FREEBIES

You're all always so helpful to us.  You give us advice.  You visit us.  You say nice things.  We <3 you completely.

Here are some FREE links to help you with all many some of your writing wants needs.  We do what we can to keep you coming around. 

Sorry. Did you think we were giving away free books?  Maybe soon.  Maybe sooooon.

READY TO SUBMIT A MANUSCRIIPT? 
Check out this post @ BookEnds, LLC:  SUBMISSIONS 101

WANT TO SEE ANOTHER QUERY CRITIQUE?
Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire has done one for you:  THE SATURDAY SLASH

NEED SOME ADVICE FROM AN AMAZING AUTHOR?
Cassandra Clare links to some helpful information on writing, creating characters, building fantasy worlds, plot, dialogue, and getting published.  GO HERE.

MORE QUERY ADVICE
From a helpful agent/author chat @ Mother.  Write.  (Repeat).  HERE.
Here's a teaser. I found this advice particularly helpful:  "That said, once you’re ready, I recommend drafting a concise query that doesn’t summarize the plot in step-by-step fashion but instead moves us through your story’s major movements and gives us a sense for how your characters arc. It’s so important, I think, to highlight in a query an emotional throughline for your story or protagonist--really, I don’t see enough queries that do. It’s the emotional arc (that runs alongside your story arc) that hooks me in a query, and which makes me want to read the book."--Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary

Do you like to give advice?

Last spring erica and I met at a writing conference in Madison, WI.  While we were there, we pitched our completed novels to several agents, each of whom requested pages.  So far, none have panned out in offers of rep, although erica recently recieved a full request from one.  :0) 

One of the agents who was supposed to attend the conference had been unable to due to an illness or family emergency.  Later, she was still unable to take our pitches via email, so the writer's institute had another agent take the email pitches in her place.

I'd forgotten all about those submissions until yesterday when the agent emailed me. She said she appreciated my pitch and my patience.  She ended the short email message by saying she'd love to take a look at the first 50 pages of my manuscript. 

I'm sure she's taking the pages to be polite, so it'll make it easier for me not to send them.  (Keep in mind she does not (according to her agency's site) represent YA...which is what all of my manuscripts are.  And I was clear about that in my pitch and brief description that I sent her.) However, I need some advice. 

The reason I'm not sending the pages is because since pitching that particular novel  (You may remember the one--Solstice.), I put it in a drawer--where it belongs.  This past summer (after spending a year or so writing, rewriting and rewriting it again), I decided that since it was my very first novel ever, it just wasn't going to be good enough, marketable enough, publishable enough.  Plus, after my final rewriting, I left it with about three plot holes, and when I decided to put it in the drawer, I just left those plot holes laying there (lying there?) without filling them in.

However.

I have since decided to make it (Solstice--(no longer the title btw)) a family saga.  Only now I've begun my newest manuscript two generations before the "Solstice generation" (with the "backstory" of Solstice).  What was Solstice will be a brand new  ms (with the same general characters and plot) and will take place 60 some years in the future--the book after the one I'm currently writing.  (You know, if all goes well with this one.)  Anyways, I'm only 30 pages into my WIP (entitled HIDDEN CHARMS). 

Do I tell the agent all of this?  (You know, it'd be a shame to put to waste the chance to put 50 pages of my writing in an agent's hands....)  (There's always the spin that she may be reading it in case another agent at her agency would like it.  There are several who rep YA at her agency.)

I could offer to send 50 pages of my YA Contemporary that I'm about to query now.


Or should I simply tell her I apprecieate her response, but that I I decided to table that novel to work on another one?

I'd love to know what you advise I do.

Also.

While I'm laying all my tales out there for you.  Last week, Suzie Towsend held a query contest.  She agreed to respond to queries (if sent between 9 and 10 on Tuesday morning) via email with her honest thoughts.  I'll admit, I'd hoped for more of a critique of FIXING SHELBY's query than anything else.  I hadn't really looked at it like I was submitting it to her as much as I just wanted to get an agent's view of my query.  Dumb of me, I know.  Obviously I should have considered it a submission.  I mean, I personlized it for her and everything, but I wanted to know what she thought of the writing in the query, the hook, the paragraphs, the layout, the information, etc.  Instead, I got this:

So the news. I'm going to pass on FIXING SHELBY.

The main reason--contemporary YA is a really tough market right now. There have been a lot of them and books that are paranormal are selling better. Nothing about this one seems to say that it would stand out in an overcrowded genre.

Good luck with your submissions.

So that leaves me wondering if I need to change my query, my novel, or both. And, well, take that confession and do with it whatever you want. I'll think on it for a while. But you should know, I really, really hate query writing!

HAVE A WONDERFUL MONDAY!!!

(I miss erica who's still in Vegas.  And now my husband has joined her there.  So I miss him too.  Well, he hasn't joined her there, but he is also in Vegas, for work.  For the whole week.  Just me.  8 months pregnant.  Me and two little boys.  And a dog who takes trips around the neighborhood every time I let him out. (Naughty, naughty boy.)  So, what I'm asking for is this:  Wish me luck!)

Where will you be tonight?

Vegas, baby. That's all I have to say. Well, that and a few more things. Because I'm erica and I talk a lot.

Las Vegas. Friday through Tuesday. Poker tournaments (Texas Hold'Em.) I'm good at them, so if you're at Binion's at 11:00 PST on Saturday, I'm the tall brunette who talks a lot.



And that's all I have to say about that.

Except this: WTH Las Vegas? 80 degrees on Tuesday and 55 on Friday? No fair. I could stay in Wisconsin if I wanted 50-degree weather.

But yeah, I won't. Have a great weekend, folks! See ya' next week!

why i should listen when erica speaks

erica told me that there's something for everyone in baseball.

i should have listened!

and i should have watched the world series!!!!  because then i wouldn't have missed one of my faves (See below).

(well, technically, now i didn't miss him because i obviously found the footage online.  and not only did i get to watch it, but i'm sharing it with you luckies!)

here he is for you.  chris daughtry.  (yes, he's his own sentence.)




and if that didn't do it for you...

SOME MORE FAVES, AS PROMISED, FROM CHRISTY

Twitterview with Sarah Darer Littman, author of Want To Go Private? a contemporary novel for young adults that was published this past August.  (P.S. There's a giveaway at the end!  Win a signed copy of her book!)

Cheryl Reif Writes:  How to Write When You Aren't In The Mood (especially for those of you with a daily word count goal!!!)

Nathan Bransford's How to Start Writing a Novel (My fave part of this post are his links to:  How to Make Sure You Have a Plot and What Makes a Good Voice)

Did you know?  Suzie Townsend moved!  Here she is at her new home--Nancy Coffey Lit Agency (oh, and she's accepting queries again!)

Checking out Maureen Johnson's Web site and titles since a new agent mentioned(in an interview) her books when stating she is looking for sweet contemporary ya projects.  I can always add more contemp ya to my TBR list!!!! 

OH!  And here's the above mentioned interview (@motherwriterepeat) and agent:  Hannah Bowman with Liza Dawson Associates! 


The Sharp Angle:  Starting a Trek Up a New Mountain (advice on starting a brand new novel).  This blog is worth a look, not only for this post but all before it and after it!)


have a great thursday!  (personally, i'm looking fwd to friday.  i have parent/teacher conferences again tonight.  i'm used to putting in a five hour day, but today is over 12.  blech.)

(who am i kidding?  i just want it to be saturday.  that's writing day, right?)

Some Query Help

Anybody out there querying? With tons of crazies people busy Nano-ing and agents and publishing houses getting ready for the holiday-season-slow-down, it could be a good time. Maybe. I don't know - just do it when you're ready. ;)

ANYWAY - I (erica) won a contest and got an agent critique on my query letter. I didn't ask permission to post it and can't think of anything else to blog about just got it today, but there are some general pointers I'd like to share.

First - this is my completed ms that I've queried and revised and now sent out a few more queries on. I have lots of different versions and have had fair success on partial requests along with a couple of fulls. You know the whole "query widely" idea that gets lots of talented authors their agents? Yeah, I believe that in theory. In reality, I can do about 3 rejections at a time. Hey, I'm a busy girl. :)

SO - here's what I sent (it wasn't my very latest version, but close). I'll redline some of the (paraphrased) advice I got. Hopefully she doesn't mind if I share her name - the agent who did my critique was Molly Jaffa from Folio Literary and while the following are some of her ideas, the words (even the redlines) are mine. Do with them what you will:

The last thing Kenz Grayson wants to do is switch high schools right before her senior year. Especially if it means going back to the town where she buried her family secrets (along with her father) seven years before. Unfortunately, that's exactly what her mom's making her do. Why oh why is she making her do it? Be more specific, erica! With little hope for the year ahead, she goes, and watches another chapter of her life close behind her. yeah, duh, we already know that. cut this sentence.

Things change when Kenz meets Lincoln James. Even after she's warned that he's a total serial dater, she finds him irresistible. Why? Pretty much every YA romance has an irresistible guy in it. How is mine different? It doesn't take long before they're not only dating, but almost inseparable. Except that's when Kenz starts noticing just how many things are blocking her way to becoming happy again. Then again, with a car accident that almost kills her mom, a sexual abuse allegation against Lincoln, and the truth behind a super-secret surgery in his past--she has a lot to worry about. She didn't like my list. Some of this should maybe go in the beginning as the hook.

Kenz is well known for choosing flight over fight. This isn't evident in the rest of the query, so why bring it up now? I need to explain it better at the beginning before throwing this is there. This time, she's determined to take a stand, even if it's against herself. While I love this line, I'm getting that other people don't know what it means. Be more specific.

A NEW DAY is a YA contemporary romance, complete at 64,000 words. It will appeal to readers who also enjoy books such as The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen and The Book of Luke by Jenny O'Connell. Okay, so this shows where my book would be shelved, but it was pointed out that these books are a few years old and I should bring up some newer ones in my comps. *sigh* *I love these books*

Note: She said that my query could go a long way with some agents simply because it was well-researched. So remember, just like in elementary school - neatness counts. Use paragraphs, vary your sentence lengths, use comparable titles, and personalize it to the agent your sending to. Good luck everyone! And don't get sick from all the candy!!