Hailie here had her first high-school homecoming last Friday. Ain't she purty? I'm proud as all heck of this kid, because she has crafted for herself an outstanding high-school experience. Her grades are good, she's in choir, creative writing and cheerleading, her friends all seem to have their heads screwed on straight (with one exception), and the love of her life is about as gentle and non-threatening as a high-school boy could be. That last one goes a long way to easing my nuerosis and despair.
Click here to see her myspace. She has pictures of cheerleading, pictures of the famous Mr. Don, and more of her homecoming. I also like the way she describes herself.
Fiersom's Brood update: I think my wordcount is killing me -- 115,000 . Now I'm not one of those people who're scared to cut; I believe in it with all my heart. But I'm not finding anything to take out of this book. Seriously. There's no wasteful writing, no unneccesary scenes or chapters, and no more 'needless words and phrases' (Strunk & White). I've edited it over and over, and believe it or not, it keeps getting longer. That's thanks to my beta readers. They kept wanting more clarification and explanation for the freaky plot twists. Bottom line: it's just a long story. I could deflate some scenes, do more telling and less showing, but I don't think it would net me any more than 5000 words. Still too long. Anybody else have this problem? What did you do? How long are your MS's and WIP's?
So. It might be a black mark, but there are lots of exceptions to the word count rule. Hopefully some intuitive agent will take a chance. Because guess what? I've started querying. That's right.BOMBS AWAY!