#HolidayQuery Blog Hop

The fabulous Michelle Hauck is hosting yet another blog hop! Last time I shared my first 250 and got amazing feedback. Thanks y'all! This time we get to tackle QUERY letters (insert dramatic music here). My brain already hurts...

Michelle has all the details on her blog. Join in, get feedback, and give a little too. It's fun...I promise!

My query letter is below. Happy critiquing, fellow writers!

Revised

Dear ______:

When seventeen-year-old Jill is submerged in a mob of angry fans on a football field, she discovers two things: the rivalry is way out of control, and she just met the boy worth questioning everything she’s grown up believing.

As a Capland girl, and daughter of the head coach, Jill never expects to fall for Rashon, a Montville boy. After all, Montville is full of worthless troublemakers—at least that’s what everyone in Capland says. But with one quick rescue on a football field, followed by an extraordinary amount of sneaking around and lying (there’s always lying) and she is hooked. When Jill learns Rashon will join her at State in the fall, she knows freedom to love him publicly is close. Too bad Dad, or the entire town for that matter, will disown her. Being with Rashon is what she wants. But what she wants and what her family wants are two different things. Ending the rivalry is the only way. First, she needs to know why it started and how it got so out of control.

And so, Jill starts an inquisition, determined to find answers. Granddad, bourboned up and chatty, offers the details, details that prevent either family to forgive and forget. If she’s not successful in bringing feuding towns and families together, then she’ll lose someone: Rashon or Dad. She has to make it happen. Somehow.

WHERE THE MAPLES GROW, a contemporary YA retelling complete at 51,000 words, is a story of forbidden love as seen from two points of view: my Romeo and my Juliet.

Per submission guidelines, I’ve included the first XXX of my manuscript. I appreciate your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Original
Dear ______,

When seventeen-year-old Jill finds herself submerged in violence on small town Capland’s football field she discovers two things: the rivalry is way out of control, and she just met the boy worth questioning everything she’s grown up to believe.

Jill wasn’t on the lookout for a boyfriend. What was the point when she’d be gone to State in the fall. One quick rescue on a football field, followed by an extraordinary amount of sneaking around and lying (there was always lying) and she was hooked. Too bad her new love, Rashon, was a Montville boy. Not to mention, Dad would have a stroke if he knew she even dreamed of dating his rival’s son. Loving him in secret was great and all, but there’s only so much time in a day without prying eyes. The only way to end the rivalry was to find out why it started in the first place. And so, the inquisition began. Granddad, bourboned up and chatty, would offer the details, details that prevented either love struck teen’s family to forgive and forget.
She had to make it happen. Somehow. Living without the boy her heart refused to forget wasn’t an option.

WHERE THE MAPLES GROW, a contemporary retelling complete at 51,000 words, is a story of forbidden love as seen from two points of view: my Romeo and my Juliet.

Per submission guidelines, I’ve included the first XXX of my manuscript. I appreciate your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

My Wants...

Hubby asked what I wanted for Christmas. Guess what I said? Yep…books. So, in honor of the quickly approaching holiday season, I’m going to share my list of must read books. Chances are, he’ll screw this up somehow and I’ll end up with at least one book I didn’t request. But I’m sure it won’t cause a divorce…maybe.

·       CREED by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie. I didn’t even have to read the whole blurb on this one. Creepy! Also, I may end up chewing my nails to nubs while reading—a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

·        LOVE AND OTHER UNKNOWN VARIABLES by Shannon Lee Alexander. First and foremost, I loathe math. It’s an evil I’ll never understand! But give me a math nerd and tattooed girl and I’m hooked. Pranks too! I’m all about some teen shenanigans!

·        WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart. This one has been out for nearly a year, but I haven’t had the chance to read it. Can’t wait to get my eyes on the secrets between these pages.

·        THE WAY WE FALL by Megan Crewe. This is another one that’s been on the shelves for a bit. Love a good epidemic…especially when told from a teen’s point of view.

·       VISIONS (Cainsville #2) by Kelley Armstrong. I tend to read more YA, which this is not. I enjoyed her Darkest Rising and Darkest Powers series, so I gave Omens a chance. Loved it. So it’s only natural I get my hands on the second novel in this series.

I’m sure before Christmas rolls around, I’ll have added to this list. Crossing my fingers the hubby doesn’t alter my choices or think I’ll like something better than what I’ve suggested—he’s done that in the past!

Now, if only I knew what he wanted…

A Blog Hop!

So, I was totally doing my thing (stalking the Twitter feed) and I noticed Michelle Hauck's 1st page blog hop! Does this woman have superpowers or something? She seems to pull time from some hour hording cloud in the sky. She rocks! Anyway, here's the link so anyone interested can join the fun!

My work in progress lurks below. It's untitled, and I totally don't look forward to the many migraines I'll endure when the time comes to make a decision. But I do look forward to critiquing fellow writers!

 

YA Contemporary

As a Capland girl, and daughter of the head coach, it was my duty to attend all games. This unspoken rule especially applied to games with our rival school, Montville.  

Another touchdown for the boys in black and gold, and my ear drums nearly exploded with whoops and screams of excitement. It could’ve been my own shouts for all I knew. I didn’t even like football, but with a Capland victory against Montville, Dad would be in good spirits.

I wished I could say the boys in red didn’t stand a chance. But I’d be lying. They were equally matched in skill. And judging from the way they played, they were equally accustomed to hard practices.

Since I could remember, Capland parents, teachers, and coaches had reinforced that we were better than Montville. They’d drilled that into our heads, the same as they had preached drugs would leave us miserable drains on society. I’m surprised we didn’t have full blown school assemblies for the sole purpose of bashing the Montville players. Maybe Montville did the same to their players. They sure played like it.

The score was close, too close.

Red lit numbers on the scoreboard flashed, counting down the game. My bottom lip ached with a nervous bite when number four on the Montville team raced down the field. He was fast. Uncatchable.

And it was over.

Montville had won.

***

Yeah, you’ve probably guessed by the town names—it’s a contemporary Romeo & Juliet retelling. Oh, if SC_Author happens to run across this…I’m totally looking forward to your Retelling Blog, you know, so I don’t completely fudge this thing up!

Comments welcome!

Twitter #s

There are some things in this world that drift into our lives with little impact. Then...there's the things we become addicted to. It's happened to me, in the most unexpected way. Twitter hash tags have stolen my time!

Signing up for Twitter was something I did on the spur of the moment. I was tired of not being the cool kid. Everyone had a Twitter account, and I wanted one too!

Soon after creating my account, I discovered tons of authors, agents, contests, and generally cool writerly folk. I also discovered hash tags.

It was a glorious moment! And I'm totally mesmerized by them!

My favorite # are fun, educational, and a bit scary!

Prepare yourself. I'm about to share my favorite #.

#tenqueries & #10queriesin10tweets & #500queries- Agents dig into their slush piles, spilling why or why not a query letter works for them.
 
#querytip & #pubtip- Agents, editors, and publishers give insight into the awe inducing world of publishing.

#pitmad- Brenda Drake and her awesomeness created this. Aspiring authors can pitch their book in 140 characters or less. And then real agents and publishers ask for more! #pitchwars too!

#mswl- One of my favs. Agents tweet what they'd like to see in their inboxes. Makes tracking down that perfect agent a bit easier.

#querylunch- Agent Amy Boggs eats lunch and tweets from her inbox!

#inboxinsights-Agent Maria Vicente helps authors by tweeting what she sees wrong with submissions.

Okay. There it is, in all it's # glory! Happy Twittering!

 

Life After #PitchWars

The mentors have spoken and the mentees have been chosen. It was exciting, informative, and somewhat grey hair inducing! It was totally worth it.

This was my first attempt at PitchWars. I didn’t get a mentor, but I gained so much more than what I thought would be offered during this contest. I assumed I’d have the opportunity to work with an established author, let him/her dissect my manuscript, pointing out all the no-nos my first novel surely contains. Instead, I received encouragement, writer friends, and irreplaceable advice. It was so much more than a simple contest.

My first reaction when seeing The List was that of disappointment. I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt—because it did. Am over it now? Yep. Will I survive? Duh. Will I keep writing, editing, and searching for my perfect agent? Bet your pretty pants I will! And the rest of you will too. I sincerely hope you will because more than writing I love reading. Keep going, get that book published and let me get lost in your words!

I’ve compiled some of my favorite tweets over the last few days of PitchWars. You’ll find them below—mixture of mentors and mentees, giving, sharing, teasing, and having a damn good time!

Last, but not least, I’ll leave you with a quote. The movie was on earlier. Yeah, yeah, I could’ve found an author to quote or some witty tidbit about surviving what feels like the aspiring author's apocalypse. I didn’t. Read it. Enjoy it.

Can I get a Hallelujah!

Amy Reichert ‏@aereichert

I've been getting the best thank you notes from #PitchWars. You people have the right attitudes-and that's why you'll succeed! ((hugs))

 

Kimberly A. Hill ‏@Arborwriter

I now realize I've been relying on my query to say what needs to be said in the first page. Thank you #pitchwars It's all coming together!

 

Gail Nall ‏@gailecn

I signed up to be a mentor b/c I wanted to read everything you sent me. Thank YOU for choosing me! 3/3 #pitchwars

 

Natasha Raulerson ‏@ThirtyNerdy

I'm crazy proud of all people who submitted! It's a step in the right direction! Don't be sad. Take what you've learned, use it #PitchWars

 

Melissa Menten ‏@MelissaMenten  

@brooksbenjamin Thanks for your #pitchwars feedback. I can't imagine reading all the entries, but then to make a helpful comment? Awesome!

 

Kelly Siskind ‏@KellySiskind

@WriteAsRain_ If you wake up with a bag over your head DON'T PANIC. I have decided to kidnap you so we can hang out. #PitchWars

 

Dan Koboldt ‏@DanKoboldt

OMG, on the #PitchWars hangout, @brendadrake is juggling a huge glass of wine and what appears to be a ferret

 

Rae (Huffaker) Chang ‏@RaeAChang

#PitchWars tweeps, I'll be joining you for #pitmad in a week & @Dannie_Morin and I will have a place for you to get help with your pitch

 

Dan Malossi ‏@Danmalossi

#pitchwars Even though I missed out this time around, the four mentors have given such amazing feedback. So worth it. Thanks @brendadrake!

 

Susan Crispell ‏@SBCrispell  

A HUGE thank you to @brendadrake for being amazing and running #PitchWars and to all the mentors for being so generous with your time!

 

Nikki Roberti ‏@Nikki_Roberti

Thank you for organizing #PitchWars @brendadrake! Best part has been making new author friends

 

Dystopian vs Post-Apocalyptic

Isn’t dystopian fiction the same as post-apocalyptic fiction? I’ve asked myself this many times and I’m still not sure my answer is correct, because someone will inevitably disagree with me at some point. And that’s okay!

The two genres are very much alike. The worlds within dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels do not resemble the world we are accustomed to waking to. No…life is very different in these books. Maybe the world has changed in some way or maybe the people have changed. It’s why I love reading and writing in these genres.

The easiest way I distinguish the two is time and circumstances. Did a natural disaster, virus, or war cause the world and people to change? If so, this would be classified as apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic. We often see the cause of the world’s change in these novels. Susan Beth Pfeffer’s LIFE AS WE KNEW IT is a good example of post-apocalyptic fiction.

But what if the world is already different? What if a new government has been implemented? What if the survivors of whatever have moved on with their lives, now struggling against something other than the world coming to an end? These novels fall into the dystopian category. THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins is the perfect example of dystopian.

As a writer it’s important for me to know the difference in the two. I don’t want to classify my work as something it’s not. But as a reader, I could care less, because the genre may interest me, but what keeps me reading is the believability of characters and a voice that lets me connect.

The Agent Hunt

Unless we authors decide to undertake the task of self-publishing, we’ve all found ourselves in this position—the position of seeking the perfect agent. Upon starting this journey, I didn’t think it would be so difficult. I was wrong—in a big way!

First, I had to find agents that represented YA. The good news: Lots and lots of agents rep YA. The bad news: Not all of them accepted my book’s genre. I couldn’t query every agent seeking YA. That would’ve been a waste of not only my time, but the agent’s time as well. So, I narrowed my list.

And then I realized—I had some favorites. Yep, some of the agents really stuck out. Maybe it was something on their wishlist, twitter, or blog that caught my eye. Whatever the reason, I knew I had a few favorites that I would die to work with. So those went to the top of list. And to be honest, I have yet to query my top three. I’m still testing the query waters J

The Agent Hunt is REAL! It’s hard. And it’s the most important thing I’ll ever do to my manuscript. If I’m going to trust someone with my words, with the characters living in my book, then I want to make sure he/she loves them as much as I do!

In the Beginning...

I know many authors have been writing since they were little, but that’s not the case for me. I never wanted to be a writer. I didn’t carry around a notebook with me, jotting down little stories for only my eyes to see. Nope…I was a reader. Still am. Always will be. And that’s how my writing journey began.

 

I’d read every book I own more than a few times, the library was closed, and I’m not a fan of e-books. I know, I know, e-books are awesome and amazing. I agree. Unfortunately, I enjoy having the book in my hands. I enjoy feeling the pages and smelling the ink…it’s my thing.  Anyway, I decided to scribble down a scene. It was packed with action and gore and personality and all the lovely things my books contained. I read it through a few times, editing small bits, then I put it aside. I tried to forget it, I really did, but those people I had created just wouldn’t leave me alone. I wanted to know how they had found themselves in that situation, who they were, and what would happen to them.

What I kept telling myself...it didn't work!

 

 

I decided I should finish the story, writing every day for months. Some days I only wrote a few sentences, other days I wrote thousands of words.  It took me what seemed like forever to finish the telling of what I thought was an original, beautifully written, edge of your seat YA horror. Guess what? Yep…after reading through my finished manuscript, I realized the only thing I had accomplished was filling a file with word diarrhea. That was gross, sorry for the visual. Yep…it was just randomness sprawled across the screen. It was 96,000 words. Once again, I set my story aside.

By this point, I was addicted. I couldn’t stop thinking about my characters. I didn’t want to stop either. I dug in again. Revising a bit, tweaking here, shaving that, change this word….. I soon realized it was as good as I could get it. My manuscript now sets complete at 78,000 words, full of life, heartache, and unexpected twists I didn’t imagine possible when I wrote that first scene.

I aspire to one day walk into my local library, venture to the YA section, and pluck my novel from the shelf.

The First Blog!

This is the beginning of what I hope to be a lasting relationship. See, this blog and I have come to an understanding: I will continue to post random, hopefully thoughtful blogs, while this blog connects me with other writerly folks. I'd love feedback if anyone is so inclined, for this blogging journey is an entirely new experience for me.