Monthly Archives: July 2010

Here is the pitch for Doubting River that was so favorably received at the conference:

Former runaway, Charm Freeman, returns to his old life in Nowheresville, MS, after his sister Marlie’s husband is killed in a car accident. Initially planning to fulfill his brotherly obligation then disappear for another twenty years, Charm reluctantly agrees to stay and help with Marlie’s injured son. The siblings clash, however, over how to best help the ten year old deal with the death of his father.

Before the accident, the boy and his father were training a neighbor’s retriever for a field trial. The boy desperately wants to fulfill his father’s dream, but his mother believes anything to do with the dog is a setup for heartache. The past belongs in the past; the way forward is forward. Against his sister’s wishes, Charm and the boy join together to turn an injured retriever into a champion, a journey that forces the family to face the issues that tore them apart, only to find salvation in the past they tried to forget.

Holy cow!! Both an agent and the editor requested FULLS. They both want to read the entire manuscipt!

I don’t know what to say. I’m blown away. Completely blown away.

OH MY GOD, IT’S NOT READY!

Oh well, I wanted a deadline — I guess I got it.

Honey, I need to quit my job. Something more important came up….

The 2010 PNWA conference starts tomorrow. I didn’t final in their contest (but I did win the mainstream category of The Sandy), but that’s okay. I got good scores and comments on the novel excerpt. (Less impressed with their screenplay judges.) Contest or no contest, I’m looking forward to the conference. I had a great time last year, and this year my friend Sharon is going with me.

I’ll get to pitch to two agents and an editor while I’m there. I need to work on my pitch, though. So far I’ve never really gotten that *look*, that “oh wow” from it. (Maybe that means my book is crap!!) Hopefully I can improve it, because I really want to make the best of these pitches.

No, the book isn’t finished. It will be soon though, so hopefully that will be okay. I’m just thinking of these pitches as practice pitches… but I wish I’d gotten the manuscript completely finished.

Actually, I’m HOPING to take a trip south in the fall. If I do, I’d love to do a final revision and add some more-authentic southern flavor to this southern novel. I mean, I *am* southern, so it’s not like it’s inauthentic, but I’d still love to add that extra layer of realism.