I present to you Already There (shh... It's a secret)

Okay, I know you all have been DYING to know more about my secret project. Well you will have to wait no longer. Kelley Lynn and I decided to give you a little taste and get your thoughts on our shiny new query. (Kelley wrote it. LOL.) My query version had a rooster in it. Which is actually a pretty important character in the story, but alas Kelley's query is MUCH better. 

When Kelley and I started out we weren't sure what we were going to write. We tossed some ideas around and writing sisters stuck. I have 3 sisters and 3 sister-in-laws. This is a subject I know. 

I was pretty nervous about being able to compete with Kelley's amazing writing style, but I found that our writing and characters complemented each other. Where Charlie is direct and to the point, Lucy is observant and quiet. When you're in Charlie's head at the beginning it's like you're looking through a narrow lens. She focuses on what important to her. When you're in Lucy's head, she does the broad sweeping views. Ones that really get you into the setting and scenes. 

And I think both Kelley and I were surprised at how much music flows through this book, connecting the sisters. And at how playing these two off each other and exploring what having a sister at this age means, really brought this story to life. Charlie and Lucy became real to both of us. Hopefully you will love them as much as we do.

Below is the query and Charlie's first 250. Go HERE, for Lucy's first 250.

Query:

For eighteen-year-old Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Grace, high school is over and the most exciting road trip with her three best friends is on the horizon. Far more exciting than her parents realize. The real reason to pack everyone into her friend Hope’s BMW and hightail it from Chicago to Los Angeles is for the final round of a singing competition. First place wins a recording contract.

No one needs this contract more than Charlie. Every day her father mentions her stupid decisions and abysmal future. When Charlie tells her father about their road trip, he allows it under two conditions. Charlie’s sixteen-year-old, super annoying, uber responsible sister, Lucy, must go along. And they have to stop at their grandparent’s ranch in Sherman, Texas.

Nothing will keep Charlie from the stage, the only thing she’s remotely good at. So she takes Officer Lucy’s accompaniment and the visit to the grandparents in stride. But when the girls lose the competition, Charlie’s world falls flatter than her tiny sister Lucy’s chest.

She can’t go home to a life with no future and a father waiting to ground her just-barely-adult ass. So Charlie convinces her parents to let her and her sister spend the summer at their grandparent’s. After all, they used to do this often. Years ago. When they had some things remotely in common.

Though the ranch was chosen as a last resort, it might be exactly what the two need. Amidst the horses, country air, and ranch hands, clarity for Charlie and Lucy’s futures, as well as their relationship, rises to the top. It’s not something they find. It’s something they realize is already there.

ALREADY THERE is a 80,000 word, YA Contemporary told in the alternating POV of two sisters who find that those they think are most different, might understand them best.   

First 250:

     Two weeks, one day and five hours. Yep, that’s how long I’ve got to convince my parents to let me go on the trip with the girls. Today. I think is the winning day.

     One week till graduation. One and half until my big pool party. One hour until Dad takes off for his business trip.

     Why today? Why now? Mom is in a good mood. Always is when Dad’s going away on a short trip. No big meals to cook. No boring parties to go to. Plenty of shopping.

     Dad’s happy ‘cause golfing’s involved. Golfing=happy Dad.

     Tommy boy’s popping a gut ‘cause Mom’s taking him to a magic show. Kid’s only eleven and he’s better at tricks than the guy he’s going to see. He’s the next Chris Angel.

     The only person not happy is Lucy. She’s plunking her spoon around her bowl, not eating, just swishing soggy flakes. Lucy’s never happy. Rarely talks, unless she’s correcting yours truly. Jeez you’d think she’d be ecstatic. School’s almost out, my party is going to be full of hot older guys and she just got her license.

     Score one for me. No more playing chaperone for little bro Tommy. Not that I don’t like Tommy. I glance at him hunched over his paper, concocting some new trick, his thick blond hair in his eyes, tickling the top of his glasses. Ones that look nothing like the dork shades I used to wear. He’s a little mini-dad. Smart, tidy, and way talented. 

I am also at Falling for Fiction today interviewing the FANTABULOUS Peggy Eddleman. If you don't know her, you need to.