Giveaway #2 & Interview with Carolina Valdez Miller!

By Cam

Getting to Know Carolina Valdez Miller — one of my amazing Agent Sisters!

Carolina Valdez Miller writes YA Paranormal. Usually in the middle of the night. She also reviews kid lit for the Bookanistas. She’s represented by Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management.

Thank you so much for participating in my week of giveaways, Carol! Lots of people may already know you from your blog and/or from The Bookanistas. But for our new followers, tell us a little bit about the book you pitched to your agent, Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management.

Thanks so much for having me, Cambria! So excited to be your AGENT-SISTER!!

As for my book, I can’t say too much about it yet. But I can tell you it’s a YA Paranormal set in Chicago. It’s about a sixteen year old runaway who encounters someone she didn’t expect to meet or fall in love with. He’s the only person who could really help her, while she’s pretty much the only person who could help him, and yet is unwilling to do so, because to help him could kill him.

Oooh…love, suspense, runaways! Sounds fantastic! How did you come up with the idea for it?

The same way I get a lot of my ideas–just at the brink of falling asleep, a little thought popped into my head, sort of like a dream, but…it wasn’t. More like when you let your imagination run wild, knowing it’s not real. Can’t say what that pseudo-dream was yet, but the next day, I saw a boy on a moped with a girl riding behind him, squeezing her arms around his waist, her cheek pressed to his back. They were both wearing sweatshirts with hoods over their heads. I put the pseudo-dream together with that image on the moped, and my book baby was conceived.

I love that – real life inspiration meets pseudo-dream inspiration! What was your writing timeline for this book like?

It was my Nano project for 2009. I wrote it in just under 4 weeks. My first edit was finished in December 2009. And then in the New Year I sent it out to select betas. It’s been a really long process, gone through a lot of revisions and requests, left to sit for a bit while I worked on another project, and then it went through one mega-mondo revision at the end of 2010. When Vickie requested it, I changed one final plot element, so it saw yet another revision in the days before I sent it to her. Honestly, I have to wonder if any book of mine is ever done. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and I’ll keep reworking my book babies until someone tells me to just stop already.

I hear you on that! Every time I read my manuscript, I want to change something! So you have one of those rare stories where you pitched to an agent in person and she requested your manuscript and eventually signed you! Since you’ve attended several conferences and—in my eyes—are basically a Conference-goer Expert, what are your top five tips for writers attending their first one?

Ha! I don’t know about expert. I have been to quite a few, but honestly, each one has terrified me. But if I were to try and offer 5 tips? Hmm…I’ll give it a shot.

• HAVE CONFIDENCE. And if you don’t? Fake it. Even if you’re quaking inside, ready to vomit at the first glimpse of an agent/editor, kick those shoulders back, paint a smile on your face, and have a firm grip when you shake someone’s hand. I mean, it’s okay to let your nerves show. Just try no to stutter and stumble or become ultra mousy when an agent/editor asks you a question. Just do the best you can. Remember these two things: 1. You have a book you love and believe in and 2. Agents/editors are people, too, doing the exact same thing you’re doing: trying to publish a kicking awesome book.

• BE PREPARED. To meet people and make friends and be social. Come with business cards and a smile. Bring your first chapter (I did have an agent ask me for some pages on the spot once), but not much more than that. And have an elevator pitch ready and rehearsed. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t, but you don’t want to miss out on a potential opportunity.

• DON’T BE A TOOL. Don’t hit up agents or editors in the bathroom or when they’re clearly not looking to be pitched to. This includes at the dinner table while they’re eating. Wait until after dessert, and then let them ask you what your book is about. They know why you’re there—they’re there for the same reason as you.

• RESEARCH YOUR CONFERENCES. Conferences are really great for networking and pitching opportunities, but some are better than others. It’s important you choose conferences that are right for what you want. So be sure to talk to people who have gone to a conference you’re considering. See what you can find with a Google search, too. Choose wisely.

• MAKE FRIENDS. Conferences present a really unique opportunity to commune with other people who get you. You may have a really strong support system at home, but even so, few non-writers will want to sit and talk about writing and publishing for hours on end. After the fifth consecutive hour of discussing trends in YA, your spouse will likely want to tape your lips shut. Also, I’ve met some truly amazing people at conferences, people I know I will be friends with for years to come. So don’t just network; befriend others, and then follow up after the conference.

AWESOME tips! So that begs the question – how do you balance conferences, blogging, family, and writing? What’s a typical “Carolina Day?”

Oh man, I just don’t sleep. I get at best five hours of sleep a night, but usually four. It’s not healthy, and I’ve probably shrunk my lifespan, but I’m really crazy driven. I devote as much time as I can to my family, but I also rely on them to help pick up the slack. I usually take care of blogging related work all day long and then I write at night until I can’t keep my eyes open any more. I’ve also learned how to step over toys on the floor and turn a blind eye to the permanent marker on the carpet for as long as humanly possible. Clearly, I’m no June Cleaver. But I’m okay with that. She could never have been a writer. Thank God my family and friends are so supportive. I take care of the essentials, hang with the family, and write, write, write.

If there was one book you were forced to read over and over until the world ended, what book would that be and why?

Hm, tough question. Probably LOVE YOU FOREVER because it’s one of the best books ever written. It makes me cry every time, and I’m hoping one of these days I’ll be able to read it without sobbing.

Ah, a tearjerker. I must say I do love me a good literary cry every once in a while. Okay, and now for some Mad Libs – Writer’s Edition! List the first words that pop into your head:

Noun: Pillow Lust

Place: Scribble Cave

Plural Noun: TBRs

Shape: Blob

Adverb: Gollumly

Past Tense Verb: Carolfied

Adjective: Truthy

Thanks a ton, Cambria! So excited to be able to celebrate your representation with you. It’s an honor to be interviewed by you.

Aww! Thanks and right back at ya! And now here are Carol’s words MADLIBBED:

Once upon a time there was a Pillow Lust who went to Scribble Cave for a conference. One day, she met up with a bunch of TBRs to see the sites. But Ghirardelli Blob was nothing compared to meeting a gollumly agent who Carolfied her story! And so the agent and the Pillow Lust became truthy friends and business partners as they embarked on a journey toward publication. The End.

Thanks Carol for ROCKING such a great interview!

And before I forget, here’s the winner of Prize Pack #1: A 5-page critique by Ricki Schultz and Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott:

Monica Mansfield!!!

And in honor of today’s guest, here are the awesome giveaways for Tuesday:

A -page critique by Carolina Valdez Miller, fellow Agent Sister!

AND

A signed copy of Feed by M.T. Anderson

The rules:

1. You must be a follower of this blog.
2. If you want to be eligible to win this prize pack, please stop by Carol’s blog and follow her too!
3. Complete the entry form below to enter. You can earn extra points for blogging about this contest (include a link in the Comments) or tweeting a link back to this post (@reply me on Twitter — @CambriaDillon — and make sure to leave your Twitter user name in the Comments).

Today’s giveaway will run until 10pm EST tonight and the winner will be announced in tomorrow’s post. All other entrants will be added to the drawing for the Grand Prize Pack on Friday. Unfortunately, I have to limit the contest to US residents only. Sorry international folk!

Don’t forget to stop by each day this week for more great interviews and chances to win these fabulous prizes:

PRIZE PACK #3: WEDNESDAY (3/23)

A query letter critique by Kristine Asselin, fellow Agent-Sister!

AND

A signed copy of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

PRIZE PACK #4: THURSDAY (3/24)

A 30-page critique by Martina Boone, of Adventures in Children’s Publishing!

AND

A  copy of Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr

GRAND PRIZE PACK: FRIDAY (3/25)

A premium membership to QueryTracker

A copy of Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

A copy of Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

A query letter critique by me

A five-page critique by Vickie Motter, Agent Extraordinaire from Andrea Hurst Literary Management

GOOD LUCK!

Giveaway #1 & Interview with Ricki Schultz!

By Cam

Yay! It’s Monday and you know what that means? Yup — it’s the first day of my WEEK-long fest of awesome giveaways! But FIRST — kicking off my contest in grand style is Ricki Schultz — writer, blogger, online organizer extraordinaire!

In addition to interviewing literary agents for the Guide to Literary Agents blog, Ricki is a contributor to Writer’s Digest Books, with articles in the 2011 Guide to Literary Agents and Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market as well as in forthcoming editions. She speaks at writers’ conferences (most recently, the 2010 Romance Writers of America national conference); has published poetry in The John Carroll Review; has written for St. Ignatius Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, and The Villager; and has won awards for two of her young adult manuscripts. As coordinator of the online writing community, she’s hosting the Write-Brained Network’s inaugural writing workshop this fall in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She’s also a recovering high school English teacher.

To connect with Ricki, please visit her Web site, blog, follow her on Twitter, or join the WB!

First off, thank you SOOOO much for kicking off my giveaway week, Ricki! You’re my absolute favorite Twitsom ever! (And for those of you wondering what a Twitsom is, well, it’s a Twitter Soulmate and yes, her and I are both aware how uber-cheesy that term is…which is probably why we <3 it!)

So okay, you’re a freelance editor, writer, and founder of The Write-Brained Network. For those people who still think The WB is a TV channel airing The OC, can you tell us more about it?

OMG—if there were a channel still airing The O.C., I’d so be watching it right now. I miss me some Seth Cohen! (Although—what am I saying?—I have the DVDs!) What was I talking about? Oh, yes.  The WB.

Well, unlike the now-defunct TV channel, the Write-Brained Network is an online community dedicated to connecting writers for the purposes of networking, socializing, honing their craft, and sharing tips with others. It’s kind of like a Facebook, but just for writers. We have several chapters and subgroups being started by Write-Brainiacs according to region, genre, and interest as well as a forum to ask and answer questions, get feedback on queries, post and read reviews of writing and nonwriting books, etc.

And even though we’re constantly growing, it still feels like a close-knit community.  It’s a great group of folks.

What made you decide to take on this venture?

When I started it back in December 2009, I had recently moved to a new state and stopped teaching in order to write full time.  In short, I went from being in the hub of a school to dressing like a schlub, alone in my home office!

I had attended a few conferences at which I’d met some pretty awesome peeps from other states, and Facebook just didn’t seem quite the right medium to discuss all things writing and stay in touch with them.

And so the idea was born.

At the time, we were Shenandoah Writers Online—since I had also just started Shenandoah Writers (in real life) or SW(IRL), as I like to call them—but when we started getting members from Utah and Washington and Florida and Australia, I recruited a few of my most active members to help me with a bit of a relaunch as the more inclusive WB.

Are there any events coming up for writers to check out?

Yes! On March 22, we will be having our monthly WB Live Chat from 9-10 p.m.  The topic is “Plotters & Pantsers,” and the chat will take place right on the Write-Brained Network.

If you can’t make it on such short notice, we do these every month (it’s usually the last or second-to-last Tuesday of the month).  Check out our Web site for the latest.

Even more exciting, we will be holding our inaugural workshop—The One-Stop Workshop for the Serious Writer: A Roadmap from “How to” through “I Did” in September, and that’s open to members and nonmembers alike!

For more info—or to register—please visit the WB Web site.

You also interview agents for the Guide to Literary Agents blog – which was a great resource for me when I was querying. How do you approach agents and prepare for an interview?

The key here—just like with querying—is RESEARCH.  I go to at least three or four sites (AgentQuery and QueryTracker are usually among the first) before I even contact an agent, just to make sure I have a decent handle on what and whom they represent before I contact them.

There are a few questions Chuck (Sambuchino—Writer’s Digest Books editor, who runs the GLA blog) wants his interviewers to ask every time; however, when deciding what to ask for the rest, I try to think about what I would want to know, were I to query this person.  He or she might say they rep YA, but I try to dig a little deeper—what kind of YA? Are they drawn more to dystopian? Edgy? Contemporary stuff?

If the agents have blogs or have been interviewed elsewhere, I soak up all the info they’ve already provided and try to either get clarification about something they’ve written, spin it a different way, or ask questions they haven’t been asked before.

I have a lot of fun with this gig, and I’m very grateful to be able to do it!

How do you balance your writing time with all your freelance projects? What’s a typical “Ricki Day?”

Heh—I never balance it as well as I want to, but I think I sometimes have unrealistic expectations for what I can get done in a day.  I mean, writing down 12 things on one to-do list isn’t always possible. Especially not in an hour. J

But, on my more organized mornings, that’s essentially what I do—write lists.  I’ll get up, start the caffeine drip, and write out what all I want to get done (from a much bigger, ongoing to-do list that never seems to end!).

If I’m under a strict deadline, I might even write out certain hour allotments for how long I need to be doing x, y, and z.  If I’m being really good, I won’t come out until I’m done. Or my husband comes home. Or my beagle starts looking at me with those “I have to pee” or “It’s six—hello—where’s my food?” eyes.

If I’m not being that good, stick Regis & Kelly and Kathie Lee & Hoda in there somewhere. J

What are you working on right now?

At the moment, mostly WB Workshop stuff as well as agent interviews and editing and critiquing for friends. I have a few ideas swirling around for a new manuscript, and I hope to be getting a rough outline down on paper soon to distract me from querying my latest YA contemporary manuscript (which is also what I’m doing on right now).

Okay, and now for some Mad Libs – Writer’s Edition! Tell me the first word that pops into your head:

Adjective: peanut-buttery

Noun: beagle (sorry—as I type this, Molly is working on getting peanut butter out of a Kong)

Adjective: hungry (this is what I am right now)

Present tense verb: types (I am SO BORING!!)

Adverb ending in –ly: (adverbs are THE DEVIL) devilishly

Present tense verb: bounces (Molly’s now trying to bounce the treats out of the Kong)

And here are Ricki’s words MADLIBBED:

The peanut-buttery beagle looks at her query letter one last time. Her manuscript is hungry, but she still types for the little things — like grammar and sentence structure and spelling. Before she can change her mind, she takes a swig of Moscato and devilishly presses the Send button. Little does she know, her future agent may only be a few bounces away…

Thanks for an awesome interview, Ricki!

And in honor of today’s guest, here are today’s fabulous giveaways:

A 5-page critique by Ricki Schultz, founder of  The Write-Brained Network

AND

A copy of Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

The rules:

1. You must be a follower of this blog.
2. If you want to be eligible to win this prize pack, please stop by Ricki’s blog and subscribe or follow her RSS feed.
3. Complete the entry form below to enter. You can earn extra points for blogging about this contest (include a link in the Comments) or tweeting a link back to this post (@reply me on Twitter — @CambriaDillon — and make sure to leave your Twitter user name in the Comments).

Today’s giveaway will run until 10pm EST tonight and the winner will be announced in tomorrow’s post. All other entrants will be added to the drawing for the Grand Prize Pack on Friday. Unfortunately, I have to limit the contest to US residents only. Sorry international folk!

Don’t forget to stop by each day this week for more great interviews and chances to win these fabulous prizes:

PRIZE PACK #2: TUESDAY (3/22)

A 5-page critique by Carolina Valdez Miller, fellow Agent-Sister!

AND

A signed copy of Feed by M.T. Anderson

PRIZE PACK #3: WEDNESDAY (3/23)

A query letter critique by Kristine Asselin, fellow Agent-Sister!

AND

A signed copy of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

PRIZE PACK #4: THURSDAY (3/24)

A 30-page critique by Martina Boone, of Adventures in Children’s Publishing!

AND

A  copy of Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr

GRAND PRIZE PACK: FRIDAY (3/25)

A premium membership to QueryTracker

A copy of Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

A copy of Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

A query letter critique by me

A five-page critique by Vickie Motter, Agent Extraordinaire from Andrea Hurst Literary Management

GOOD LUCK!

Four Querying Tips and a Contest Announcement!

By Cam

Several weeks ago I posted some news. And since then, I’ve completed a few rounds of revisions, attended a conference, celebrated good news with friends, and dusted off my WIP. It’s taken me this long to figure out what I want to say because, truthfully? My journey to getting an agent isn’t anything spectacular. It’s not full of lightning fast response times, or overwhelmingly positive responses, or multiple offers, or anything like that. My story isn’t really a story. It began with the slush and ended with the slush…and you know what? I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

But that would make for a pretty boring post, yeah? (ETA: I really should’ve just stopped here because HOLY MOTHER this post ended up long!)

So here are the details — I sent my first query for LIFE AFTER SEND at the end of August 2010. This was way too early. And I know, I know — EVERYONE and their mother tells you not to send out your story until it’s so polished you can see that huge zit popping up on your forehead in the glare of your computer screen. I’d heard this before. I’d given this advice before, too. But when I got a partial request during WriteOnCon for the first fifty pages, did I listen? HECK NO. This is where I tell you, “Do as I SAY, not as I DO!” BUT…in my defense, I didn’t send out the partial right away. I told this agent that I needed to make a few tweaks before I felt comfortable sending it out, and she told me she preferred I wait until I was ready, too.

THIS was the big push I needed to really get me into the querying game.

THIS is also where I made my first mistake. Because I sent it out two weeks later. Two weeks is NOT enough time to revise the latter half of your book. Two months probably isn’t enough time. But it’s like when you see a cute guy sitting on a bench and you waffle back and forth on whether you should or shouldn’t strike up a conversation with him, only to keep on walking before realizing (three blocks later!) that you totally should’ve gotten his number, and then when you go back to that bench, HE’S NOT THERE. Yeah. I didn’t want THAT to happen.

Surprisingly, sending off that first query wasn’t so bad. Call it liquid EMAIL courage. For me, it was like stuffing your mouth full of Pop Rocks and then waiting to see what happened if you took a sip of Coke. Querying was DANGEROUS and I wanted to feel that thrill of hitting the SEND button again. So I sent out ten more. Just to test the water, I told myself. Well, after I sent out that first batch, I went to Louisville, KY with BicycleDude so he could compete in the Ironman and practically kill himself, but that’s not relevant to this story (Sorry, BicycleDude). What IS relevant is that while I was there spectating and sweating bullets of valuable moisture in hundred-degree heat, I got two full requests. So my query seemed to be working…but then I panicked. Like, BIG TIME, because I didn’t really mean to start querying. Those queries I sent? They were just to test the water. There were still things in my story that needed ironing. Things I always figured I would have time to fix. Later.

LESSON NUMBER ONE: There is no later. Just like celebrities should always be ready to answer who they’re wearing on the red carpet, you should be ready when you’re taking the plunge in the query pools. I always find it a bit ridiculous and annoying when some celebs don’t bother remembering their designer’s name because the whole time I’m thinking, REALLY? They’re letting you borrow everything for free and you don’t remember?!? So I repeat: “‘Do as I say and not as I do” and really — don’t query until you’re totally ready because you never know when an agent will want to read the whole thing!

So while more agents requested to see my story, more rejected it. But then there were some agents kind enough to reject me with really encouraging, helpful notes. Notes I could use. So I revised. And revised. To the point where I finally felt comfortable with my MS. This was probably late October/early November. So looking at the time line, I queried about two months too soon. And then I basically threw myself into the pool and trolled Twitter for agent query comments, combed through Absolute Write posts, (over)analyzed QueryTracker stats, and constantly refreshed my email. I also stayed true to my rule of ‘One Rejection In, One Query Out’ (at least). I never stopped researching agents and always visited Mother. Write. (Repeat.), Literary Rambles, and Guide to Literary Agents. These blogs helped me gain a sense of what agents were looking for and I would’ve been completely lost without them. I also don’t think I would’ve stayed sane without QueryTracker. It’s free, but I highly recommend upgrading to the premium membership to take advantage of additional reporting and other analytical ways to drive yourself crazy.

Fast forward to December. December 20, actually. A “New Agent Alert” for Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management popped up in my Google Reader from Guide to Literary Agents. Because it was almost Christmas and the publishing world had pretty much shut down, I took a chance and queried the next day, even though I still had a bunch pending. BEST DECISION. Seven hours later, Vickie requested a partial. Twelve days later, she asked for more pages and a synopsis and bio. Ten days later, she asked for the full…and the synopsis and bio that I thought I’d sent, but apparently hadn’t because Gmail ate my attachment. *Stupid Gmail*

LESSON NUMBER TWO: Double-check what you’re sending! Make sure you’re not copying every agent on your query list. Make sure you’re following sub guidelines from the agent’s website. Make sure you didn’t copy and paste the wrong thing into your email or that you copy and paste the entirety of what you mean to send. (In addition to NOT actually sending my syno and bio when requested, I also looked back and saw that I ended my partial in the middle of a sentence. Yeah. *headsmack*) That said…

LESSON NUMBER THREE and THREE AND A HALF: Mistakes will happen and agents are human. Sometimes fonts get screwy in the email. Sometimes you send an extra page or two. Agents don’t spit fire. Agents don’t sprout horns at midnight. Most of them will understand if you make an honest mistake because that’s sort of what humans do. We make mistakes and we move on. So if you happen to make a mistake, don’t dwell on it. Look at who’s next on your list and refer back to LESSON NUMBER TWO.

So lucky for me, Vickie was completely understanding. At least, I assumed she was because she emailed me on February 4th saying she’d like to set up a phone call to “discuss a few things.” I might have passed out at this point. I remember I was working from home and had a conference call scheduled fifteen minutes later, but to this day, I have no idea what that conference call was about, or who was on the phone, or what I may have said. Obviously, I was excited and nervous and totally NOT thinking Vickie was calling to offer representation. See, in my day job, when I say I want to “discuss a few things,” they aren’t necessarily good things. In fact, they usually aren’t. So I paced around my house, eating my daughter’s Scooby-Doo fruit snacks like they were going out of style, until the time came when I had told her I’d be free. And when she finally called, I figured she would talk about my story, point out major areas that would need revising, and then send me on my merry way. I was not expecting her to say how much she loved my story and my characters and how she would like to REPRESENT ME.

Come again?

All the excitement (and Scooby-Doo sugar) I’d kept contained during the first part of that call, came screaming out all over the phone and I think I asked her, “Are you serious?” about ten dozen times. Then we talked shop and I loved all the revisions she suggested and I also asked her a ton of questions (thank you Martina for your awesome list of Agent-y questions!) and she was so helpful and thorough and I felt at ease. I can’t tell you how much that last part is important. You want to feel comfortable with your agent. You want to know that you can approach him or her with whatever question or concern you have because communication is SUPER important. As writers, we get used to internalizing everything, but you shouldn’t keep things from your agent that directly relate to your writing, your online presence, your career. He or she is the champion of your work. Trust them to do their job unless they’ve given you reason not to trust them. And if that’s the case? Find someone else.

These past few weeks have been incredibly awesome. The camaraderie of the writing community always amazes me and the support I’ve gotten from my dear writing friends touches me to no end. I’ve also met new writing friends — including two awesome agent sisters (Carolina and Kristine) who I’m excited to share this journey with.

My book just went on sub this week and it’s a terrifying and thrilling thing, and I know the publishing process isn’t a fast one…and I know there are never any guarantees, but I’m still pinching myself that I even got to this point. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and genuine love and respect for the craft in order to bring words to life. This is my life’s dream that I can see forming just around the edges. It’s blurry and still far away. Sometimes I want it to get closer…and sometimes I want to tell it to go loooong just so I can savor every moment. So that brings me to…

LESSON NUMBER FOUR: Savor and enjoy the journey. It can be a long one. It can be a short one. It can be a bumpy one or free of all obstacles. However your journey develops, it’s specific to YOU. And it’s up to you to embrace it, learn from it, and grow bigger from it.

So to celebrate the start of my journey, I’m giving stuff away EVERY DAY NEXT WEEK! And some of the dear writer friends I mentioned above? They’re giving stuff away too!

Here are the rules:

1. You must be a follower of this blog.
2. If you want to be eligible to win a prize pack sponsored by one of my writing friends, please stop by their blog and follow them, too, because their generosity blows me away and their blogs are amazing and I promise you won’t be disappointed!!!
3. Come back and visit! There will be an entry form each day to enter and win that day’s prize pack. You can earn extra points for blogging about this contest (include a link in the Comments) or tweeting a link back to this post (@reply me on Twitter — @CambriaDillon — and make sure to leave your Twitter user name in the Comments).

And now for the prizes!

PRIZE PACK #1: MONDAY (3/21)

A 5-page critique by Ricki Schultz, founder of  The Write-Brained Network!

(You’ll need to subscribe or follow her RSS feed)

AND

A copy of Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

PRIZE PACK #2: TUESDAY (3/22)

A 5-page critique by Carolina Valdez Miller, fellow Agent-Sister!

AND

A signed copy of Feed by M.T. Anderson

PRIZE PACK #3: WEDNESDAY (3/23)

A query letter critique by Kristine Asselin, fellow Agent-Sister!

AND

A signed copy of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

PRIZE PACK #4: THURSDAY (3/24)

A 30-page critique by Martina Boone, of Adventures in Children’s Publishing!

AND

A  copy of Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr

GRAND PRIZE PACK: FRIDAY (3/25)

A premium membership to QueryTracker

A copy of Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

A copy of Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

A query letter critique by me

A five-page critique by Vickie Motter, Agent Extraordinaire from Andrea Hurst Literary Management

Contest winners will be announced every morning starting on Tuesday, and entrants from each day will be added to the drawing for the Grand Prize Pack on Friday. So even if you don’t win one of the daily prizes, there’s still a chance for you to win an awesome critique from Vickie (and the other goodies)! The Grand Prize winner will be announced Friday night at 9pm EST. Unfortunately, I have to limit the contest to US residents only. Sorry international folk!

Thanks for stopping by and GOOD LUCK!

I Love Writer’s Butts and I Cannot Lie…

By Cam

Hey! I’m over at Adventures in Children’s Publishing talking about writer’s butt and life after the agent. Come see me!

BIG NEWS REVEAL!

By Cam

I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!!!!!

Whew. I’ve been waiting to say that since Friday. But today, I can officially announce that I’m represented by Vickie Motter at Andrea Hurst Literary Management.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

I’ll post a separate entry on my road to getting an agent later this week because right now? It’s still sinking in. I mean, I have an AGENT?!?! Like, a REAL one?

Yeah. I can’t stop shaking my head and checking my glass for suspicious liquids.

In the meantime I’m going to start revising LIFE AFTER SEND (for my agent) (really????). My plan is to read through the whole thing by Sunday, while notating general areas I might want to change, and then layering in the things Vickie and I discussed. I think that process will probably take a couple of weeks. Then I’ll read through again. Tweak. Rinse. Repeat. And then send off for comments and line edits.

Holy moly this is INSANE. I have an agent. Who will be reading my MSS. And pitching my MSS. And then editors will be reading my MSS (hopefully). And tear it apart. Or love it. Or love to tear it apart. I don’t know. This is a total dream. I mean, not to have my poor MSS potentially be viewed and ripped apart over and over, but THIS–this whole journey is a dream.

Pinch. Pinch. Pinch. Pinch.

Yup. A total dream.

SCBWI, a private SQUEE!, and PICTURES!

By Cam

So I haven’t posted here in weeks and when I do, I do it on a Saturday?!? Yeah, that makes no sense to me either…but I’ve been crazy busy. Here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks:

• Attended SCBWI NY for the first time — The content of the breakout sessions was so-so, but I hung with wonderful people, and listened to keynotes by the ever-inspirational Lois Lowry, R.L. Stine, Jane Yolen, and Mark Teague. I even had a sentimental moment when I had keepsake books autographed for my daughter. I hope she loves them as much as I do.
• Writing the first draft of my new contemporary YA (told in dual narratives), tentatively titled GRIP
• Writing short stories to submit to online journals and literary publications so I can build up my cred and earn a little $ on the side
• Dealing with a 2 1/2-year-old who is DEFINITELY acting her age Every. Second. Of. The. Day
• Grinning from ear-to-ear about AWESOME news I can’t share yet

So that’s what I’ve been doing. Yeah. It may not seem like a lot, but Toddler Trouble is giving me a run for my money.

Here are some pics from SCBWI to tide you over. I only had my iPhone, so some of these I borrowed from Martina Boone and Carol Barreyre.

Enjoy!

Me and Cici Ramirez on the train to NYC!

Me and Carol Barreyre listening to R.L. Stine

Dinner out at SCBWI NY

Me, Marissa, and Cici at dinner

Ara Burkland & Martina

Carol & Debra Rossi

R.L. Stine's keynote!

A genius at work, signing

Please adopt me, Bob?

THE Lois Lowry. Literary Brilliance in the flesh. (Notice the half-eaten piece of chocolate to the left? A true writer.)

My daughter's fave book signed by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague!

Catch me at Adventures in Children’s Publishing!

By Cam

You’ve probably noticed the blog has been a bit dusty as of late. But don’t worry — New Year’s is just around the corner, so guess what’s going on my Resolutions list for 2011?

In the meantime, I’ve got a new part-time job. Every Tuesday, you can find me over at Adventures in Children’s Publishing talking about craft and dishing out homework with Martina and Marissa. Today there’s a great post up on the RENNS sensory system and an especially sensory-laden photo meant to inspire your, uh, senses. And there *may* be a giveaway…but you won’t know unless you head over.

Tomorrow, I’ll post more about what I’ve been up to…it’s a doozy.

NaNoStudyMo

By Cam

I’ve been quite absent from the blog lately. I’d like to say it was because my NaNo-drunk mind was furiously concocting worlds of literary genius…but, alas. That would be a total fib. I had every intention of doing NaNo this year — signed up, managed to get 3,000 words written in the first two days, tracked and cheered my fellow NaNo buddies — but a funny thing happened in my writing process. I succumbed to something I thought only existed in the minds of fairy-tale-telling writers.

I got hit by the shower.

Now, it might be a combination of the sinus meds I took the night before, or the washing away of 24-hours worth of sick-toddler stress, or maybe my new shampoo really is that good — regardless what magical hands were at work during my morning shower, I was struck with the biggest plot revelation that, so far, answers many of the kinks I had in my NaNo story.

It also raises its fair share of questions, too. But these questions are ones I think I can find… through research.

So that’s where I am now. Instead of churning out 50K, I’m going to focus my efforts this month on making sure I understand how a real person in my character’s shoes would act. Medically and psychologically. It’s much easier to start building the foundation of my story with bricks made of real life nuggets, than with crap that holds no weight. Yes?

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take liberties, but with this particular plot string in my WIP, I really need to weave in the authentic details and that starts with studying up. College-style. I’ve reserved a whole slew of reference materials from my library, rented movies that seem to have the atmosphere and character mannerisms I’m looking for, and created separate playlists to channel my characters’ energy. And I have more than enough leftover Halloween candy, coffee, and tea to aid in the process.

What about you? What kind of research do you do, if any, to make your story more believable? Do you do it prior to writing the first draft or during revisions to tweak the details?

Mood Assignment

By Cam

Okay, so I didn’t have time to post my completed assignment yesterday. But I did it. And it’s longer than a couple paragraphs. And it’s rough. And it’s really hard to do when your two-year old insists on replaying Dinosaur Train all. Day. Long.

So, without further adieu, here are my attempts at taking the same basic premise–a first kiss–and applying three different layers of mood: sad, uncomfortable, and dreamy.

Can you tell which is which?

#1

He sways a little and if I close my eyes, I hear wind chimes. Not the laughter of forty kids outside the door, or the collective singing of every girl in my eighth grade class belting it to Lady Gaga, not even Sally Treverton’s shrill call that it’s time to open her birthday presents. No, it’s a delicate breeze of sound. A soft announcement that this is the moment I’ve waited for my whole life.

And it’s only for me and Kenny.

In this room there are shelves of boxes. I don’t know what’s in them but they all lean toward us as if they know what’s about to happen, too. Kenny’s eyes are closed but I keep mine open. I want to freeze this moment, press it into my palm and never let go. Even the aroma of garlic butter—so strong it clings to the cotton of his shirt—is so deliciously warm that I hug my arms around my body to trap it inside. To make my skin never forget how this feels.

He leans closer and I stare at his mouth. It’s a perfect mouth. A mouth I know will match up to my mine like tabs of Velcro or magnets that have no business being apart from one another. “So pizza…” I say, taking the smallest step forward. “With garlic and butter…” I close my eyes and wait, giving him the opportunity to finish my thought.

He sighs, turning the delicate breeze of tinkling sound into a vortex of thunder that’s too loud for this room. “Look, I just wanted to make Lori jealous.”

I open my eyes and see him standing there. The wall of boxes swells with the knowledge that they’ve just witnessed a crushing blow no amount of aid will ever repair.

“But if this is going to be too weird, then I’ll go ask Jessica. It doesn’t really matter to me anyway.”

I don’t even have time to ask him why he’s being so silly because a box from the top shelf crashes down, spilling silver, red, and green all over Kenny.

#2

I don’t know why Kenny chose me, but it’s quiet in this room and I like that. There’s not a pink-packaged gift anywhere in sight. Just brown, dusty boxes bloated with Sally Treverton’s past.

Kenny closes his eyes. I don’t ask him what he’s doing because the sooner he does whatever he’s planning on doing, the sooner I can hide—by myself—from everything screaming “Happy Birthday!,” and the sooner I can forget that yet another year has crapped all over me.

But Kenny leans forward. All I smell is the garlic butter that came with the dozen pizzas that somehow ran out before I had a chance to get a slice. Marty Greene had five slices of pizza stacked onto his plate. Five. He laughed when he saw me place my empty plate back onto the table.

Kenny leans forward. I think maybe he wants to give me my first kiss. Maybe he knows Sally’s birthday isn’t the only one today. Maybe he actually likes me. But I’m sweating and he’s really close and I stammer out with, “So pizza, huh?” I lick my lips. They’ve never felt so flaky before. If he does kiss me and can tell my lips are chapped, will he tell everyone? Will they all make fun of me? On my birthday? He’s still standing there and I think maybe he’s expecting me to say something else. Conversation is not my best attribute. Nothing’s really my best attribute, but I manage to ask, “With garlic and…uh, butter?”

He opens his eyes. Scoots back as far away from me as the walls of shelves will allow. “Look, I just wanted to make Lori jealous.” Of course. That’s how it always goes. “But if this is going to be too weird, then I’ll go ask Jessica. It doesn’t really matter to me anyway.”

I wrap my arms around myself and watch, frozen, as one of the dusty, old boxes high up on a shelf tumbles down and lands on Kenny’s head. Christmas spills out all over the floor. And a card—yellowed with age, corners bent—stares me in the face. It reads: Happy Birthday Lisa.

Better late than never.

#3

A box of Christmas decorations is about to crash onto Kenny’s head. If he were to jump four inches, it’d be all over. But he doesn’t jump because he’s too busy leaning toward me with his eyes closed and air wheezing out of his nose. I think he might’ve spilled garlic butter on his shirt somewhere because I’m tempted to hand him a mint or a stick of gum or a toothbrush (if I had one…which I don’t because let’s face it, kids who carry around travel-sized dental kits are just asking for it).

My back is pressed against the wall and at the moment when I think—this is it—my first kiss will be with a wheezing, stinking boy who doodles boobs in the margins of his notebook, the only thing that really bangs around my head is that I forgot to wear a bra. Who forgets to put on their undergarments for Sally Treverton’s fourteenth birthday party—the biggest mashup of cool and uncool in one place without threat of extra homework or a phone call home?

I am the genetic equivalent to a salted slug.

I cross my arms in an effort to add an extra layer between me and Kenny. Even though his lids are still glued shut, I’m convinced he has some sort of x-ray vision. He tips forward.

“So pizza, huh?” I ask. “With garlic and…uh, butter?” I want to slap my forehead but I can’t. My arms are armor and no way am I leaving myself open for an easy kill.

Kenny’s eyes pop open. He purses his lips and looks like he wants to mash me between his molars and spit me out onto Sally’s three-tiered cake of pink sugar. “Look, I just wanted to make Lori jealous.” He shrinks several inches and I see that the decorations box is a mile away from his head now. “But if this is going to be too weird, then I’ll go ask Jessica. It doesn’t really matter to me anyway.”

And as if by some magical cosmic hand, the box sitting high on top of the shelf—with Christmas wreaths and red, silver, and green bows—sails over the ledge and plummets onto Kenny’s head.

Is Your opening IN THE MOOD? (Part 2)

By Cam

So yesterday I left off with why mood is important not only in your whole story, but also in your opening.  So that begs the question:

How do you capture the mood in the opening?

My tips:

• Pay attention to your character. What are they doing in the beginning? How do they feel? Are their actions in sync with these feelings? Observe other people in various states of mood and see how they differ, how their steps change, how their voice changes, how their face falls flat or lights up. STUDY.
• Pay attention to what your story is ABOUT. Not the plot, not the inciting incident happening in the next page or whatever. What is the takeaway you want your readers to stuff in their pocket and keep forever?
• Write. Revise.
• Repeat. This is a really important step — don’t underestimate numerous revisions and waiting periods to see if your perception changes of what you’re trying to color your story with.
• Share it with your critique partner/group. Ask them what they think the mood is and see if it matches up with your intentions. If it doesn’t…
• Write and revise again. (See? IMPORTANT STEP!) If you feel like you’re still not getting it right, maybe you need to see more visual examples of how the mood can layer in with the story. Watch a movie that evokes the kind of tone you’re looking to portray. Observe the details–setting, characters, dialogue–and see what’s done right to give you the experience you expect as the audience.

I think I went through twenty versions of my first five pages for LIFE AFTER SEND. Is it perfect? Probably not. Will it change if I find an agent and/or editor? Maybe. But does it evoke the hopeful excitement and nervous regret that I want my readers to feel? I think so.

Since mood is something that is utterly impossibly to explain in terms of mechanics, I wanted to show some examples of opening paragraphs that I think capture the overall tone of the story. Just remember—these are the first paragraphs. To really see what I mean, you should buy the books and read them so you can see how the mood plays out over the course of the whole.

Whatever mood you want to evoke in your reader, it needs to start here:

From Courtney Summers’ Some Girls Are:

Everyone is wasted.

Anna is wasted. Josh is wasted. Marta is wasted. Jeanette is wasted. Bruce is wasted. Donnie’s always wasted. I’m not wasted. I had my turn at the last party, called shotgun in Anna’s Benz after it was over. My head out the window, the world spinning. I puked my guts out. It wasn’t fun, but it’s not like there was anything else to do. Tonight, there’s even less to do than that. Tonight, I’m the designated driver.

In this opening, you get a sense that the protagonist is annoyed. That she still has to follow the rules even though she doesn’t like it because that’s how it is in her group of drunken friends. The clipped sentences add into the ‘everything spiraling out of control’ feeling. This tone carries throughout the rest of the book as the protagonist, Regina, loses top-rank in her school’s social scene.

From Jennifer Echols’ Going Too Far:

“That’s the worst idea I ever heard,” I told Eric. Then I took another sip of beer and swallowed. “Let’s do it.”

“Meg,” Tiffany called after me. But I was already out the door of Eric’s Beamer. My beer sloshed onto the gravel as I led the way across the dark clearing to the railroad bridge.

Do you get a sense of Meg’s rebellious nature? The mood is spontaneous with no regard for consequences. That’s true of Meg’s personality too, and it also becomes her greatest enemy throughout the book.

From Dia Reeves’ Bleeding Violet:

The truck driver left me off on Lamartine, on the odd side of the street. I felt odd too, standing in the town where my mother lived. For the first seven years of my life, we hadn’t even lived on the same continent, and now she waited only a few houses away.

Unreal.

Words like ‘odd’ and ‘unreal’ capture the mood of Bleeding Violet. There are so many of these moments woven throughout that at times you wonder if it’s real at all. It’s tone is mysterious and leaves the reader curious just like the protagonist is curious.

From Walter Dean Myers’ Lockdown:

“I hope you mess this up! I hope you blow it big-time! You’re supposed to be smart. You think you’re smart, right?”

“Sir…”

“Shut up, worm!” Mr. Pugh looked over his shoulder at me. “If you had any smarts, you’d be out on the streets. But you’re in jail, ain’t you? Ain’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you know this work program is bullshit. Just more work for me and the staff. But I’m counting on you, worm. All you got to do is walk away when nobody’s looking. When they catch you, I’m going to put you in a hole so deep, you won’t even remember what daylight looks like.”

I don’t know about you, but reading this opening jars me out of my happy existence. It makes me feel defensive and lost, like I don’t belong there listening to someone talk to me like that. This fish-out-of-water feeling is layered within the story as Reese tries to find his place while working in a senior home through a program to get out of juvie.

From Nina LaCour’s Hold Still:

I watch drops of water fall from the ends of my hair. They streak down my towel, puddle on the sofa cushion. My heart pounds so hard I can feel it in my ears.

“Sweetheart. Listen.”

Mom says Ingrid’s name and I start to hum, not the melody to a song, just one drawn-out note. I know it makes me seem crazy, I know it won’t make anything change, but it’s better than crying, it’s better than screaming, it’s better than listening to what they’re telling me.

The mood of this opening is pretty obvious, isn’t it? It’s full of loss, melancholy, pain…but there’s also a bit of hope too. Without having read this book (even though it’s on my TBR list), I know what I’ll get just from the first couple of paragraphs.

So there you have it. Mood. Tone. Flavor. Whatever you want to call it. Your opening needs it to ground the reader in the story. To give them that sense of relief that they’re getting what they ordered.

Before I end this already encyclopedia-length post, here’s an assignment: Pick three moods and write a short passage (no more than a paragraph or two) all dealing with the same topic—a first kiss. The players, settings, results should all be the same, but see how different your passages end up when you write with a different mood in mind.

Here are my moods: uncomfortable, dreamy, sad. I’ll try to post the results tomorrow.

Any players?