WIP It Good Blogfest

Today is the WIP It Good Blogfest, hosted by DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude.

The gist of the blogfest is to tell the blogosphere about a current WIP (work in progress) and, if wanted and desired, to solicit beta readers and/or critique partners.

I actually have two WIPs right now: A completed draft of a memoir and seven pages of a trilogy. Given the fact that I haven’t even reached the inciting incident in Book I of my trilogy, I’ll go with my memoir.

WIP Title: OUR LIFE ON THE ROAD

Genre: Narrative non-fiction

How long have you been working on it? Probably five years. The road trip happened in 2006-07.

Elevator Pitch: (Seriously, I am no good at these things, and I know I have to be).

In 2006, we left our lives behind to live on the road and visit all the national parks in the lower 48. But on day five of the trip, I learned I was pregnant—something that simply was not supposed to happen, especially with no maternity coverage. Can a yearlong trip and a marriage survive?

Brief Synopsis:

In 2006 we had a dream: Sell our house and fund a yearlong trip around the country to visit the national parks. Traveling with our two-year-old son, Justin, we looked ahead to our clockwise journey around the U.S. as our old lives faded in the mirror. 

Five days into the trip, I found out I was pregnant. With no jobs, no home, and no maternity coverage, I convinced my husband we should continue our road trip anyway. We survived battles with the elements, with animals, and with each other. We agonized over prenatal care and how to find it. We sustained rejection. We hiked. We climbed. We potty-trained Justin. And we endured marital disunity. Yet we still lived the dream.

In December of that year, we stopped in Florida to have the baby. In early labor and already in trouble, the doctors sliced me open in an emergency C-section. Zane, despite being born full-term and exactly on his due date, weighed only 3 pounds, 14 ounces. He wasn’t doing well.

Fighting for his life and with an array of physical defects, we learned on day five of his life the devastating news that would alter our lives forever. Zane was born with Trisomy 18, the chromosomal condition that kills most babies in the first week. We signed a Do Not Resuscitate order, visited the hospital chaplain, and held Zane as much as we could. We waited for him to die.

The odds were against Zane living for more than a week, but since he didn’t know any better, he just kept on living. After 17 days in intensive care, he no longer needed to be there. We took him back on the road where life and road trip forever changed.

Are you looking for a critique partner? Though I have two critique partners, I could always use another, I suppose. If it’s the right fit.

Are you looking for a beta reader? Hmmm…maybe. Is that vague enough for you?

What are you working on right now?