News

Hey! My new and improved query letter has gotten me a request for a partial! **Happy dance** It sure feels better than the frequent rejection e-mails I had been getting!
Anybody else have anything new to report?

LA SCBWI

Okay gals,
Anyone going to LA for the SCBWI conference? I went 2 years ago and it was awesome!!! If anyone is going, we could share a room to help cut costs. Just a thought. I don't snore unless I'm on my back ;)))

Off to the agent

So after eight months of editing and revising, I finally sent my manuscript to Stephen Fraser of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. Hopefully, he hasn't forgotten that he requested it (I did write a little reminder letter and he did say I had a year to send it in). I don't know if anything will come of it, but he's the first to want the whole enchilada. Sending it in was an adventure in itself. First of all, it cost me 90$ to print the 316 pages. I bought 2 printer cartridges at 30$ a pop, only to find out that one of them didn't print well (uneven color). I then asked my hubby to take the 2nd half of the MS to UPS store to print the rest. They printed the whole MS, but it had black streaks on every page. Luckily, they gave it to him for free (duhhh), but it was unusable. Then he went to Staples and reprinted the whole thing for another 30$. Then, I went to the post office.
The lady at the post office wanted to play 20 questions, probably because she had seen me spend 20 minutes trying to find an envelope that the silly thing would fit in. She was tickled to find out it was a book, and wanted to know all about it- down to the final scene. She was eager to help, and a little disappointed that I didn't want to spend 42$ to get it to the agent the next day (which would've been a Saturday anyway). She also did her best to convince me that it would be better to send it priority, certified, and everything else she could think of. I told her that after spending 8 months getting the thing ready, I could wait another week for him to get it. Her reply, "Suit yourself!"
So now the waiting game begins again. I would send out a few more queries, but I'm broke and Staples is out of ink ;))
Hope you all are well.

Hi Everyone:

I have been reading Booklife by Jeff Vandermeer. He suggests authors have a blog to promote themselves. I had always thought that promoting doesn't come until after we are published, but had an idea.

According to Jeff, unless you intend to post an article every day, you won't get much mileage. At a minimum, you should post an article on your blog once a week.

What do you say to our creating a joint blog, wherein we each contribute and we can each invite an additional person to contribute?

Just an idea. I know I won't be capable of posting a life changing article every day. And I'm not so sure how useful having a promotional blog is until we are published. I have friends who post on blogs and send me copies of their articles through email. I usually, actually always, delete them without reading them and, if I really wanted to be honest, I send them encouraging messages even though I don't really read them. But maybe if we came up with an angle. Plus, we could plug our excerpts, I mean, manuscripts.

Small bit of good news

I've been accepted as one of the 24 writers at the SCBWI-Carolinas Intensive! (Although, to be honest, there might have only been 24 applicants...I don't know if it was a competition.) I'm excited! (Now if only I'd get BIG good news from an agent or the contest...)

The Waiting Game

With four still outstanding queries (3 were "e-jections"), a contest entry, and an application to a writer's intensive out there, I have come to realize how much I hate the waiting game.

I did it

I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest again. I told myself that since I entered last year and only made it through round one, that I wasn't going to bother to enter again. However, I caved in to the urge to at least look at this year's information. It turns out that this year they are awarding prizes for 2 categories: general and YA. I couldn't believe that YA had its own category this year!!!! I was so psyched that I entered. I'm not holding my breath or anything, but maybe I'll get a little farther than last year.

Contest Reminder

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to submit to agent Mary Kole's MG/YA contest! The grand prize winner will receive a 15-page critique from Mary herself---pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Good luck!

Reject

I received a rejection letter. When is it time to give up and admit you have no talent?

Contest Information

Here is a contest by agent Mary Kole. The winner gets a critique of the beginning of a MG or YA novel.

Kidlit Contest