Lucy Bound in Lyrics in the New Year

It's New Year's Resolution time!

Personally--I am hoping to immerse myself in another writing project of the YA or the Middle Grade manuscript variety in the new year. I still have to work out the actual resolution details, but I'm picturing some sort of strict schedule needing to be created and adhered to. My weakness: I'm not big on waking before dawn. Waking up far enough ahead of any one of my four children isn't a sure thing for getting work done, so I'm going to have to get a bit more strategic about other hours of the day.

I am often asked, "What do you write?" As Director of TRtW, I am focused on--and truly enjoy--helping other writers, but I do actually write and actively send out my manuscripts, too. So, the answer to the "What do you write?" question is, "I have a draft of a YA novel and a couple of picture book manuscripts that I am circulating."

In return for my efforts, as every writer has experienced, I received a steady stream of form-letter rejections over this past year. After a few of the rejections breaking form to relay to me that while they like the story the narration seems distant, I decided I needed some more detailed feedback, but don't have the money to throw at a professional editor and felt overwhelmed when I wandered onto Good Reads in search of some beta readers. It felt like the Wild West and so I backed out of those slatted, swinging saloon doors slowly and very shortly after I had entered them. And, then I remembered something!

When I attended Agent/Editor Day through SCBWI in 2017 I was introduced to an online platform called Swoon Reads. Since I am hoping to get some concrete feedback and constructive criticism from young adults, I thought it may be a bit less intimidating to start there since the manuscript I completed the first draft of this past January is a 57,000 word Young Adult novel. That means the target audience is ages 15 to 20+. Two weeks ago I uploaded LUCY BOUND IN LYRICS to Swoon Reads.

So, if you know any young adults or regular, old adults who like to read YA--feel free to point them to my manuscript, LUCY BOUND IN LYRICS, and encourage them to offer up some feedback so I can polish it up and publish it. Read Lucy Bound in Lyrics HERE. Here's the prologue to get your started:

LUCY BOUND IN LYRICS

C. T. Kavanagh (that's my maiden name:)

Prologue (yes--it's a poem:)

Love shows up in annoyingly ordinary ways.

We have to really squint and concentrate

to catch a glimpse of love slipping like sand

into the crevices of our lives,

trying to hold us solidly in place.

But, most of us just don't recognize each gritty, glistening grain

as it drops down among the others,

collectively forming that poor-excuse-for-a-foundation

foundation that we all build our lives atop.

We often miss the moment when a

single speck of sand settles and

silently offers its tragically inaudible “I love you.”

Read Chapter 1 and/or the whole novel HERE!