Becca Weston's Query/First Page Critique Workshop to Benefit Tornado Victims

I am proud to be one of the participants critiquing queries and first pages during Becca Weston's Critique Workshop to Benefit Oklahoma Tornado Victims.  The information below is Becca's post on the workshop and details about how you can participate. Visit her site at www.beccaweston.wordpress.com for more information and please consider donating!

Query/First Page Critique Workshop to Benefit Oklahoma

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Becca

If you haven’t heard already, there was a major tornado that rolled through the Oklahoma City region on May 20th. This tornado was an EF-5 category with winds at approximately 200 miles per hour and a base that was over a mile wide. Which means everywhere it went – and it was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes – it “ate” up a mile-and-a-quarter worth of homes, schools and businesses. At the time I’m typing this, 24 people have been declared dead with that toll expected to rise. Many more are at area hospitals in critical condition.

So here’s my plan: I’ve been pondering running a critique workshop, so now I’m going to run one for charity. You donate to one of the organizations sending disaster relief help to Oklahoma – American Red Cross, Feeding America, Operation USA, Samaritan’s Purse – and you’re entered into the workshop. That’s it.

I am being joined by the fabulous, amazing, generous Dahlia Adler, Marieke Nijkamp, Brenda Drake, K.T. Hanna, Elizabeth Prats, Jennifer Malone, Michelle Painchaud, Nazarea Andrews, Heather Webb, Molly Lee, Angi Black, Irene Rose, Francesca Zappia, Krista Van Dolzer, Dee Romito, S.M. Johnston, Kimberly Chase and Natalie Parker, who will be helping me field crits.

Details:

• This is open to pretty much anybody. Your query or first page can be adult, YA, NA, MG or PB – doesn’t matter – but you must be willing to have your query or first page displayed on this blog.
• You have from the time of this posting until 11:00 PM EST/8:00 PM PST on Saturday, May 25th, to enter.
• You are entered as soon as you email me a copy of your donation receipt or some other form of verification that you’ve donated.
• There is a minimum donation amount of $10.00 USD. For regional donations, please use the Moore, OK, zip code of 73160.
• Once I’ve received your verification, I will email you back to confirm your entry, and you will send me EITHER your query or your first 250 words to be critiqued.
• Entries will be critted by either myself or one of my fantastic helpers, and I will post them on this blog next week*.

There is no limit to the entries at this point, and the only qualification is that you give a little support to the Oklahoma tornado victims who desperately need help rebuilding their lives. If you don’t have a query or first page to workshop, keep an eye on this website as Beth Fred is setting up a charity auction in the coming days.

Here are donation links**:

• American Red Cross
• Operation USA
• Feeding America
• Samaritan’s Purse

And the workshop entry email again: critsforcharity@gmail.com

PLEASE NOTE: The charities listed above are options but are NOT the only acceptable charities. All I’m looking for is some verification that you donated to an organization that’s helping out with Oklahoma disaster relief.

*This is somewhat contingent on how popular this workshop gets. If I get a billion entries, obviously I won’t be able to post them all next week. I will have to space them out.

**All of these charities have been double-checked for their credibility usingcharitynavigator.org.

Welcome to my "Unblog"

Hey there and welcome to my "unblog".  I keep this blog for hosting contests and charity auctions, but do my actual blogging here: www.yatopia.blogspot.com.  Pop on over and say hi:) You can also find me on Twitter @jenniferlmalone. If you're here looking for an edit on your query or manuscript, please click on the Editorial Services tab above!

Aliens, Gnomes and Kid Brothers, Oh My!

The day has finally arrived to reveal my PitchWars pick!

I know from the #PitchWars feed that the wait has been agonizing for participating writers, but I'm bowing before Brenda Drake for allowing us enough time to sort through our inboxes and reply to authors.  When I signed on I never expected to receive over 50 submissions or that I would be able to hit my goal of offering query critiques to all of them.

It was so much fun to get a glimpse into an agent's life. And, um, enough to convince me that is one career path I will not be pursuing.  The rejecting part was waaaaaay too agonizing!

So let's breeze right past that unpleasantness and get right to the ones I didn't have to pass on.  Drumroll please...

I will be mentoring a very promising manuscript called THE ENIGMA FILES, which has the solidly awesome tagline of "X-Files for kids."

I finally get why agents say "send me anything, even if it's not what I rep because I just may surprise myself." I more like shocked the hell out of myself!  I like light and fluffy and kissy-kissy (well, maybe just kissy, since this IS middle grade).  But X-Files for kids?  C'mon now.  I can't wait to read on and see what Scully, er, Mason in this case, gets up to!

I also chose two alternates: DORKBOY, about a kid who tries to change his reputation with a school move, only to have his pesky little brother spoil his efforts and THE LAST BOY AT ST. EDITH'S about the very last boy standing at a formerly co-ed school now gone to the girls.

So, yup, pretty excited for my holiday reading!

Here is the part where I say, in all honesty, that I am in awe of the amount of crazy great in that inbox.  If I were an agent (which, yeah, no) there were at *least* ten fulls I would have requested and probably more. Not a bad ratio. Being on the other side of this process also gave me a new perspective on how subjective it all is (I knew this. I did. But now I really, REALLY know this).  There were plenty that were perfect, but just didn't grab me personally even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with them and other mentors loved them. It made me feel better about past rejections I've gotten and allowed me to believe that often the "it's not you, it's me" line was true.

Of course sometimes it was me.  There were all kinds of common mistakes that I made before signing with my agent and, if I saw the same ones in a submission, I tried to gently point them out in my query critiques. I hope those comments are received in the spirit they were intended- which was purely a desire to be helpful in getting writers to the next level.

I hope that everyone participating has gotten something out of PitchWars so far and will play or play along at home throughout the next month.  There's lots more to come!

Pitch Wars: The BIG Agent Reveal!

 

Are you ready for this?  We have 16 incredible agents vying for our Pitch Wars team manuscripts. We're so excited to see what pitches they fall in love with, and what teams will win the coveted Pitch Wars Most Requested Manuscript title. And, in no particular order, here are the agents..

Louise Fury L. Perkins Agency Twitter: @louisefury
Louise is seeking teen Sci-Fi and Young Adult horror.  She's also on the hunt for deep, dark contemporary YA and select Middle Grade fiction with a literary feel - it must be realistic and thought provoking and the characters must be authentic and original. Louise loves horror and romance, especially Regency and Victorian.




Jessica Sinsheimer Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency Twitter: @jsinsheim Jessica is seeking Literary, Women's, Middle Grade, and Young Adult Fiction











Natalie Fischer Lakosil Bradford Literary Agency Twitter: @Natalie_Lakosil Natalie is looking for commercial fiction, with an emphasis in children’s literature (from picture book-teen), romance (contemporary, paranormal and historical), and upmarket women’s fiction. Specific likes include historical, multicultural, paranormal, sci-fi/fantasy, gritty, thrilling and darker contemporary novels, and middle grade with heart.









Pam van Hyckama Vlieg Larsen Pomada Literary Agents Twitter: @BookaliciousPam Pam represents young adult and middle grade children’s book authors, and adult romance authors







Jordy Albert The Booker Albert Agency Twitter: @bluedragonfly81 Jordy is on the look out for Romance (contemporary, historical/Regency, and paranormal). YA contemporary/historical or dystopian, sci-fi/fantasy with romance elements. She's also open to YA GLBT within those genres. She'd love to see unique, well-developed plots featuring time travel, competitions, or travel.







Andrea Somberg Harvey Klinger Inc. Twitter: @andreasomberg Andrea's looking for the following categories: Fiction; literary, commercial, women's fiction, romance, thrillers, mystery, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, young adult, and middle grade.






Jennifer Mishler 
Literary Counsel Twitter: @literarycounsel Jennifer is seeking Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Contemporary, Young Adult Literary, and Young Adult Historical.  










Suzie Townsend New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc. Twitter: @sztownsend81 Suzie represents adult and children's fiction. In adult, she's specifically looking for romance (historical and paranormal), and fantasy (urban fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, epic fantasy). In Children's she loves YA (all subgenres) and is dying to find great Middle Grade projects (especially something akin to the recent movie SUPER 8).  


Victoria Marini Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents, Inc. Twitter: @LitAgentMarini Victoria is looking for literary fiction, commercial fiction, pop-culture non-fiction, and young adult. She is very interested in acquiring engaging Literary fiction and mysteries/suspense, commercial women's fiction (romantic suspense, sci-fi, fantasy), and Young Adult (contemporary, sci-fi/fantasy, thriller and horror ). 



Kerry Sparks Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, Inc. Twitter: @Kerry_Sparks Kerry is looking for Young Adult and Middle-Grade fiction, both commercial and literary. She tends to shy away from werewolves, zombies, faeries, and the like, but she’ll read anything with a fresh voice and compelling characters. She is particularly keen on contemporary YA, quirky MG, books with a strong cinematic element.




Drea Cohane The Rights Factory Literary Agents Drea is currently seeking: fiction, memoir, crime, non-fiction and YA. Her roster consists of British, American, and Canadian clients. International talent is welcome. 








Katie Shea Donald Maass Literary Agency Twitter: @AgentShea Katie specializes in fiction and memoir, especially women’s fiction and commercial-scale literary fiction, and realistic YA.  She is most interested in coming-of-age stories and stories of unique relationships.





Elise Capron Dijkstra Literary Agency Twitter: @EliseCapron Elise is interested in serious character-driven literary fiction, well-written narrative nonfiction, and short story collections. (Note: She is not interested in Fantasy, young-adult/middle-grade, picture books, romance, and sci-fi.) She aims to work with writers who have a realistic sense of the market and their audience. 


 Jodell Sadler Sadler-Caravette Children's Literary Twitter: @picturebklunch Jodell is interested in YA, MG (especially funny), fiction and nonfiction, book proposals, and picture books. She will also coach writers wanting to self publish. She simply loves a well-paced story that moves her between joy and tears. 




Corvisiero Literary Agency Brittany and Michelle are teaming up to look for Adult, YA, and MG manuscripts.  

Michelle Johnson Twitter: @MJsRetweet Michelle's published one novel, The Footloose Killer, and edited several others for publishing houses and private clients. She also is a Script/Story consultant on an independent film in Halifax, NS, Canada, and enjoys working closely with writers to help them develop their voice and craft. 



Brittany Howard Twitter: @brittanydhoward When reading, Brittany  loves to be introduced to new and interesting people and places. She looks for strong voice, good storytelling, and fascinating relationships between characters—romantic or otherwise. More than anything, she loves when a book surprises her. 







 There's just one more day to get your applications in for Pitch Wars. Make sure to check out this post here to get all the details.

PitchWars Mentor Bio AKA Pick Me, Pick Me, Pick MEEEEEEE

It's finally time to choose a mentor and get locked and loaded for PitchWars!

We'll be signing recruits this week.  Boot camp starts next week and at the end we'll man our battle stations for the agent round.  Who's coming with me?????

In preparation, I consulted with my cousin, who's a drill sergeant at West Point and together we determined I would not make it past bunk inspection. But that's okay because this is a TEAM challenge and I'm *sure* my team would win all the Fast Forwards on Amazing Race (and really, who wouldn't rather run to Phil's eyebrow versus run suicides).  

Here's what I can offer you:

The way I see it, this contest is for YOU!  I'm here to suggest, support, cheer and bake virtual cupcakes for you, and my priority is making sure you get what you want/need from PitchWars.  I know this is war, but I'll happily lose the war to win the battle, so long as it leaves you with a sunshine, applesauce experience and an improved query and manuscript. Of course, as long as we're being honest, there will be lots of Twitter trash talking too. Obviously.  Cuz  those other teams can't touch us.

Here's what you can offer me:

A good attitude. That's it.  Well, actually, it would also help if you are curious about craft and the publishing marketplace, eager to learn, and have already won a Newbury Medal. That last one is not completely mandatory.  And, if we're getting down to the nitty gritty, you also must have a completed middle grade novel and query.  I'm not picky about what kind of middle grade, because I love all of it.  Bring me the quirky, the fun, the inventive, the sweet, the whimsical. I read widely across all of middle grade, but I do tent to avoid sci--fi, heavy fantasy and dystopian.  Also, I like to keep it fun and light, so I might not be the best match for a dark "issues" ms.  That said, don't rule me out on sweet issues stories because WONDER, OUT OF MY MIND and THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN all made me do this (in a really, really good way!):

Here's who I am:

Well, I wouldn't be here if I weren't a reader and a writer. But that sort of goes without saying, so I'll cover some of the more fun stuff: I spent a year traveling the world solo from Nepal to Romania to Fiji where I learned 99.9% of humanity is pretty freaking awesome yet somehow doesn't share my love of ice cubes in a drink. I met my husband on the highway, literally. In fact our meet-cute was SO cute we had a whole story written about it in Ladies Home Journal. My ten year-old twin boys (yes, I will pimp them out as extra incentive if you'd like kid eyes on your ms as well.  They are avid readers and are getting pretty good at critique these days) placed second in the Most Identical contest at the International Festival of Twins. Their little sister placed first in the most adorable contest at the All The People In Our Living Room Festival. 

I once accompanied a pajama-clad Oprah Winfrey (and her puppies) through the laundry room of the Four Seasons. I have also been in a hotel room alone with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg and walked the red carpet beside George Clooney. In all those instances, it was not what you think. Oh, and I went into early labor while on Stevie Nicks' tour bus. That is pretty much what you think.

Just in case you want a little more on the writing side of things, I am repped by Holly Root at Waxman Leavell Literary and have an Upper MG commercial ms called CAN'T BUY ME LOVE.  If you'd like, you can read the query for it here and my "How I Got My Agent" story here and here.  I am a member of an amazing group of CP's called "MG Beta-Readers" which includes a mix of agented and pre-agented writers. I also belong to two other kidlit CP groups that meet each month in person and have another motley crew of writers I trade crits with.  Put mildly, I do A LOT of critiquing, but my own writing reaps the benefits and it's always fun to be part of a great community of writers.

Now that we've established we're MTB, here's how we can have our own Meet Cute:

The fine print: 

Submissions  start today (11/26) ! The cut off time to get your applications (query & first five pages of manuscript) in is 8AM EST on December 5.


Send your applications to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com. Writers can apply for up to 3 coaches. The coaches' categories are set. Coaches can only consider the categories they've signed up for. Writers cannot apply for a coach that is not in their category.


For additional information about this contest go HERE (link to your post announcing the contest)


·        This  is open to finished manuscripts only.


·         You  may only enter one manuscript.


·         Only the genres requested by each coach will be considered for the contest.


Formatting...


Subject line: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title (Example: Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND)



Name: Your Name



Genre: The genre of your manuscript



Word Count: The word count of your manuscript



Query letter here  (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.



First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.




REMINDER: You can send an application for up to 3 coaches. (*as long as one of them is me)



Check back soon for a complete list of the amazing agents participating in the contest. There's over a dozen!



Today  all the coaches are posting bios/wish lists on their blogs. So before choosing your top 3 picks, check all the coaches' posts in your category before deciding which coach to submit. To jump from blog to blog, just click on our pictures below.

 

  

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

Pitch Wars- Bring it!

If I had to live without my amazing writer friends I would be extra crispy and checking in to Seattle Grace for a McDreamy-ordered IV to stave off my Twitter withdrawal. That said, if any of them try to get between me and and any MG awesomeness, I WILL go all Katniss on them.  Just saying.

Welcome to Pitch Wars.

Pitch Wars is an upcoming event where agented authors, industry interns, and editors team up with aspiring writers to shine up their manuscripts and pitches to present to some awesome agents.

Here are the deets from Brenda Drake, who is overseeing the contest...

·       The teams will consist of 1 agented author or industry intern or editor (coaches) and 1 aspiring author.

·       November 26: The coaches (listed on the linky below) will post on their blogs what genre/category they want to coach. They'll be very specific genres. Aspiring writers will hop around and decide which coaches best fit their manuscripts. SUBMISSION WINDOW OPENS!!!!!

·       November 26- December 5 (at 8:00 pm EST) : Aspiring writers will submit 3 "applications" to their top choices for coaches to the contest email (brendadrakecontests@gmail.com). That means, participants will send three separate emails to the contest email addressing each with one of their three top choices for coach.

·       December 5 through December 10: Coaches will read the applications and pick teammates.The coaches don't have to pick from their applications. If a coach passes on an application, it is then up for grabs and another coach, if they haven't connected to their applicants, can snatch it after notifying the applicant and if the applicant chooses the coach.

·       December 12: Teams will be announced. On the announcement post there will be instructions on how the winners must send their work.

·       December 12 through January 16: Each coach will read their teammate's manuscript and give general notes on any issues they find. The coach will help their teammate get his or her pitches ready for the agent round.

·       Note: The material for the agent round will be a 3 sentence pitch and the first 250 words of your manuscript. Coaches will read manuscripts and query letters only once and give notes. It is up to the writer to use the notes from their coaches to get the manuscript and query letter in as best shape as they can to send to requesting agents. The coaches will critique the three sentence pitch and first 250 words. The coaches will read them as many times as they deem necessary. In no way will writers expect the coaches to read the manuscript and query letter more than once or the pitches more than twice.

·       January 20: Coaches will submit shined pitches to the contest email.

·       January 23 and 24: Agents will read and make requests on the pitches they like (it is likely that not all participants will get requests).

·       January 25: We'll announce the team with the most requests and who will take home the winning prizes (an amazon gift card for each).

·       This is open to finished manuscripts only.

·       You may only enter one manuscript.

·       Only the genres requested by each coach will be considered for the contest.

 Formatting...

Subject line: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title (Example: Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND)

Name: Your Name

Genre: The genre of your manuscript

Word Count: The word count of your manuscript

Query letter here  (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.

First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

REMINDER: You can send an application for up to 3 coaches.

*note from Jen: as long as one of them is meeeeeeeee!

Use hastag #PitchWars to follow all the smack-talk (and we're already bringing it) and check out all of the mentors here:

Our mentors ...

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.