a contest and an outline

I almost forgot to post about this writerly contest over at Shooting Stars. Follow the link to find out how to enter. There are some great prizes, including some first-five-page critiques. That's certainly the prize I'm hoping to win. There's only a small window of time left to enter, so scoot on over there.

So, I've been hard at work on my manuscript and even considered posting my prologue here for feedback, but I thought it might be a bit premature/ irresponsible (you know, paranoia about getting it ripped off.)

I wish I was ready for beta readers. I have the prologue, and the first three chapters, which are solid. Complete. Chapter four is half finished, but one character appears at the beginning of the chapter with no real introduction. He's mentioned in the prolgoue, but I need to clarify how he and Laurel meet, or at least set the stage for their friendship prior to chapter four. (Note to self: don't forget to do that.)

A later chapter is written -- longer than the others; it will probably ended up divided into two later chapters.

This week, I've been working on an even later chapter.

Prologue (bad news Laurel will receive post-chapter eight, written)
Chapter One (Laurel's early childhood, written)
Chapter Two (Laurel's childhood, written)
Chapter Three (Laurel + Adam = love, written)
Chapter Four (Incomplete, Laurel leaves for college, half-written)
SPACE (The end of Laurel's first year of college - may be resolved by end of chapter four)
Chapter Six (Laurel meets David, written)
Chapter Seven (insert second half of chapter six here; Laurel leaves for a different college, written)
SPACE (Laurel transfers schools again, exit David and enter Owen, not yet written)
Chapter Nine? (Laurel's "problem," not yet written)
SPACE (Not written. What will happen next? Hmm, I don't want to give too much away!)
SPACE
BLANK
WHITE
SPACE.

Well, that felt good, but probably made no sense to my readers. Yikes.