Sunday, April 3, 2016

#DVPit Update

Exciting Update to the #DVPit contest:

As many of you Twitter pitch contest veterans know, the retweet can be a terrific signal booster for your pitch.

For #DVPit, things will be a little different.

Retweets will be used only by a select cadre of EDITORS.

Cool, right?

Here's the deal:
Some editors will be part of the regular contest and will request along with the agents.

Other editors, however, want to participate but can't request or consider material from un-agented authors.

These folks will RETWEET pitches that really resonate with them in order to signal-boost the projects to the participating agents on the feed. 

Remember:
A HEART (<3) means REQUEST.
RETWEET means support.
 
Please do not confuse a retweet for a request.

The editors who retweet are not requesting your material.  These editors don’t normally participate in these events because of their company rules, so let's respect that.

Only send your materials to the agents/editors that request specifically by <3.
 
Retweeters:

Hachette Book Group            
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Saturday, March 12, 2016

Announcing Diverse Voices Twitter Contest: #DVPit

I have some exciting news:

Fabulous agent Beth Phelan of the Bent Agency is holding a twitter pitch contest for diverse voices.



Time to polish those pitches and shine up your manuscript -- this could be it! The moment your baby catches dream agent's eye.



WHEN:
April 19 from 8:00AM EST until 8:00PM EST.

Please only tweet your pitches during that block of time.

WHAT IS #DVPIT:
#DVpit is a Twitter event created to showcase work about and especially by marginalized voices. This includes (but is not limited to): Native peoples and people of color; people living and/or born/raised in underrepresented cultures and countries; disabled persons; people with illness; people on marginalized ends of the socioeconomic, cultural and/or religious spectrum; people identifying as LGBTQIA+; and more.

ACCEPTING ALL CATEGORIES:
Adults, YA, MG, PB, and Nonfiction.

HOW TO SUBMIT:
  1. You may pitch more than one project at a time.        
  2. Please pitch no more than once per hour, per manuscript
  3. Pitch your completed, unpublished manuscripts.
  4. You may use the same pitch, or shake things up by using different pitches for the same project. 
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
 
Your pitch must fit the 140-character max, and must also include the hashtag #DVpit.         
 
Space is premium, but best to include category and/or genre hashtags.       

Please do not tweet the agents/editors directly!        
 
HOW THE CONTEST WORKS:
 
Agents/editors will <3 your pitch if they’d like to see material from you, so please don’t <3  other authors’ pitches. Please also do not retweet. To show support, you can always reply with compliments.
 
Each agent/editor will have their own preferences for receiving submissions, so if you get a <3 from someone, please refer to their Twitter feed to see what they ask for, and how you can contact them.
 
All of these agents/editors are invested in finding more marginalized voices.
If you're comfortable doing so, consider self-identifying in your query. Alternatively, your query can let agents know that the story and/or character(s) reflect your own experience.
This is also a good idea for the pitches -- if you have the space and the inclination.
 
If you see that multiple agents/editors from the same group have <3 your pitch, please contact them directly for their policy, or reach out to @beth_phelan. She will be happy to find out for you.
 
Keep in mind that many agents/editors will get sidetracked with their usual work or unexpected crises and may have to revisit the feed after the event is over. So don’t be surprised if you receive s after the period closes!

PARTICIPATING AGENTS:

Please be sure to research any agent or publisher that <3 your pitch. There is no obligation to submit your work to anyone you don’t want to.

Agents:

The Bent Agency            

Editors:

  Entangled Publishing            
 *This person will visit the feed after the event has closed due to travel


Want help with your pitch?

A few (amazing) people have offered help with pitches for the marginalized writers participating in #DVpit.
  
Kayla Whaley (@PunkinOnWheels), client of mine, brilliant essayist, and @DisabilityInLit editor, can be reached at kayla.m.whaley [at] gmail [dot] com for pitch help. If you are as grateful for her help with this as I am, and looking for a way to support her, consider buying her a coffee!
Disabled authors writing YA/MG featuring a disabled MC can also reach out to Marieke Nijkamp (@mariekeyn) for pitch help! Message her through her website and while you’re there, just saying, you should totally check out THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, her outstanding debut published by Sourcebooks Fire on January 5, 2016. To sweeten the deal even more, literary agent Caitie Flum (@caitief) of Liza Dawson Associates is adding a bonus incentive here: she’ll critique the first 40 queries by writers whose pitches come through Marieke!
You can also reach out to the incredible Natasha Razi (who ALSO happens to be the winner of my Diverse Voices query contest, mind you) for pitch help at @swingingstorm. Marginalized authors who reach out on Twitter will receive her email address via DM.
Nita Tyndall (@NitaTyndall) is a @TheGayYA moderator, @DiverseBooks Social Media Coordinator, and repped by one of the wonderful agents participating in this event—Emily Keyes. LGBTQIA+ writers can contact Nita for pitch help through her website and express gratitude by buying her a coffee!
You can also get help from freelance editor and author coach Julie Sadler (@julie_francess), who has graciously offered free pitch and/or query help to participating disabled writers of YA, NA, fantasy, romance, and memoir. She’s also offering first-come-first-serve editing to any participating disabled writers who want a final polish on their manuscript ahead of #DVpit, for barter/pay-what-you-can. Contact her at sadler.julie [at] gmail [dot] com!
Participating writers, especially those writing gay male protagonists, can seek expert pitch and/or query help from Mark O’Brien (@mobrienbooks). Mark is a YA contemporary writer represented by the Bent Agency’s own Heather Flaherty, and he is also an editorial intern with Entangled Publishing. Worth noting that Mark is a #pitmad and Pitch Wars veteran, so he knows his stuff! Writers can contact him directly at markobrienbooks [at] gmail [dot] com.
Finally, please take Kristen Ciccarelli (@twocentsparrow) up on her offer to critique pitches and queries! Kristen is also represented by Heather Flaherty at the Bent Agency, and she specializes in YA (all genres) and women’s fiction. Fun facts: she was mentored by YA author Franny Billingsley and was Renee Ahdieh and Traci Chee’s mentee during this past fall’s Pitch Wars. You can contact Kristen through her website and you should bookmark this author anyway… She is one to watch!
These are great opportunities from people with invaluable experience! Take advantage of them! (But say thank you however you can.)
  
For more help with your pitch and etiquette questions, here are some links to read while you wait for #DVpit!
Look here for a post by the Bent Agency’s own Victoria Lowes (@torilowes) that includes some really great tips.
And another writers’ guide by agent participant Carly Watters (@carlywatters) of P.S. Literary can be found here with some illuminating examples.
Sadly, an account of why you should always research and NOT be afraid to decline sending material to anyone you’re uncomfortable sending to can be found here.
Now you must need a pick-me-up, right? Click here to find success stories through Brenda Drake’s incredible #pitmad.


PITCH WELL!!!
 
GOOD LUCK!!!!


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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

SPOOKY JANE'S GENESIS

During and after the frenzied Pitch Wars revision process, the mentees spent a lot of time getting to know each other. One question we asked the group was, "What is the inspiration for your manuscript?"

As I wait (!!) to hear back from agents reading the full and from agents I've queried, I decided to revisit the question. Partly for fun, and partly because this story means a lot to me and I want to make a note of its genesis.

My inspirations for SPOOKY JANE were:

The Child Ballads:
(The Unquiet Grave and to a smaller extent, Sweet William's Ghost)
 
 
I had always wanted to write a story based on one of the Child Ballads. SO I played around with ideas for The Unquiet Grave. I kept being drawn back to this particular stanza:

 You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips,
  But my breath smells earthy strong;
If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips,
  Your time will not be long.

And then I discovered the Vaughan Williams arrangement of the poem.
And then the Joan Baez recording.


As I have always loved both artists, I believed it was a sign. The tunes haunted me for days; I had them on repeat on the iPhone. Ideas percolated. And finally Olivia spoke to me.

Personal Family Lore

Fictional Olivia is Grandmother Livvy, the first person to realize Althea has returned and that Ivy Jane has broken the cardinal family law -- never bring anything back from the dead, not even a lilac blossom.


Real life Olivia was my great aunt, younger sister to my grandmother. She's the inspiration for the Althea character. She too sat in a corner and on the front porch laughing maniacally. She too was heartbroken over the too-soon death of her father. She was said to be quite insane before she died, lost her mind from sadness and disappointment. Note: I never met my Aunt Olivia. She was dead before I came along. My mother, however, knew her and was the source of many stories.

So I began to think - what if we took my real aunt and turned her into a fictional character who actually tried to resurrect her dead father? (To my knowledge my real aunt never tried to do that). And what if she tried to kiss her dead father on the forehead but he begged her not to, because to do so might kill her? THIS IS THE CHILD BALLAD!! WOOHOOO!!



From this nugget of an idea came the rest, which parted dramatically from the Unquiet Grave and real life.

I imbued the family with the magical ability to revive life in growing things. I let Althea be partly successful in trying to revive her father, but in doing so, she unbalanced nature and awakened a storm of retribution that lasted for generations.

I set much of the most dramatic action in a snowstorm because I grew up in Minnesota and I love snow. (Yes, maybe I'm a little nuts too.)



Aaahhhh.. this is when it got REALLY FUN.

This also is when my book became much more fiction than real life. My real aunt died as an adult, and originally, I let Althea live into adulthood as well. But an editor and my amazing Pitch Wars mentor pointed out that as a main character in an MG book, she couldn't be a grownup. So I killed her off younger, same age as Ivy and Hunter. That allowed me much greater room to play with the connections between the three of them.

The real family lore that survived the creative process:
  • The song "Where Was Eva Sleeping?". My family really does sing this song at the end of every large family gathering as a way to wish each other safe passage.
  • My family really is musical and sings in harmony. Most of us play at least one if not more musical instruments.
  • My family really did watch the Dred Scott case closely. And when the decision was handed down, two of my ancestors escaped to Canada on the Underground Railroad. The plan, as is told in our family oral history, was to get everyone there, but they were never able to do so. However, diligent retracing of our family tree from family members here in the US and in Canada allowed both branches of the tree to reunite back in the 1980's. We still hold semi-regular reunions. We really are so racially mixed that some of us are blue-eyed with straight hair, others tight curls with black hair, and everything in between.
  • The plug grass that grew in my grandmother's back yard really was thicker and more luxurious than the rest of the grass, and really did withstand drought and cold when the rest of the lawn died. My grandmother said there were plugs buried under the ground there.
  • My great grandfather's nickname really was Skip.
  • Olivia really was a twin; her twin died as an infant.

One last note: There was a real Aunt Althea. I want to be clear here, however, that she was the opposite of the Althea in the book. She was kind and sweet and lived into old age. I used her name because I love the name.






 
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

THIEF OF LIES - RELEASE LAUNCH


I'm SO excited to share this launch with you! Brenda Drake has done so much for our community: contests, critiques, giveaways galore. 
Want to give back to this incredibly generous woman? 
Buy the book! 
* or *  
Tweet your congratulations to @BrendaDrake, #LibraryJumpers

And now, without further ado.... 


 THIEF OF LIES

ABOUT THIEF OF LIES (LIBRARY JUMPERS #1):

Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather-clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels—magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books—rescue them from a demonic hound.

Jumping into some of the world’s most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren’t busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik’s world and her own, before both are destroyed.

TOUCHING FATE: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT BRENDA DRAKE:
 

Brenda Drake grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up are of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling.
So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When she’s not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).


Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram


Want to read but love the chance of winning a free copy of the book? Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway!

 GIVEAWAY

And here's a little taste of the book right now because we JUST CAN'T WAIT...

THIEF OF LIES EXCERPT


We stepped into the Children’s Library and stopped in the center of the room. A massive light fixture designed to resemble the solar system dominated the ceiling. The hushed rumble of two male voices came from one of the reading nooks. I crossed the room, paused at the built-in aquarium, and inspected the fish. Afton halted beside me.

“This is great,” I whispered, not wanting to disturb whoever was in there with us. “Fish and books. What’s not to love?” Spotting a sign referencing classic books, I searched the shelves for my all-time favorite novel.

The male voices stopped and there was movement on the other side of the bookcase. I paused to listen, and when the voices started up again, I continued my hunt.

Warmth rushed over me when I found The Secret Garden. With its aged green cover, it was the same edition I remembered reading as a young girl. The illustrations inside were beautiful, and I just had to show them to Afton. Coming around the corner of the case, a little too fast for being in a library, I bumped into a guy dressed in leather biker gear. My book and notebook fell and slapped against the floor.

“Oh, I’m so sorry—” I lost all train of thought at the sight of him. He was gorgeous with tousled brown hair and dark eyes. Tall. He flashed me a crooked smile, a hint of dimples forming in his cheeks, before bending over and picking up my forgotten book.

He held the book out to me. “Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” He’d quoted a verse from The Secret Garden with a sexy accent that tickled my ears.

I stood there like an idiot, my heart pounding hard against my chest, unable to think of a response. The fact that he had read the book and could recite a line from it stunned me. And impressed me.

Say something. Anything.

“Good read there,” he said when it was obvious I wasn’t going to speak. He winked and nodded to a guy behind him before ambling off. When he reached the end of the row, he paused and glanced back at me, flashing me another killer smile, and then he disappeared around the bookcase.

Tingles rose in my stomach. He looked back at me. The guy following his Royal Hotness gave me a final appraisal before departing. His stringy blond hair hung over his large forehead. It looked like he hadn’t washed it in weeks, and there was probably an acne breeding ground under it. He grinned, and I broke eye contact with him, making for the nearest window.

Oh God, you’re so lame, Gia. You could have finished the quote or anything less tragic than not speaking at all. The response I would have said played in my head. With silver bells, and cockleshells, and marigolds all in a row. Why? Why hadn’t I said that?

### 








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