Somehow, Friday has hit me unawares this week.
At any rate, lots coming up for the rest of this month! Our next Secret Agent contest will run the week of the 17th -- keep your eyes open for submission guidelines early next week. We'll also throw in a few 1000-word critiques (I know I haven't done any for a while; I wanted to carve a space for the Query Contest).
And before we know it, September will be here.
For today's chitchat: What is your "sekrit project"? You know, the thing you work on, or have completed, but it's tucked away somewhere, not part of your Grand Scheme.
For me, it's a rhyming children's book. I shopped it to three editors before tucking it onto a shelf in order to concentrate on my novels. But I'm going to resurrect it at some point. I love writing verse, and I can't stand BAD POETRY, so I'd like to help rid the world of it one children's book at a time.
Well, not really. I just love writing rhyme.
(If you haven't read the ODE TO MY BLOG READERS, take a peek!)
Your turn. Share your "only my cat knows about this" project. We could all use a little nudge to dust off the stuff that needs our attention, yes?
And have a magnificent weekend!
Miss Snark's First Victim
I can't tell! It's a SEKKRIT!
ReplyDeleteOK, OK...
I've got a YA fantasy that I *adore*. Unfortunately, the only other person who *adores* it is my mother. I shelved it years ago--it's a strange little thing, hard to market. I secretly hope that if I get something published first, then I can bring out my strange little thing for the world.
Of course, after telling my mom about success in the query contest, her first response was: well, that manuscript will never be as good as your weird one!
*sigh*
I have a book that one of my three cats (the others were adopted after I shelved the book) and my wife know about. It's a short book about a brother and a sister and a funeral, an empty house, bumper stickers, Darth Vader, the Columbia space shuttle, and an imaginary Tom Waits soundtrack. Yes, it's all over the place, but one day I'd like to resurrect it : )) Or maybe it will remain "the one that got away."
ReplyDeleteShhhhh . . .don't tell anyone!!
ReplyDeleteI have this project I love, love, LOVE, and want to get published FIRST! Then, there's this other project that I really, really LOVE, but . . . well, I want my first love published first! Is that wrong? Sad? Pathetic?
You see, there's this man and he finds out that the two people he loves most in this world have lied to him all his life, and that they committed a crime. In fact, if the secret is revealed, the lives of so many people will be destroyed.
Is it possible to query two projects at the same time?
Heck, yeah, because I'm not Superman. If I was, two projects querying at the same time would be my kryptonite!!
Have a great weekend everyone!
S
One sekrit project was a piece of fanfiction. That one should probably remain under the bed...
ReplyDeleteI do have one other sekrit story, mostly in notes. A strange fairy tale where Rumpelstiltskin is a cannibalistic leprechaun... including gold at the end of the rainbow.
I'm telling a serial short story on my blog about how a nerdy girl became a writer. It's biographical style and does not involve anything that goes "bump" in the night. Hence, it is very difficult.
ReplyDeleteThis is like an AA meeting. LOL! Hi, I'm Being Beth, and I write westerns. I really do. 1870's shoot 'em up, squat by the campfire, pee in the woods, pemican and jerked meat westerns. OF course, that's not highly marketable these days. Since my protagonists are always women, and I include real women who helped shape our country in the cast of characters, I think I can safely sell them as historical women's fiction. I think. Maybe. Who knows. What I know for sure is that I love writing them, love doing the research for them.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a YA SciFi story set on a planet that is mostly covered in ice. Several young girls of the local intelligent species are abducted and the only track leads to the human settlement. It's in German and SciFi is a hard sell in Germany.
ReplyDeleteOne question: if we participated in the query contest do we have to withdraw our 1000 words?
I'm a trekkie, and a few years back I wrote a Trek novel. That was 2 or 3 ms's ago.
ReplyDeleteI've always written for myself (no one's ever read my stuff), but never, ever with an eye to getting published until about a year ago. And boy did that introduce me to the joy of editing :) If I ever get brave enough, I may dig out the Trek ms and see how bad it is.
Only problem, I think it's on a floppy disk and I no longer have a A drive...
Hi guys. I have a secret.
ReplyDelete*wobbles...can't hold serious tone*
Actually, I do have a urban-warphole-fantasy saga printed and filed that I haven't looked at in years. I believe I did everything you shouldn't do in a fantasy novel, including multiple sequels (seven, I think), and omniscient headhopping, lots of waking up, all guy characters in book(s) inexplicably obsessed and/or in love with the main character who loves only one but doesn't know it until the seventh book when she's possessed by a swamp demon and ordered to kill him....
And dang it, I enjoyed writing every bit of that. :(
Ohm.
Yes.
Secret project.
*hides*
I have a novel with an Octopus queen. I know, I know, but it could be great!
ReplyDeleteI'll participate along with my fellow Beths.
ReplyDeleteMy somewhat-secret goal is to qualify for SFWA membership. If I can't get it by a novel deal, then I want to sell three short stories to pro markets. I haven't made any major strides. Thus far, I have two rejections from qualifying markets. I need to keep trying, and keep improving.
LOL good question.
ReplyDeleteMy sekrit project is my first-ever novel written about my D&D character from university, lol. It's a complex epic sorta fantasy that sucks seriously hard.
BUT one day I might tackle a rewrite now that I've learned not to write a little bit better ;)
Oh my...
ReplyDeleteTen years of my life and two trips to England on a historical novel based on the true life stories of a family that intermingles with Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II.
POV problems up the 'you know what'. Several manuscripts later and having learned so much more--I'm afraid to look at my baby...
Or am I just afraid that it will suck me in and I'll spend another ten years on it?
Heh. I have a secret project about bad fluffy bunnies from outer space that I did finish in short story form, but I want to transform it into a novel. It's been rambling around in my head for years, but only about five pages are actually typed.
ReplyDeleteMy secret projects are all plays that I have not yet had the balls to send out to theaters. Argh!
ReplyDeleteI feel as if I get a daily ration of gumption and use it all up before ten a.m. Perhaps I need more coffee.
Authoress ~ Could you possibly tell us what genre's the next secret agent accepts?
ReplyDeleteHi. I have a paranormal romance that if I edit, the 400 pages might very well turn to 40. But I love it.
ReplyDelete