I love when things like this happen! -Molly

I've been thinking a lot more about my new book idea, but occasionally Angel slips back into my mind.  Let's just say that it smacked me hard today.  Why, you ask?  Because the face of who I think would play the part of one of my antagonistic characters (the book doesn't have one villain per say). 

Now, you're probably asking yourself, don't know what your characters look like?  The answer is yes.  But, I don't want to say that their looks are blurry because they aren't.  I know what they look like, but they aren't completely clear.

So, are you curious to know who the lucky man I would choose to play my biggest antagonist and ultimately gets redeemed by the heroine?
Here you go!

Credit: http://theberry.com

Just imagine him more cleaned up, no facial hair and in a World War II era US Army uniform.  Yep...that's Bob all right. :)  I think Ryan Gosling would play the part well too.

Now, back to researching and thinking about the next book.

UPDATE: Upon closer inspection and thought (and with the help of my beta reader), Ryan Gosling could play the part of one of my German soldiers...a very special one I might add that is dear to the heroine's heart.  Wonder why I didn't see that before?  It's all in his eyes.

Waiting and Researching Means a New WIP is in Progress!

Hello there!

I don't have anything nearly as cool as Holly's Christmas picture, mostly because we haven't chosen ours yet.  We went to Disney World over a week ago and we'll choose a picture from there as a our Christmas card. 

But, I do have some writing news.  I went to visit a friend right before Thanksgiving and made my goal that everything needed to be out before I left for Louisville.  That included my Golden Heart entry and my submission to the editor.  Everything was out on that Friday and Friday night I celebrated (after having to drive to Louisville rather than fly thanks to the airlines).  A special shout out to my husband's good friend from high school for translating a bunch of dialogue into German so it sounded conversational rather than a direct translation.

So, I've got three things I'm waiting on:

1. Results of the Emily contest (which I know I did not final in, but do not know what my scores are).
2. Results of the Golden Heart (won't hear from that till next year).
3. What the editor thinks of my full request.

I was told that rather than stew, I should throw myself back into work and forget about it.  So, that's what I've done.  I'm researching a new book.  I honestly thought I would continue in the WWII vein, but one of my secondary characters from the manuscript that is out called out quite loudly.  So, I've been doing a lot of research in preparation.

What will this book be about?  Well, obviously, it'll be post-war (probably with flashbacks) about how a disabled American veteran finds love and finds himself after coming home.  It will mostly be set in the north side of Chicago so I'll have to chat with my relatives who lived in the 'old neighborhood' that would remember it.  I also think I know who I want to try out as the heroine, but I don't know if she can be redeemed after what she did in my last book.

What do you think, dear readers?  Does a character who does something really bad in a previous book become irredeemable in your eyes?  What if they found some semblance of redemption in a previous book?  Does that make them redeemable?  Or if they haven't made up for what they have done (in a previous book), can they be redeemed at all?

I'd love to hear what you think?  Stay tuned for details.  And, as always, thanks for reading!

Stationery card

With Love Christmas Card

Turn your unique photos into Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Cruising Along

It's been ages since this blog was updated, so allow me to bring you up to speed at least on my end. I can't speak for Miss Holly.

Angel is finished and into its 3rd draft. I have gone to another WisRWA Conference (literally the day after returning from a week's trip to Portugal) and had some requests from my pitches. The exciting part of this conference was not only did I get requests from both agent and editor, but the editor requested a FULL! I still owe her that submission so I'm working on the last bit to get that out to her. I was in complete and utter shock as that had never happened. Now I just need to get it out there.

The agent did reject me but kept the door open for me to consider her for another piece of work if I do not pick up another agent so that is very promising.

I've become quite active on Twitter and Facebook to help start building my fan base. It's been a lot of fun and I've met a lot of fellow writers who are in the same place as me or already published but offer some great advice. One author in the span of 24 hours even encouraged me to enter not only the Emily contest for her local chapter (with about 2 days left to enter) and to enter RWA's Golden Heart. So once my submission goes out, I'll be working on the GH.

So that fast forwards you to the present. Where are you on your writing journey?

The First Bump in the Road

This blog has been far too quiet, so I decided to sweep out the cobwebs and bring our readers up to speed on my journey.

May, if you remember, was the WisRWA Write Touch Conference. I pitched my book there to Natalie Fischer of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency and Tessa Woodward from HarperCollins. It was a wild weekend at the WisRWA conference and I came away having learned a lot about the craft and career I want to undertake. I also came out changed. No longer was I the scared little girl. I was empowered! I loved both Natalie and Tessa. They were so down to earth and I enjoyed talking to each of them about my book, about writing and about other interests. Turns out Tessa's a big Band of Brothers fan too and she was able to make me jealous because she knows Julia Quinn. Both Natalie and Tessa requested from me! Natalie requested the first 50 pages and Tessa the first 3 chapters and a synopsis. What a high!

In August, I finally had my requested submission ready to be sent out. Since Natalie didn't require a synopsis for my submission, I fired it off to her. The waiting game began. Speaking of the synopsis, can I tell you how much I absolutely hate writing them. How do you pare down your entire book into 2 pages? Thankfully, my friend, Carrie Lofty (who was my roomie at conference and totally took me under her wing), pointed me in the direction of the Synopsis Doctor (or Synopsis Goddess as she calls her), Patti Ann Colt. Patti was able to help me come up with a juicy, vivid and expressive synopsis that still pared the story down to the very bare bones and met the page requirement. I highly recommend her help!

Fast forward to October. Patti and I finally finished my synopsis and my submission was ready to mail. It went out on Columbus Day. Meanwhile, on the 19th, I received my first rejection letter from Natalie. Everyone knows that they are reality of the writer's lifestyle, but nothing can prepare you for the first one. I had a bit of a shock, but I honestly handled it really well. No tears or anything (which for me is a huge feat). And, really, it was nicest rejection letter a person could receive for their first. It wasn't a form letter and she really took the time to tell me what she liked and didn't like and why she wasn't able to represent my story. She was very encouraging and there was and is no reason for me to be discouraged.

So where does that leave me now? Well, not stop for one thing. I've got to keep going. I'll be editing my manuscript while we're travelling to Walt Disney World tomorrow and I'll start looking to query more agents and get Angel out there. Someone out there is looking for my story. As my other mentor, Betsy Norman, said, "This is the party where every writer has to start developing that thick skin." Time to get started!

See you on the road!

Whoa! Where did that come from? -Molly

I set a goal of 80,000 words to be written by the end of the weekend starting Friday. Well, I am very pleased to announce that blew through that goal and then some. By the time I collapsed in bed, I had written over 83,000 words. I wrote just shy of 10,000 words in three days!

I think I'm still in shock over the whole thing. Partially because I set the bar high and was able to go above and beyond and partially because of the manner in which I got there. I still have 4 days before the WisRWA conference. 4 days to write, craft my pitch and practice. I don't think I'll be 100% done by the time conference rolls around, but I am so close to being finished I can literally taste it. I know that I have only 2 big things left to happen before the epilogue and I set up one of the before I collapsed.

I was very productive yesterday and had a very visceral experience with my writing yesterday. When I finally went to bed I was over-caffeinated, my adrenaline was pumping so much that it took over an hour for my heart to stop racing, and I was quite literally freaking out. But, I assure you, not in a bad way. A.) I couldn't believe I had accomplished me goal. B.) I couldn't believe I had written over 5,000 words Sunday. C.) I realized that I had never before written that much and been so close to a completed story before, and D.) I had been in the battle. It had been so real to me that when I came out of the story and went to bed, I was still reeling for everything that had happened in the two pivotal scenes I had just written.

This is only the second time I've had such a reaction to my writing and by far, last night's was the biggest. The first time it happened, Holly might remember, I was writing at the dining room table on a completely different story and I watched my hero basically get up and walk right out of the scene as I was writing. No joke! He just stalked right out and all I could do was follow. I kept writing having no idea what was going to happen. I was freaking out as I typed and my husband had absolutely no idea of what to do. He offered coffee, hugs, chocolate. I just kept writing and what did the hero do? Threw a big monkey wrench into the story and proposed to the heroine less than 25,000 words in. Needless to say, that story is now sitting in a file on my hard drive and hasn't been touched, but I will never forget that visceral response my body had. It took a long time for me to calm down. My own story sucked me in and left me to follow in the footsteps of my characters.

I'm still in awe at what I have accomplished this past weekend. I don't know if I'm ready for Saturday, but I am going to do it. If I can write nearly 10,000 words in three days, if I can write over 83,000 words and if I can keep going even though the idea scares me to death, then I can do this pitch. And come to think of it...I'm not scared about Saturday anymore. My story might not be what they are looking for, but I know that it's a good story and one day it will be on the shelves. I'm going to hold my head up high come Saturday and take whatever comes. Ready or not, here I come!

Challenges on the Road- Molly

The picture above is probably the closest I've ever seen to what my writing journey must look like. Far from a straight line and constantly shifting gears, it can seem like a wild ride that has no end in sight except off the edge of a cliff.

A week from tomorrow (5/15), I will pull out onto a portion of the road I never thought possible. I will take my hard work, my baby and pitch it to an editor from HarperCollins and an agent from the Sandra Dykstra Agency at the WisRWA Write Touch Conference . I am trying not to psych myself out over it, but really how can a person not. You want them to like your story enough that they want you to send it to them, and in the end either want to publish it or offer you a contract, or offer representation.

So, why am I so scared? Well, first and foremost, I'm not done. I'm sitting pretty at just under 72,000 words. A myriad of life challenges have been putting themselves in the path like roadblocks and making the writing journey impassable. But, I keep persevering. It will get told and while it won't be perfect, it will be out in the open. Second, I'm not the greatest public speaker, nor am I very comfortable speaking to strangers. I want them to like me and I want them to like my book. And thirdly, I don't have my formal pitch totally written out. I know how I'm going to dress and do my hair, but I have to construct that pitch and hope it's good.

No one said the road to publication would be easy, and I never expected it to. This story just fits so much with me that I feel like it must be told. It must be shared. I'm proud of it. Even the parts that aren't tightened up. It still has a long way to go, but I believe Holly when she says it's the one. I only pray that come next Saturday I'm ready for the sharp curve that will take me down the next part of the journey. I think I'm ready as scary as it looks.