A Few Updates

I've made a lot of progress on some projects in the last month, and I wanted to share. To let those of you who do read this know that when I say I'm going to do something, I do it. And, let's be honest. It's easier to be accountable for something you've told people.

1. KEEP IN TOUCH, my first YA novel, is now retitled RUNNING IN CIRCLES. I'm planning on going back to it at a later date and revising it, making it better, so that maybe it's sale-able one day. We'll see. The basic plot line is the same, but there's a couple believability issues I'm working out.

2. LEAP OF FAITH, my second YA novel, is finished (first draft, that is). Revisions are already underway and pretty far along. The title, in many ways, reflects how I feel about the book itself and the writing process. This one, in many ways, was easier to write than the first book. Often I woke up at midnight or even later, scribbling down plot ideas for the next few scenes, hearing the characters in my head while driving, sending myself text messages with dialogue when I didn't have access to paper and a pen. LEAP's about a high school junior, Faith, who, when the story starts out, is just recovering from a break-up with her boyfriend. She's caught up in a million little problems that all start to strain her, before she can't help but break down with the weight of all these secrets she's so good at hiding. All she really wants is to go back in time and not make one major mistake, but it's too late for that.

3. Six Sentences has a contest going on at their Ning site, called Mind Games. Submissions were due at the end of June, and winners will be notified on Friday. Cross your fingers that my entry made it! The owner's publishing a book compilation of the winners.

4. Speaking of contests, I also entered Writer's Digest's Your Story contest for the July/August 2010 Issue. The due date was on Saturday, and I'm not sure when notifications go out for finalists, but I'll be eagerly (and nervously) awaiting that as well.

That's all for now, but maybe in the near future I'll post some book excerpts and my mock-up covers for both novels. Keep reading!