A Brief Explanation

For years, I wrote mysteries and thrillers.

My teen daughters accused me of being “obsessed” with murder. I suppose they had a point. I did tend to discuss forensics, police procedure, writing mysteries, and true crime at the dinner table, which apparently not all mothers do.

I started writing when my younger daughter was five weeks old. She’s a sophomore in college now. I’ve written approximately thirteen manuscripts, queried three, had two professionally edited, and received lots and lots of positive, glowing feedback from beta readers, all of whom were unrelated to me …

… and received approximately 180 rejections for those last two manuscripts.

Finally, I had several agents request a full manuscript. Unfortunately, all turned down the project. One mentioned that though she loved the book, she felt the subject matter was too somber to break out in our current market. Upon reflection, I agreed with her. But I’ve never been able to write a mystery/thriller that isn’t extremely dark. My one attempt to write a murder-free mystery ended in a DNF disaster when a character (you guessed it) was murdered.

I didn’t feel that self-publishing was right for me at that moment. But after two decades of serious writing, something had to change.

So I pivoted and decided to write a YA romance. After all, I do love a good love story! (All my mystery/thrillers had a romantic subplot.) Besides, I’d written the first draft of a YA romcom one summer as a deal with my teenager. She did the grocery shopping, I wrote the story for her. A win-win, right?

Except I hadn’t read a YA romance since I was a teenager myself, so I had zilch idea what needed to happen, so I spent a great deal of time pounding my head on my desk in agony. Believe me, writing a good “meet cute” moment is far harder than it appears, and that HEA? Whew, it takes a whole lot of work to get Character A and Character B together.

This time, I did my research. After reading dozens of YA romance/rom-coms, watching many romantic comedies, writing four drafts, getting beta feedback, writing two more drafts, receiving a professional editor’s feedback, and (you guessed it!) revising again, I’m getting ready to query literary agents.

I’m still working on the logline (another thing that is appallingly difficult to write) but here’s the gist of the story.

Cue Me Maybe

Seventeen-year-old Simon Holden used to be an actor. But between caring for his widowed mom with dementia and keeping his squirrel-brained brother focused on school, the former leading man has zero time for romantic drama, on stage or off. Then his brother falls head-over-feet for Simon’s childhood sweetheart, and Simon impulsively claims he’s already dating Evie. Now he just needs to let her know …

Shy Evie Ackerman struggles to assert herself with her overbearing family. When Simon proposes fake dating to increase her self-confidence, she knows the plan’s absurd. But she needs to get out of her comfort zone, he needs a break from his difficult home life, and the flirting during technical theater class? Strangely addictive.

Besides, here’s a chance to pay back his Oreos-with-toothpaste prank in second grade.

Between Evie’s light-hearted pranks and her compassion for his ill mother, Simon falls hard for his fake girlfriend but he worries his deception will destroy their lifelong friendship. Evie grows to love Simon, but fears he’s only acting.

With the help of the other theater techies, a few bats, a freak Alabama snowstorm, and one runaway dog, will Simon and Evie find their happily-ever-after or will lies and fear doom their love before the curtain falls?

CUE ME MAYBE is a 74,000-word young adult contemporary sweet romance, perfect for those who enjoy the “clean & wholesome” book lists, friends-to-lovers, fake dating, and found family, all in a high school’s technical theater department.

If you’re a fan of Kasie West and Becky Dean, loved the friends-to-lovers banter from WE’RE A BAD IDEA, RIGHT? by K.L. Walther, and adored the theatrical vibes of Kristy Boyce’s DUNGEONS AND DRAMA, then this might be the book for you. And I hope some agent out there in the wild world of agent-land loves it, too.