Children of the Waters

That's the working title for my novel in progress. I'll tell you the sales story of my story. My agent called me at work because Ballantine wanted to make an offer (there was already one on the table) for Orange Mint and Honey, but first they wanted to know if I had another book in me. They wanted a one-liner. I didn't have a great one-liner, but I had worked on a short pitch. Unfortunately, it was the ONE day in months I didn't have all my book stuff with me at work. Figures, right? So I winged it and this is what we sent and sold for a decent advance:

What happens when two half-sisters, one white and one black, separated by adoption, find each other? Billie and Trish have the same mother, but different fathers. Billie's was black. Trish's was white. Their mother was a wild child who brought Trish home for her mother to raise. When she brought Billie home, her mother refused to raise her black child. So Billie was put up for adoption and was adopted and raised by a black family. Trish was raised by her white grandmother. Told from both sisters' POV, Children of the Waters is a story about race, identity and what really makes a family.

This was actually my first novel. I hit 100 pages and got stumped and put it away. I started Orange Mint and Honey and got stumped when I hit 100 pages and realized that's just what happens when I hit the 100-page mark. So while Orange Mint was on submission, I pulled those original 100 pages out and read them. They weren't half bad. I still liked the premise and the characters. However, the story of what brings the two sisters together and what they do as they get to know each other has changed dramatically. (This is where my research comes in.) I'm at work on the second draft. The manuscript is due to my editor March 1 and will be published in spring 2009.