Secret Confessions

At the last meeting of my critique group, we told Purple Cactus that the 'book of her heart' -- the book she really wants to write, but she must fulfill a three-book contract first -- can be her "secret" book. One of us mentioned that Jennifer Crusie blogs about writing her "secret" books. The friend in question said that a multi-published member of our local RWA chapter also has a "secret book", a fun book. And just this morning, I read on Susan Sizemore's blog that she, too, has a "secret" book, a book to write just for fun.
Then I remembered that Braveheart Barbie
also has a secret book, something totally different than the Depression-era immigrant romances she usually writes.

I felt left out. I barely have a book to write, or so I thought.

Then I remembered the book I've been working on periodically for several years. And I do mean several. I think I can safely say I've tinkered with this baby for at least five years. Every so often, I go back to it. When I first spoke with my agent, before she signed me, she asked what projects I had in the works, and I mentioned this book. She wanted to see it. Badly.

It's a fun book, one I've adored working on. I don't know if I'll ever finish it because I'm not sure the story itself is long enough to justify a full-length novel.

My latest idea is to write three novellas (all plotted) with a unifying theme (yes, I have one) and make my 'secret' book the first of the three.

Before that, I wondered aloud to my critique group if it might not make a great Nocturne for Silhouette. The consensus there is that my 'fun' book isn't dark enough for Nocturne. I love my critique group. They're so . . . right.

So I have a secret book, a fun book, too. Whether or not it ever sees the light of day is another story.