Writing Wednesday: Wannabe Writers #49

Wannabe Writers is a writing group for the un-published started by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-published. It's a place where future authors can ask questions, share stories, and get feedback. Interested in joining? Click here to find more about how it works.

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished. Haven't been writing faithfully...been too busy with my job search. Now that summer is coming and I at least have a summer job, I can concentrate more on my novels.

My current problem: OMG, the elevator pitch! Writing the pitch is actually harder than writing the book itself. Basically, I suck at it. Seriously. In novel #2, tentatively called, Hidden Treasure, my main character, Treasure, is tired of her safe and boring life. When she finds out her mom has cancer, she suggests they each do a bucket list. It's an opportunity to do 2 things: Keep her mother's mind off the trials that cancer brings and help spice Treasure's life up. They call it a "Life List" (Treasure refuses to think of her mother "kicking the bucket"). Treasure's list causes her to do things she's always wanted to do, but have been too afraid to do, including compete on a dance reality show. She has to do one thing on her list every week of her Senior year (40 weeks = 40 Life List items). She goes through a sort of metamorphosis, getting over her fears and learning to live life to the fullest.

Ok, so that's the overall summary. This is the elevator pitch I have so far:When 17 year-old introvert, Treasure Davis, finds out that her mom has cancer, she suggests they both do a bucket list, even though she’s terrified of where her list may take her. When Mom’s health begins to fail, will Treasure have the courage to continue with her list alone? I read that elevator pitches should be about 50 words and only 2 sentences. Mine is right at 50. I sat and came up with many different pitches and this is the best one I can come up with. Ugh! I know I need to keep working on it.

My question this week: HELP! Any suggestions? Any advice? If you've conquered the great giant called the "elevator pitch" (or even if you haven't and could still do a better job than me...which really isn't hard to do), please feel free to comment.