Week 17: The Next Big Thing

I was tagged to participate in this blog hop by the talented Margaret Young, who answered the same set of questions on her own blog, Cruising Right Along, last Wednesday.

Here are the questions with my own answers:

What is the working title of your book?

Resurrecting Sunshine

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Resurrecting Sunshine originated with a failed short story.  Over a period of several years I’d tried a number of times to write the same story.  Though I never succeeded--I think ultimately the ideas were just a little too involved for a short piece-the characters stayed in my mind and eventually it became my 2009 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) book, at the time titled 

Reconstructing Sunshine.  

As for the idea itself, originally I had this vision for a story where one of the main characters never actually appeared “onstage.”  The whole story was going to revolve around how much she meant to the other characters, how she’d changed their lives long after she was gone.   I always saw her very clearly in my mind’s eye as a young woman in a bright yellow dress, her feet bare, who everyone called Sunshine.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s a young adult science fiction novel (although in my Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award review, Publisher’s Weekly called it a thriller, so I’ve definitely questioned the genre).  The book actually started out as adult science fiction, but both my critique partner and significant other, thought it would make a perfect YA story--and I found myself agreeing--so YA it became, and it was definitely the right way to go.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I’m one of those people who actually prefers a movie with unknown actors, finding it easier to suspend my disbelief and become more fully absorbed in the characters when they aren’t portrayed by brand name actors, so I’d prefer that for a movie rendition of my book, too.  Plus I’m incredibly pop culture illiterate, so there’s that.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Okay, cheating here.  This is two sentences.  But I thought I’d go with my Twitter pitch…

With the death of his one true love, 17-year-old Adam lost everything. Now science wants to give her back in Resurrecting Sunshine.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I’m not really interested in taking the self-publishing route, at least for now, but I haven’t as yet had luck finding representation.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

30 days.  I’m a die-hard National Novel Writing Month participant.  Of course that was just the first draft!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’ve never been much for comparisons.  After all, what is creativity without originality?  But if pressed, I’d draw a comparison with The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson, which also asks some interesting moral/ethical questions about science and the things we do in the name of holding onto something we love.

Who or What inspired you to write this book? 

I wrote this book during the initial separation from my husband of 15 years, so I think maybe I was inspired by my own personal situation at the time even if I didn’t realize it then.  I related very much to Adam, my protagonist, who was struggling with a huge loss.  I think my life at the time really colored the themes of Resurrecting Sunshine, which are learning to let go and moving on from loss. 

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I’ve always had a tough time describing Resurrecting Sunshine because on the surface, it’s a book about cloning...and yet for me it’s never been a book about cloning.  Rather, it’s a book about who we are and how the closest relationships in our life inform our own identity.  It’s also a book about love and loss and survival and the limits of personal responsibility. 

It’s funny, too, because in the first draft I felt like I wrote myself into a corner, and the ending of the book never felt right.  Okay, to be honest it felt completely and totally lame.  I had put the manuscript aside, not really considering it a viable book worth revising.  

Then one morning, out of nowhere--I hadn’t consciously thought of the book in years--I woke up and knew how it needed to end, and suddenly I went on a mad rewriting spree that lasted for many months (my goal being that year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award deadline where it ended up making the semifinals in the YA category).  

And of all my novels, it’s probably the one I’m happiest about not giving up on.  And as hard as the new ending was to write, I think it was exactly the ending the book needed.    

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Thank you for stopping by to read about my book.  For Week 18 of The Next Big Thing, I'm tagging several extremely talented writers who I've had the great pleasure of getting to know and working closely with over the past several years.  (Right now you'll find two links below; I'll be adding at least two more soon so please stop back again later.)

Next Wednesday, please visit:

Holly Hughes at Holly's Narrative Dream
Loretta Torossian at To write is to live - and other musings...



Rules:

***Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog


***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and 

meet them.  


Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?

Where did the idea come from for the book?

What genre does your book fall under?

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Hi. My Name is Lisa and I'm a Contest-a-holic

If you're looking for my entry for The Writer's Voice, you'll find it here.

Over the last few years I’ve discovered something. I’m a contest junkie.

I suppose I should have figured it out long before I did. Back when I was writing short fiction I would have days when I would scour the internet for short story contests, hoping to find just the right one to enter, maybe a themed contest to spark my imagination, or maybe the perfect contest venue for an old favorite that hadn’t yet found a home.

For a long time I was a regular in the Writers of the Future contest. I even made it to the semifinals once, the prize for which was a great critique by K.D. Wentworth.

For several years I took on the challenge of entering Family Circle’s short fiction contest despite mainstream fiction being pretty much outside my comfort zone. Much to my surprise, one year I got the call that I won.

After getting serious about writing novel-length fiction, much to my delight, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) was just getting rolling. I’ve entered every year it’s been open, for five years total, with four different books. Three times (including this year) I’ve made it to the semifinals. The other two times I didn’t made it out of the gate.

But no matter what, entering the contest has become a compulsion, a challenge to myself to have another manuscript written and polished come contest time. For me that's prize enough.

But here’s the thing. I never go into any of the contests expecting (or even hoping too hard) to win (though of course winning is always nice).

For me, it’s more the excitement of the competition, the anticipation of the results, the high of making it to the next round. It’s the communities that spring up around these contests. It’s the camaraderie that forms between contestants despite the competition. It’s the friendships I make, ones that remain long after the contest is over.

But even more more, it’s the potential that exists in each competition, especially now that I’m submitting novels rather than short stories. It’s the knowledge that each one that I enter could be THE contest, could be the door that opens, could be the thing that changes everything for me.

So of course I’m a contest junkie because how on earth could I pass that up?

So tell me…are you a contest junkie too? What contests have you entered? What have you gotten out of them?

The Writer's Voice Submission

For The Writer's Voice contest

The Road of the Dead
Adult Science Fiction

Plot Summary from Query:

In a resource-starved future, most people view The Program as a godsend. A technology invented by reclusive scientist Gary Frantengelo, The Program converts energy from the souls of the dead into cheap and limitless power. But there are some who believe that it is an abomination.

Singer-songwriter Sheppard Lorren hasn’t given much thought to the Program until he collides with it head-on. Far from home on tour, he receives devastating news. Not only is his cancer-stricken daughter Lily close to death, but his estranged wife has promised Lily’s soul to The Program. Joined by Fratangelo’s sister, and Mako, a brilliant technophile whose biggest secret is his involvement in the Program, Sheppard embarks on a journey to the Sacred Lands, ground zero for the abomination that is the Program. To get there, the trio must survive a nightmare landscape where the earth is cracked and lifeless and ectoplasm falls from the sky in a deadly blue rain, and even if they make it, it may be too late to save Lily, and there may be no stopping The Program as it reaches critical mass.


First 250 words:

Energy may neither be created nor destroyed. Therefore the sum of all the energies in the system is a constant.

-- The Law of Conservation of Energy


Even with his head ducked low to avoid recognition, Sheppard Lorren saw the prophet hovering above the street corner adjacent to the hotel. With his arms spread wide to draw in the gathering crowd, the prophet floated nearly three feet up, his feet planted as if the air he stood on was as solid as the sidewalk below.

“Through our greed we have defied the natural order.” Evangelical in its cadence, the man’s amplified voice boomed out across the folks who’d stopped to listen. “No, not defied. We have defiled the natural order.”

Sheppard tugged the brim of his baseball cap down lower over his eyes, and then approached the edge of the gathering, glancing around to make sure he hadn’t been noticed. But with everyone’s eyes focused on the larger-than-life figure levitating there like a god come to earth, nobody so much as blinked in his direction.

The prophet shimmered, a rippling in the three-dimensional image, and Sheppard recognized the figure for what it was. A hologram.

He’d seen prophets before. In some cities they were on practically every street, their clothes tattered, their hair dirty. As plentiful as robins had once been in springtime, they perched atop shipping crates or the bases of statues, preaching God’s wrath and the end of the world. But he’d never seen a manifestation like this.

Sweeping Away the Blogwebs

Well it’s sure dusty in here.

So truth be known, I’ve been wanting to come back to blogging for a while now. But I guess it’s like returning a phone call to an old friend. The longer you put it off, the more awkward it feels to pick up the phone…and yet when you finally do make the call, you can’t believe you waited so long.

Anyway, I stumbled upon a blog contest recently that’s given me the incentive I needed to come back to blogging. So here I am tonight sweeping out the blogwebs in preparation.

I’m looking forward to catching up on all my favorite blogs and reconnecting with all my favorite bloggers!

More tomorrow.

Drumroll Please! (Or not...)

Well the contest results are in and…

…I can’t reveal them.

I know, I know. I’m frustrated too, because I was anxious to let everyone know, no matter what the outcome. But the sponsoring companies are planning on making their big announcement at a festival in Toronto come the end of August and asked the two finalists not to make any public announcements until then. So of course I’ll respect their wishes.

What I will say is this. Thank you so much to everyone who supported me throughout this very long process. Your kind words, your encouragement and your willingness to help out a fellow writer made me feel like a winner no matter what. So thank you. And I promise as soon as I'm able, I'll let you know the results.

Well This is It!

For those who have been following along on my journey through the Fresh Blood contest, we have almost reached the end. Today is the last day of voting and the winner should be announced in the next few days.

So in light of that, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me through this contest!

And if you haven't voted yet, please, please, please do! It only takes a few seconds (no registration required) and each vote could potentially make a difference.

To vote, just send a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line. You can vote once per unique email address (so multiple votes are welcome as long as they come from separate email addresses) and voting closes tonight at midnight EST.

Thanks everyone!

I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Contest Countdown: Less Than a Week to Go!

It’s been a whirlwind of a week (so much of a whirlwind in fact, that I couldn’t even remember the word whirlwind, I must admit. Was it worldwind? Whirlwin? Whorlywind?)

I think the contest has fried my brain.

What contest? you ask. If you’ve been following my blog at all over the last few months, I’d venture a guess that you won’t be asking--freshbloodfreshbloodfreshbloodfreshblood--but if you’re just stopping by for the first time, I’d direct you here to find out a little more.

I’ve been doing my best to put out a last-minute push, doing a mini blog tour and sending out emails and just generally making a pest of myself *I say this last while ducking my head and smiling sheepishly.*

I did want to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who has jumped in during this final push to help me out with the contest promotion, most notably (Sia McKye and Helen Ginger and Spencer Seidel), but a lot of other great folks as well. And you can be sure there’ll be a HUGE thank you post after the contest, no matter the outcome.

So anyway, I feel like I’ve lost touch with the real world, particularly in the last few weeks--as a friend said, contests like these are a huge time-suck (in a good way though)--and I’m really looking forward to getting back to some form of normalcy. After so many months of focusing on this contest, I don't think I'll know what to do with myself afterwards (though there’s this funny little voice in my head shrieking: Synopsis! You will finish that synopsis! I wonder what that’s all about. Hmmm…)

In the meantime, our newest four-legged addition is getting so big. I thought I’d share a new picture of her.



She’s gotten so pretty. The dog we thought was solid black now has the most beautiful silvery markings on her face. It looks like a ring around her nose and mouth. And just today I noticed a few silver furs starting to show up on her back paws. She’s just been a bright light in my life these past few weeks.

Anyway, I’m going to try my damnedest to update my blog at least once more before the contest is over. Voting closes on the 14th of July and the winner should be announced on the 15th or thereabouts. It’s hard to believe that next week we’ll know who the winner is. I’m still digesting the fact that I made it to the Final Two.

And I also know that I’m okay with whatever the outcome is next week. While I’d love to win--it would be the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition--I’ve taken away some wonderful things from this experience: great feedback, more confidence, a better understanding of self-promotion, and most importantly, a whole bunch of wonderful new friends.

Of course with less than one week left I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw out my little plug one more time… So if you haven’t yet voted in the contest, I would be grateful for your support, or if you would even be so kind as to give a shout-out for the contest in your tweets or on your blogs or other social networking sites, I would really appreciate that!

Voting only takes a few seconds. It’s as easy as sending a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line.

Voting ends on July 14th at midnight EST and they’ll accept one vote per unique email address so multiple votes are welcomed as long as they’re coming from separate email accounts.

You can read more about the contest as well as excerpts from both the remaining competitors and comments from the judges here.

Thanks again everyone. However it turns out, I can’t wait to let you know the result!

I also wanted to take a minute to share an award. The awesome Versatile Blogger Award below came to me from two wonderful bloggers: VR Barkowsi at VR Barkowski: a Writer's Blog, and abitosunshine at abitosunshine Love and Writing. There are four rules that go along with this great award. They are as follows:

❦ Thank THE GIVERS and link back to their blogs.
❦ Share SEVEN things about myself.
❦ Pass along to SEVEN bloggers. (Okay, I'll admit, that's not the original rule, but I like the symmetry of all the sevens!)
❦ COMMENT on their blogs to tell them of the award.



Versatile blogger award

❦SEVEN (pretty random) THINGS ABOUT ME:

- I hate peanut butter. I will not eat it. If someone uses a knife in the peanut butter jar and then uses it in the jelly jar, I will know.

- Though I've always loved words, my best subject in school was, by far, math.

- When I was three years old, I stepped in a wasps’ nest that was hidden beneath fallen leaves. To this day I am phobic about wasps and bees.

- After a challenge from a writing group member, I have written something every single day (including holidays) since April of 2004. The only exceptions have been maybe four or five days when I was too sick to even lift my head off the pillow.

- Men’s neckties are one of my favorite fashion accessories, and I have some pretty crazy ones: dinosaurs, UFOs, alien Christmas lights.

- In college I took a weaving class as my art credit because, frankly, I suck at art. Strangely, it was probably the hardest and most time-consuming class I ever took, but to this day, my family makes fun of the fact that I took “basket-weaving” for college credit.

- I am more comfortable with animals than with people.


❦PASSING THE AWARD ALONG TO SEVEN VERSATILE BLOGGERS.

Tiffanie Minnis at Writers Movement
Zoe C. Courtman at No Letters on My Keyboard
Creepy Query Girl at Creepy Query Girl
James Baron at 4 Books in 1 Year - A Writer's Challenge
Hart Johnson at Confessions of a Watery Tart
JC Phelps at JC Phelps
Sandy Shinn at Sandy Shinn