Michele Staci

I attended the Greater Seattle RWA conference (ECWC) last weekend (October 9-11) at the Bellevue Hilton and I just have to say it was phenomenal.  And as a first-timer I was welcomed with open arms.  From the workshops, the speakers, the gift baskets, to the goodie bags - I can only say WOW!

I met some really great writers and authors.  Made some great connections with others who are unpublished and working towards publication.  We even formed a group that will meet twice a year to see where everyone is at with their writing - how awesome is that?

I even took up Cherry Adair's challenge to Finish the Damn Book!  Why you ask?  Well because I can always start one, but for some reason I can't seem to finish one.  And Cherry has some really great incentives to push me to complete my MS.

Entries have to be a new manuscript not started before Oct. 1, 2009 and completed in polished format suitable for submission to an agent or editor by midnight Oct 1, 2010 and it has to be a novel length fiction no less than 45,000 words.

Well since leaving the conference I have started a new romantic suspense I'm calling it Out of Hiding, not sure of the title may fool around with it some more to see what pops out of my head, but it's the working title for now.  And here's a sneak peak into what it's about - this is an unedited beginning to my synopsis, so please no critiquing yet ok?

What would you do if you found out that you had a twin? Not only do you have a twin sister you never knew you had but she was brutally murdered and now the killer is after you.

 

Ivy Morgan's world is turned upside down when the morning news reports on the discovery of the body of a local woman found washed up on shore of Alki Beach and the picture she sees on the screen is of her. Imagine her shock when she's told by the people she believed to be her parents that she was adopted in a closed adoption where the identity of the birth parents were sealed and there never was any mention of a twin.

 

Confused and hurt she sets out to find her birth parents, but in the process of trying to track down information about them someone tries to kill her.  When FBI Special Agent Marcus Winston swoops in and saves her life, he tells her that she has to stop digging for information about her parents.

 

Headstrong and stubborn she tells him she won't stop looking, she has to know.  So despite the fact that he's trying to do his job and take down one of the biggest drug operations in Mexico with the help of her father, he develops a strong attraction to Ivy.  But when she discovers that he not only knew she had a twin, he also knows the identity of her biological father, the attraction between them may never come to fruition if she has any control over it.

 

Emilio Fuentes's enemies will stop at nothing to keep him from testifying against them.  In exchange for immunity from prosection he will give the FBI all the information they need to take down the lucrative drug empire he helped build.  But when word gets to him from one of his sources that he established 26 years ago after he gave his twin daughters up for adoption, that the woman found dead on the shore of Alki Beach is his daughter Isabel, he refuses to testify. Not unless the FBI can guarantee the safety of his surviving daughter, Ivelisse (Ivy).

 

Special Agent Marcus Winston has been working the Fuentes case for more than two years and he isn't about to let it all go down the tubes now. His superiors want him to do whatever it takes to keep Fuentes safe and willing to testify against the other drug lords. If he has to track down his estranged daughter to do it then that was what he was going to do.

 

What he didn't expect when he rescues her from an attack is a devastatingly beautiful, yet smart, hard-nosed business woman, who is determined to find answers, even if those answers just might get her killed. How was he going to keep her safe if she kept putting herself in danger? And how was he going to keep her from finding out who her father is and blowing his case wide open.

 

Ivy didn't need arrogant Special Agent Winston's help, she would find the answers she was seeking on her own. She didn't like the way he kept trying to 'handle' her and she didn't like the way her body responded to the way he 'handled' her either. When she finds out he's been keeping the very information she's looking for from her, she's devastated and the feelings she'd been developing towards him are the last thing she wants to deal with after discovering his deceit.

 

So, I'm interested to know what you think of this new MS.  Drop me a comment here on my blog, I'd be happy to hear from you.