My friend Doreen Magettigan tagged me for a fun new game called The Next Big Thing…

http://doreenmcgettigan.com/2012/07/the-next-big-thing/

The Next Big Thing (TNBT). The event consists of 10 questions about an author’s current WIP (work in progress.) Here’s the plan:

A. Answer the ten TNBT questions listed below about your current WIP.

B. Tag five other writers and link their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers.

It’s that simple.

1.What is the title of your book/WIP?  My next book is called ALL SHE EVER WANTED

2. Where did the idea for the book come from? The idea for this book was planted in my head when I was a little girl. My grandfather died of the Spanish Flu in 1918.  I was always intrigued to have a link to this major world event. I regret never asking my grandmother anything about my grandfather or anything about their lives before and during their brief marriage. This book is a work of fiction that springs from the few facts I know of their lives.

3. Under what genre would your book fall? historical fiction

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I am pathetic at choosing actors. Someone else will have to answer this one!

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? ALL SHE EVER WANTED is a coming-of-age novel that explores the struggles of an Iowa farm girl to escape the roles society prescribed for women in 1914 as she discovers what it means to be happy, what the tradeoffs are in achieving happiness, and what it takes to hold on to that elusive dream.

6. Is your book published or represented? That’s yet to be decided. My memoir GROWING UP COUNTRY: MEMORIES OF AN IOWA FARM GIRL is independently published. That’s been a successful approach for me so I may go that route again.

7. How long did it take you to write? Three years so far, maybe four. Or is it five?

8. To what other books within your genre would you compare your story? I would compare it more to Public Television programming like “Sarah Plain and Tall” and “Anne of Green Gables.” If you liked shows like those, you might like my book.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book? My grandparents were the inspiration. They weren’t writers, but my grandmother took many pictures of farm life in the early 1900s. Those pictures have helped me visualize that time.

10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book. The years leading up to and including WWI were a study in contrasts. Women were fighting for the right to vote, yet career options for women, particularly farm women were very few. Cars were becoming more common, but few Iowans had them and if they did, roads were not conducive to driving. Electricity was available but not on farms. Farms were more likely to have telephones than town dwellers. The United States was struggling with whether to engage in the war or not. ALL SHE EVER WANTED gives readers a chance to live in a time so different from today.

Now for my 5 (I hope you will all be good sports because I would love to know what you are up to)

Rachelle Ayala: http://www.rachelleayala.com/

Donna B. McNichol: http://www.donnamcnicol.blogspot.com

Diane Rapp : http://www.quicksilvernovels.com/ftp.fatcow.com/Dianes_Blog/Dianes_Blog.html

A. D. Trosper: http://adtrosper.blogspot.com/

Janna Shay: http://jannashay.wordpress.com

 Please stop by and say hello to these amazing writers!!

Carol