Here's what I'm dealing with:
The Family Room
And then they spill over wherever they may, like
The Hallway
The Craft Table
The Secret Goodie Drawer
So, anybody have an app for that?
I finally got on Goodreads and spent a few minutes trying out the feature that lets you scan the barcode of a book and add it to your shelves. Which I'm sure will turn into a very nice perk, but what I really need is an app that will take a picture of my bookshelves and enter all the books for me. (I know, first world problems . . .)
Here's what I'm dealing with:
The Dining Room
The Family Room
And then they spill over wherever they may, like
The Hallway
The Craft Table
The Secret Goodie Drawer
So, anybody have an app for that?
Here's what I'm dealing with:
The Family Room
And then they spill over wherever they may, like
The Hallway
The Craft Table
The Secret Goodie Drawer
So, anybody have an app for that?
So there's this contest called The Writer's Voice being hosted by Brenda Drake, Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.) and Monica B.W. of Love YA where we post the query and first 250 words of a project we'd like to catch an agent's eye. Here's mine!
Query:
Crow’s Rest is a 72,000-word young adult urban fantasy novel with the wry humor of Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series and the dark fantasy feel of Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series.
Sixteen-year-old Avery arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel. Instead, she discovers Daniel's body has been taken over by a corbin, a Fae which usually crosses into our world by inhabiting crows.
The corbin, Lonan, warns her that some of his kin are no longer satisfied with crow bodies. Or even the occasional accommodating human. They want to come here in their natural forms, with their full, terrible powers intact. It’s happened before, leading to the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages, but this time Lonan has been sent to stop them.
In exchange for Avery’s help with his mission, she insists the corbin brings Daniel back, forcing the two boys to share Daniel’s body. Switching between personalities in an uneasy truce. But once she starts to fall for the charming Lonan, Avery realizes that even if they do save the world, only one of the boys will get sole custody of the body—leaving her heartbroken either way.
Meanwhile, she discovers her family’s roots reach deeper into Faerie than she ever imagined, proving crucial to the survival of both worlds.
First 250:
Mom woke me as we hit the outskirts of Crow's Rest. "Brace yourself, Avery Girl." She said this every time we visited Uncle Tam’s, and it still gave me a shiver.
July air streamed through the car window, coating my tongue with heat and iron-rich dust. Nearly there. . . As we took that last curve on the approach, tree branches arched over the road, blocking our view until there it stood.
A castle, its ruddy bricks warmed by the afternoon light. Looming over the Gold-Rush-era town at its feet, the Wilson School of Industry reformed bad boys for nearly a century before the state abandoned it to vandals and ghost hunters.
The usual mass of turkey vultures and ravens soared above, sinisterizing the turrets even more. Makes my shutter finger drool, if that’s even possible. But no need to rummage for my camera—I’ll have the whole summer to take pictures for my portfolio.
As the Castle receded in the side mirror, I asked, "Is Uncle Tam going to be home, or does he have lessons tonight?"
"He made sure to keep tonight open so we could visit."
I looked at Mom sharply, catching the lines on her brow before she smoothed them into a neutral expression. Hmm, I smell bull, and it’s not coming in through the window.
She’d been acting weird all week, taking hushed phone calls out of the room and kissing the top of my head for no reason.
"Is something wrong with Uncle Tam?"
((What happens next in the contest, you might be wondering? The coaches will select 8 team members (plus 1 alternate) by May 10, then spend the next week and a half helping them put a final polish on their entries.
Voting
On May 20, they'll post our team members’ queries and first pages on their blogs so that the agents can review them))
Query:
Crow’s Rest is a 72,000-word young adult urban fantasy novel with the wry humor of Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series and the dark fantasy feel of Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series.
Sixteen-year-old Avery arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel. Instead, she discovers Daniel's body has been taken over by a corbin, a Fae which usually crosses into our world by inhabiting crows.
The corbin, Lonan, warns her that some of his kin are no longer satisfied with crow bodies. Or even the occasional accommodating human. They want to come here in their natural forms, with their full, terrible powers intact. It’s happened before, leading to the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages, but this time Lonan has been sent to stop them.
In exchange for Avery’s help with his mission, she insists the corbin brings Daniel back, forcing the two boys to share Daniel’s body. Switching between personalities in an uneasy truce. But once she starts to fall for the charming Lonan, Avery realizes that even if they do save the world, only one of the boys will get sole custody of the body—leaving her heartbroken either way.
Meanwhile, she discovers her family’s roots reach deeper into Faerie than she ever imagined, proving crucial to the survival of both worlds.
First 250:
Mom woke me as we hit the outskirts of Crow's Rest. "Brace yourself, Avery Girl." She said this every time we visited Uncle Tam’s, and it still gave me a shiver.
July air streamed through the car window, coating my tongue with heat and iron-rich dust. Nearly there. . . As we took that last curve on the approach, tree branches arched over the road, blocking our view until there it stood.
A castle, its ruddy bricks warmed by the afternoon light. Looming over the Gold-Rush-era town at its feet, the Wilson School of Industry reformed bad boys for nearly a century before the state abandoned it to vandals and ghost hunters.
The usual mass of turkey vultures and ravens soared above, sinisterizing the turrets even more. Makes my shutter finger drool, if that’s even possible. But no need to rummage for my camera—I’ll have the whole summer to take pictures for my portfolio.
As the Castle receded in the side mirror, I asked, "Is Uncle Tam going to be home, or does he have lessons tonight?"
"He made sure to keep tonight open so we could visit."
I looked at Mom sharply, catching the lines on her brow before she smoothed them into a neutral expression. Hmm, I smell bull, and it’s not coming in through the window.
She’d been acting weird all week, taking hushed phone calls out of the room and kissing the top of my head for no reason.
"Is something wrong with Uncle Tam?"
((What happens next in the contest, you might be wondering? The coaches will select 8 team members (plus 1 alternate) by May 10, then spend the next week and a half helping them put a final polish on their entries.
Voting
On May 20, they'll post our team members’ queries and first pages on their blogs so that the agents can review them))
I'm over on Operation Awesome today with a post on finding inspiration for fictional settings in real-life places. Places like this:
Go check it out! And don't forget about the Mystery Agent Contest on Operation Awesome May 1st!
More interior pictures of the castle in my gallery here.
Go check it out! And don't forget about the Mystery Agent Contest on Operation Awesome May 1st!
More interior pictures of the castle in my gallery here.
Sorry to yell with that all-caps MORE, but it seems like contest season is upon us! Here are some upcoming chances to pitch your book, in order of their submission periods:
Operation Awesome's Mystery Agent Contest for May will open May 1st; watch for details of the agent's wishlist and genres accepted, which will go up on Operation Awesome in the next week. UPDATE: the May Mystery Agent is looking for Horror, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, and Mainstream. Adult/YA (no MG). No romance or religious. Especially looking for YA Horror and Mystery-- think creepy and dark.
The Writer's Voice, a pitch+250 words contest, will have a lottery entry that opens on May 1. There are some rules and guidelines that must be followed, so check out any of the hosting blogs for info. This one is for MG and YA manuscripts.
And there's also a Query Kombat Contest & Tournament starting May 13, where queries and first 250 words will go head to head until one winner is declared. "Submissions for MG, YA, NA, and Adult works will be accepted. No picture books or non-fiction."
Good luck!
Operation Awesome's Mystery Agent Contest for May will open May 1st; watch for details of the agent's wishlist and genres accepted, which will go up on Operation Awesome in the next week. UPDATE: the May Mystery Agent is looking for Horror, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, and Mainstream. Adult/YA (no MG). No romance or religious. Especially looking for YA Horror and Mystery-- think creepy and dark.
The Writer's Voice, a pitch+250 words contest, will have a lottery entry that opens on May 1. There are some rules and guidelines that must be followed, so check out any of the hosting blogs for info. This one is for MG and YA manuscripts.
And there's also a Query Kombat Contest & Tournament starting May 13, where queries and first 250 words will go head to head until one winner is declared. "Submissions for MG, YA, NA, and Adult works will be accepted. No picture books or non-fiction."
Good luck!
Labels:
adult,
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mystery agent,
na,
operation awesome,
pitch,
the writer's voice,
YA
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I'm over on Operation Awesome today with an interview with critique partner, Christina Mercer! Go check it out!
Last Saturday was the Spring Spirit Conference for our regional chapter of SCBWI, and WOW what a conference! This was my third year as a volunteer and although I felt like I made myself useful, it's nothing to all the work the real people in charge put in. Thanks to our RAs and planners, who performed marvelously under pressure!
We had a different location this year and I never want to go back to our old one--this one had powerful, free wi-fi and a nice layout. Plus, since we had a more flexible space it was done as tracks; you could choose novel, picture book, or nonfiction.
As a shepherd for two speakers, I got to see a little bit of everything. Started with an Early Bird session on perfecting your pitch with Rose Cooper and got to participate in the feedback a bit. It might have just given me the confidence to propose my own workshop on queries for next year. (And Rose, if you read this and wonder why I dragged out my tablet in the middle of the workshop, I was trying to find the link for a Pitch Generator I'd seen. Couldn't remember where, but it was on Carissa Taylor's blog.)
Then on to a picture book session with Gianna Marino, which was a great take on how writers can inspire illustrators by using their words in, um, inspiring ways. But she said it better.
But the highlights of the conference for me were getting to hear Andrew Harwell's (of Harper Collins) talk about openers and first lines. He gave very helpful feedback, and when I read mine he "liked it a lot". I was glad, but didn't take too much notice of it--figured he was being polite.
But when he then referenced my first lines in his next presentation, I swung into full-on squee mode. Which only got worse when I had the opportunity to pitch to agent Stephen Fraser and he requested. Felt great to get that validation that I'm doing some things right.
And as if all that conference excitement wasn't enough, on Sunday we took delivery of our new (new to us at least) trailer! It folds down
And it opens up
Planning on some writer's retreats in this!
We had a different location this year and I never want to go back to our old one--this one had powerful, free wi-fi and a nice layout. Plus, since we had a more flexible space it was done as tracks; you could choose novel, picture book, or nonfiction.
As a shepherd for two speakers, I got to see a little bit of everything. Started with an Early Bird session on perfecting your pitch with Rose Cooper and got to participate in the feedback a bit. It might have just given me the confidence to propose my own workshop on queries for next year. (And Rose, if you read this and wonder why I dragged out my tablet in the middle of the workshop, I was trying to find the link for a Pitch Generator I'd seen. Couldn't remember where, but it was on Carissa Taylor's blog.)
Then on to a picture book session with Gianna Marino, which was a great take on how writers can inspire illustrators by using their words in, um, inspiring ways. But she said it better.
But the highlights of the conference for me were getting to hear Andrew Harwell's (of Harper Collins) talk about openers and first lines. He gave very helpful feedback, and when I read mine he "liked it a lot". I was glad, but didn't take too much notice of it--figured he was being polite.
But when he then referenced my first lines in his next presentation, I swung into full-on squee mode. Which only got worse when I had the opportunity to pitch to agent Stephen Fraser and he requested. Felt great to get that validation that I'm doing some things right.
And as if all that conference excitement wasn't enough, on Sunday we took delivery of our new (new to us at least) trailer! It folds down
And it opens up
Labels:
agent,
andrew harwell,
conference,
editor,
pitch,
scbwi,
stephen fraser
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