Now that the signed papers are in, and now that the other revision is in (though more revisions could be forthcoming, I cower at the thought), it’s time to think about what comes next. And that’s my first original novel that will actually be published*, now under contract, and really real (I think) and begging me to come back to it.

Things my new novel is about:

• old movies
• glamorous movie idols
• bad dads
• sad moms
• strong girls
• small towns
• being trapped by the Catskill Mountains (a theme close to my heart)
• deceiving everyone and not getting away with it if my character has anything to say about it
• truth
• lies
• ice cream

Things my new novel is totally not about:

• vapid girls who spend all day using Daddy’s credit card to shop for D&G and Prada
• fairy princesses
• vampires
• big cities
• Lexus
• cowboys
• intergalactic space travel
• teenagers frolicking through the sun in skimpy bathing suits
• drug addiction
• rice pudding

Voice: First person! (Yay!)

Final estimated page count: 150 manuscript pages. (I’m guessing…)

Target age: 9-14.

Target reader: That girl who just snuck out on the roof to escape from her parents because she thinks her life is a total snore, the one who thinks she’s a weirdo, who doesn’t fit in, whose imagination keeps her up at night, who feels like she’ll never ever get away, but she will someday, she will. This book is for her.

Time left to finish writing: Months and months and months.

Next step: Revised outline.

Status of headache: Faint, like bees buzzing.

Even so, current level of excitement: Off the charts!

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* As opposed to the original novels gathering dust under the couch