Fly Me To The Moon......New novel teaser.

Do you ever get an idea for a novel and it stays with you and it feels like you'll never shake it?

That's how I feel with my current WIP. I can't shake it. Maybe that's because it's kind of steamy. And I've never tackled writing a steamy novel. So this is kinda fun for me.

How many of you love old movies? I always have. Probably always will. There's something special about them. The way everything is portrayed. Society. Culture. Romance.

One of my all-time favorites is Splendor In The Grass. It stars Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. And if you haven't seen it, watch it because it's one of those movies that sticks with you. And I could watch it repeatedly and never get tired of it.

Anywho, its about a young couple in high school, an obsession, a changing view of relationships in the world. And lastly, a twisted tragic love story... A good tagline to describe it. Love makes you crazy.

Where am I going with this? That movies reminds me of my current WIP... Of course the book is different, but it is about that crazy, obsessive kind of love.

And my inspiration, aside from thinking of the move. Stay by Sugarland. The song is amazing and sometimes it just takes the smallest thing to send a writer's imagination reeling....

And it seems like Mine is reeling more often than not.... LOL... So here's a teaser and a picture of the cover for....

He Loves Me... He Loves You Not.

As the tip of his tongue brushes against the roof of my mouth, I’m seeing fireworks. An explosion of colors. Brilliant and beautiful. And the explosions of beauty leave a trail of colored smoke in the sky. And a trail of colored smoke in my heart. Red. Bright red. The color of passion. The color of love.

He pulls away. “Come back.” I’m panting. His kisses knock the wind out of my lungs. I crave him, like chocolate, I want to taste him.

My legs are wrapped around his back and he places both of his hands on my cheeks and just stares. Two sets of blue eyes, gazing intensely into one another's. We’re gone. Swimming in seas of blue on some deserted uncharted island.

I’m fascinated. I can’t move. He’s a hypnotist. One snap of his fingers and I’ll be clucking like a chicken.

We’re both breathing. Soft and slow. And he reaches up and yanks the hair-tie from my hair. “You don’t know what you do to me.”

Then his lips caress mine. It’s only a brush, but the warmth overheats every part of me. Leaning back, my elbow bumps into the power button on the dryer and the old appliance starts moving. Spinning. Spinning like my head. Like my heart.

My hands are in his hair and his arms wrap around my waist tighter. I know what Henry does to me. I’m space bound. A rocket about to blast off. And I want Henry to send me to the moon.

Does Your Novel Have The 'IT' Factor?

More books are published every year than Hollywood movies that are made. If you think about it, that's a heck of a lot of books. But, how do those books make it from the writer's computer screen to a paperback in a readers hands? That's what we're going to talk about today.

Everybody knows that getting a book published is a long lengthy process. First you write the novel, second you revise, and after you've revised a dozen times more, you write a good query(which you probably rewrite ten times as well) and then you do what I like to call, 'throwing yourself to the sharks'.

I use that analogy because sometimes get a bite, sometimes you won't, and sometimes your WIP will get chewed up and spit out.

For the ones whose novels get picked up right away or the ones who don't have a hard time finding an agent at all, they've all got something I like to call the 'it' factor.

What exactly is the 'it' factor? I'm going to tell you.

Do you know how many queries most agents receive a week? Hundreds. For some maybe thousands. But what do you think makes an agent go, hmmmm, I think I'd like to see more?

Me personally, I don't read queries. The minute I receive a query letter, I'll scroll down to the bottom of the email and read the first couple pages that accompanies that letter. I'm not concerned about how well a writer can compose a query letter. I know plenty of great writers that can't write them at all. What I really want to know is if they can write a novel, make it appealing, and make it flow. And I may be different from a lot of agents, but I know I'm not going to be able to tell that just by reading their query.

After I've read the first few pages, I'll ask myself a few questions; Does the voice grab me? What are the descriptions like? Has the writer created an authentic world? Then, I'll scroll back up and skim through the query. Shortly after that, I'll either reject or request.

Then comes the partial or full.

When I read a manuscript, I know after the first chapter whether I want it or not. And sometimes I go a little further and read to chapter three. For me, chapter three is the breaking point. If I can't read past chapter three it's a done deal, I'm probably going to reject.

So what leads to that point?

If the story doesn't build much in the first couple chaps and the pacing is slow. I like to be so involved in what I'm reading that I don't want to do anything else. And if the story is blah and I'm there yawning instead of saying Omigosh, it's just not the type of book for me.

If each chapter you finish ends with a wow, I just have to read more. The end of your chapters should leave the reader on the edge of their seats, wanting to plow through the whole novel in record time.

Does it lead up to something? Is there something big that's going to happen? And in the meantime are there good subplots throughout? I think subplots are important. They distract the reader. They keep you wondering until they're hit with the big bang at the end of the book. Who doesn't like a book that goes out with a bang, huh?

In the end, all you can do is your best, and I admire that quality in writers. Most have this will to keep going and that's so important. It's that will that'll eventually get you somewhere, so don't give up!

Cheers!

When To Shelf Your WIP....

I can across an interesting article yesterday that I'd like to share... I've pasted the link here.

We all know that sometimes the writing world can be brutal. Sometimes you feel like you're never going to get there. You question yourself and your skills. You might even think about throwing in the towel.

And what if you believe in your project? Should you toss it to the side?

Not necessarily. The article above proves that self-belief and determination is better than giving up. Especially when you're in search of an agent.

I know it's frustrating sometimes, and you might feel like you're never going to accomplish what you've set out to do. The important thing is to hang in there and keep pushing forward.

Whether it takes you years or months to get where you want to be, you will get there. Take it from the words of the Best Selling author featured in the article.

When is the right time to shelf your WIP?

The answer is....

Never.

Cheers!