Revival

I usually blame my husband for passing the ADD gene down to my son, but at times I wonder if it's me who has it.  You see, like a butterfly, I flit from genre to genre, switching them up as my mood changes.  I started writing children's books, moved up to adult paranormal romance, back to children's books again, then on to YA, MG, and now back to children's books once again.  Today marked the first day in I can't remember how long that I could actually relax at work.  And when I relax it gets my writer's mind moving again.  I decided to revive one of my early chapter books, The Case of the Plant Killer.  After rewriting the ending and polishing up some grammar issues, I'm pretty satisfied with it and even sent out a couple tester queries (yes, this has already been past betas, but I never got around to querying it).  Here's an excerpt:

“What are you reading?” asked Cassie in a loud voice.

Lin startled and quickly put her hand over the title.  “Nothing.” 

She sure was acting guilty, Cassie thought.  This suspect was going to be difficult.

Logan reached down and grabbed the book out of Lin’s hands.  He read the title aloud.  “Possum Plants.”

“Possum plants?”  Cassie looked over his shoulder.  “No, it says Poisonous Plants.”  Her heartbeat quickened.  “Aha!  We’ve caught you red-handed.  You’re planning your next plant death!  We’re confiscating your book as evidence.”

Lin made a face.  “I knew you were going to think that.  That’s why I covered up the title.  It’s not about how to poison a plant, it’s about poisonous plants.  I’m doing my Science report on poison ivy and the librarian gave me this book to read.  It’s due tomorrow so you better give it back!”

Cassie put her hands on her hips.  “Well, then what were you and Jenny talking about?  It looked very suspicious.”

Lin growled.  “She was showing me her new sneakers.  If you don’t believe me, then go ask her.”

“I’ll do it,” Logan offered.

Both girls watched as he ran over to Jenny.  Sure enough, Jenny lifted her shoes to show him.”

Logan came back with his hands up.  “She has new sneakers just like Lin said.”

“Okay.  So maybe Lin is telling the truth.”

“Of course I’m telling the truth!  Why would I want to kill a plant anyway?  My mom is a florist.”

“What’s a florist?” asked Logan.

“You’re kidding, right?  It’s someone who grows plants and takes care of them.  I thought everyone knew that.”  She grabbed her book out of Logan’s hand.  “Anyway, I didn’t kill the plant so go ask someone else.”

“Fine, we will,” said Logan, crossing his arms.

“Uh, that was our last suspect, remember?” whispered Cassie.  She pushed her glasses up and looked over her notes.  “Well, we’re all out of leads and I still don’t know who the killer is.”  She sighed.  “Maybe I’m not a great detective after all.”

It feels good (if even for a day) to get some writing in and put finishing touches on something you'd shelved a year ago.  I know chapter books are a hard sell, but it sure doesn't hurt to try.  Hey, you never know... 

Have you ever come back to a shelved project a year or more later and revived it, making it even better than it was before?  Or do you consider your shelved projects history?