Sherry is the author of the just-released collection of short stories, Storyteller. She has a magical, lyrical voice that is warm milk on a cold night. And, she loves all things woo-woo, too! I'm so pleased to have her here. Enjoy!
Time Warp
by Sherry Isaac
Where a story idea comes from and how it take shape is integrated and tangled up with where we are at the moment.
And where we've been.
And where we are going.
Kind of like time travel.
Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the ideas. They come so fast, they could be in a swirling, time-traveling vortex of their own. Sometimes it’s hard to focus on the story in front of me, darn near completion, because a new idea won’t leave me alone.
Ideas like this one, an idea I had quite a few years ago now, shelved while I worked on my current novel, took classes and compiled my short story collection, Storyteller.
A time travel idea.
Audience: YA.
Right at this moment, I should be working on my second novel, Homecoming.
I’m not.
Why? Two reasons.
One. Instead of being tangled up in plot points and character arcs, I’m enmeshed in the promotion of my first ever book launch.
Reason Two shouldn’t be time-consuming. It is an important task, but one that can run in the background: soliciting agents for my middle-grade. The book is everything I can make it, tweaked and polished till I have the darned thing almost memorized. Synopsis is written, as is the query letter.
Every 4-6 weeks my only task is to (a) digest the rejection letter, (b) revise and personalize the query letter for the next agent on my list and (c) hit send.
I’m now on Agent #4.
It was the query to Agent #2 that threw life into a jumble.
Agent #2 has a blog. She cites statistics on her blog, discouraging, miserable numbers that tell a sad, sad tale of how many queries she receives, month by month, and the scant number of partials and fulls she requests from out of that ginormous, impossible, nearly infinite number.
On her blog she also reveals the type of book she is on the look out for: Time Travel YA.
My heartbeat flutters.
My lungs grow heavy with the breath I hold.
Time Travel YA?
I have a Time Travel YA!
At least, I have an idea for a time travel YA, tucked, safe and sound, in my idea file.
I made a commitment, though. A commitment to myself, a commitment I must honour lest Margie Lawson beat me with the entire weight of her DSDB lecture packet:
Finish the current novel.
The current novel, Homecoming, has been the heart and soul of my existence for I no longer know how many years. Homecoming is so close to completion, I can smell the ink on the freshly printed pages and hear the first crinkle of that fragile spine as the first copy of the first edition is cracked open.
The time travel idea?
She ain’t going anywhere.
But she does serve as an impetus to keep moving forward, to finish my current work in progress, and to plan what books I will write, and when, over the course of the next few years.
In the meantime, I’ll buckle my seat belt and find contentment traveling the space-time continuum between current century Canadian prairie by day, and 16th century England in my dreams.
And keep that time travel engine running!
__________________________
Winner of The Alice Munro Short Story Award, Sherry Isaac’s tales of life, love and forgiveness that transcend all things, including the grave, appear online and in print. Her first collection of shorts, Storyteller, debuts July 2011. For more information, or to order an autographed copy, click HERE.
Be sure to leave a comment for Sherry and don't miss her beautiful book trailer. Thank you, Sherry, for being here!
Be sure to leave a comment for Sherry and don't miss her beautiful book trailer. Thank you, Sherry, for being here!
