's called Confessions Of A Redhead: The Pros and Cons.

So, let's see if I'm right about the title really saying what the book is about. What do you think it's about? Oh and I have the prologue and first chapter all done and am partway through two more, and so far have fourteen chapters planned. All with titles and what they will be about. Will there be more? I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. At least I'm writing again and that makes me very, very, VERY happy! :D