By Cam
So I’m so sorry I’m a few minutes late posting this. You see, Toddler Trouble decided she wanted to sing ROUNDS and ROUNDS of Hickory Dickory Dock before bedtime and so now I’m all Hickoried out. BUT. We have a winner!
I already expressed my thanks in my post this morning, but I wanted to tell y’all one more time how AMAZING this week has been and how GRATEFUL I am that so many of you celebrated it with me. It’s my extreme pleasure to announce the winner of:
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
……IS……
COREY J. POPP
CONGRATULATIONS COREY! I’ll be in touch with details on all the fabulous prizes which are now YOURS!
I’m sorry I couldn’t provide these goodies to everyone, but I’m already thinking about my next giveaway…maybe in April…and most definitely open internationally.
Until next time…Adieu!
~Dillon OUT <3
By Cam
Hey guys! So whatcha doin’??? Anything good in the paper? No? Hmm…the only news I have to report is that I ate THE most perfect banana for breakfast this morning and — what’s that? You don’t really care about my stinkin’ banana? Well, fine. Whatever. I guess I’ll just announce the winner from yesterday’s giveaway, then. Hrmph.
The winner of a 30-page critique from Martina Boone AND a copy of Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr is:
Rachel Harris!
Congrats Rachel! I’ll be in touch soon with how you can claim your prize.
I want to take this time to thank everyone who’s tweeted, blogged, commented, and visited during this past week. My agent story was nothing super crazy but you all have made me feel like a total rock star. I’m still in awe by the support I’ve received and I hope you’ll come back to visit me even when the giveaways are over (for now! You never know when I’ll start itching to give stuff away again!). But just know that this has truly been an AMAZING experience for me. The love! The support! The willingness to stay tuned! <3<3<3!!!
So before I step away (until 9pm EST TONIGHT!), I want to thank the incredible ladies who made this week possible:
Ricki Schultz
Carolina Valdez Miller
Kristine Asselin
Martina Boone
Vickie Motter <– Like, for real.
So make sure you visit them often because they offer fantastic blogs with AMAZING writerly insight. 
Since today is Friday and apparently no one cares what I had for breakfast *grumble, grumble* here are the AWESOME prizes up for grabs:
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
Just a reminder of the rules:
- You must be a follower of this blog.
- If you want to stop by Vickie’s blog to say hello, I’m sure she’d love to hear from you!
- 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).
All entrants from previous days will automatically be entered into today’s contest…HOWEVER, you can still earn extra entries by blogging or tweeting about the Grand Prize Pack (just make sure to fill out the entry form). Today’s winner will be announced right here at 9pm EST. Unfortunately, I have to limit the contest to US residents only. 
Sorry international folk!
And the only thing left to say is…GOOD LUCK!!!!
By Cam
We’re hitting the home stretch of my one-week GIVEAWAY EXTRAVAGANZA and there are still some awesome prizes to give away. But first, y’all are in for a special treat (<–OMG my Tennessee just came out a little, I think). Anyway, one of my AMAZING critique partners, Martina Boone, is here to talk about social networking and what it’s really about.
For those of you who don’t know her, Martina is one of the founders of Adventures in Children’s Publishing and tweets at @4KidLit. She is a non-fiction writer and editor in real-life, but young adult fiction is her passion. She likes nothing better than diving into magical new worlds, flawed characters, or manuscripts that need to be restructured. (<– Yeah, I can totally vouch for this!)
But what Martina also forgot to include in her bio *ahem* is that Adventures in Children’s Publishing hit their one-year blogiversary earlier this month, and since last March they’ve gained more than 1,000 followers and almost 175,000 hits to their site. That’s CRAZY AWESOME! Her and ACP co-founder, Marissa Graff, offer daily posts that not only provide writers with fantastic contests and critique opportunities, but also wonderful insight, resources, and inspiration. If you don’t already visit their blog, you’re missing out. So please give Martina a warm welcome!
An Idiot’s Guide to Social Networking (for Writers)
This whole social networking thing? Scary as hell. A year ago, I dipped my toes cautiously and fearfully, because I was already overwhelmed with work and family. Life. But the thing I quickly discovered was that getting online was the greatest thing I could have done for my writing. When the going got tough, writing-wise, being online in the company of other writers kept me going.
I’ve read a lot of posts that talk about social networking as a time suck. I believe it can be, but I also think it’s an incomparable gift. Writing posts on craft helps keep me focused on craft. It keeps me reading posts on technique, concept, structure, voice, character…. It gives me insight into how other writers learn. It shows me what they are getting out of the same posts or books I am reading, and the subtle differences of what they picked up versus what I learned points me down paths I might not otherwise have followed.
With social networking as with anything else, I get out of it what I put into it. And then some. That’s the trick to it.
So here’s my nugget of truth for the day. If you go in worrying about what social networking is going to do for you, you’re going to miss out. Because that isn’t the right question. What are you going to give to other writers? Other readers? What can you put out there?
The moment you do that, you get back a hundred-fold.
One of the first things I did on the blog was a query-letter critique feature. Our very first participant was Clara Kensie. And the concept in her query was phenomenal. She and I exchanged manuscripts, and then she introduced me to other writers in her critique group, which, long story short, led me to a writer named Cambria Dillon. Who had another phenomenal manuscript. And taught me so much about voice and writing that I couldn’t have gotten from a book.
You collect people when you expand your writing journey online. These people support you, prop you up, build your craft, shore up your failing confidence. They inspire you to be better, braver. They commiserate with you when you fall on your face, and they give you the opportunity to celebrate when awesome things happen. They let you know there is awesome out there.
Awesome like Cam signing with Vickie Motter.
So, congrats, Cam. And congrats, Vickie.
I’m so thankful to be here celebrating with you!
Thank you, Martina! For your kind words, honest insight, and also for reminding us that social networking isn’t just about ME ME ME but also about US US US. The writing community wouldn’t be a ‘community’ without recognizing we’re not in this alone. If we don’t give back, we’ll stunt growth — and not just someone else’s, but ours. Anyway…enough of me getting all sentimental and Hallmark-y. You probably want to know who won from yesterday, yes?
The winner of a query letter critique from Kristine Asselin AND a signed copy of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is:
Alison Miller!!!
And in honor of today’s guest, here are the awesome giveaways for Thursday:
A 30-PAGE CRITIQUE (!) by Martina Boone
AND
A copy of Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
The rules:
- You must be a follower of this blog.
- If you want to be eligible to win this prize pack, please stop by Adventures in Children’s Publishing and follow them too!
- 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 tomorrow to enter my final giveaway. And in case you forgot…here are the fabulous prizes one more time:
GRAND PRIZE PACK: FRIDAY (3/25)
A premium membership to QueryTracker
A copy of Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
A query letter critique by me
GOOD LUCK to everyone who enters!
By Cam
Getting to Know Kristine Asselin — one of my fabulous Agent Sisters!!!
Thank you guys for all the great comments about my previous interviews with Ricki Schultz and Carol Valdez Miller AND for entering the giveaway contests! The response has been awesome. Today I have another interview for you — this time with Kristine Asselin, who rounds out our trifecta of Agent Sister Amazingness for the week!
Kris writes contemporary YA and MG fiction and MG nonfiction. Oh, and the occasional picture book. She never turns down an invitation for Chinese Food or Ice Cream, but not together. She is represented by Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management. Make sure you stop by her blog to say hello!
Hi Kris! Thanks for participating in my week of giveaways! You recently signed with fabulous agent, Vickie Motter (Andrea Hurst Literary Management). What’s your book, THE SWEET SPOT, about?
Thank you so much Cambria for having me! I’m so excited to be a part of your celebration this week.
THE SWEET SPOT is my first YA novel. It’s about Kate Anderson, a teenager who decides she’s going to be the first girl to win the Junior State Golf Championship. She thinks it will help attract publicity to the almost-bankrupt family golf course. Her plans get screwed up when her best friend and crush is accused of vandalizing the course with a blowtorch.
The story has cute boys, bad boys, a rarely-explored summer sport, a bit of mystery, and bit of romance.
Nothing better than cute boys, bad boys and SUMMER. Sounds fabulous!!! Another fabulous fact about this book is that it evolved from a short story you had published in Golfer Girl Magazine. What are some pointers for those interested in the short story circuit? How much research about publications did you do before you started submitting?
Funny that you ask that! LOL. Really, I get Children’s Writer Newsletter. One month they announced a new magazine—Golfer Girl—and I happened to have written a short story based on a real life experience playing golf. I didn’t do any research, it just fell into my lap. I think my pointers are the same for any type of writing. Write a good story, revise it, have it critiqued, revise again. Then submit. And don’t give up.
Revisions and stamina are what make the writer’s world go ’round, right? So what made you decide to take the leap into expanding this idea into a full-length novel?
When I first wrote the story, it was in first person. It’s chapter four of my novel—in a nutshell; girl wears a white t-shirt while playing golf; it starts to rain, heavily; said white t-shirt gets soaked, exposing said girl’s, um, assets; girl’s crush comes to the rescue by throwing her a sweatshirt. I couldn’t even remember exactly HOW it really happened. I just had this memory of being really embarrassed and then really thankful my very cute friend was thoughtful and not a letch.
When I put the original story up on critiquecircle.com I got some nice feedback. Overwhelmingly people wanted to know what happened to Kate and Scott. In Real Life, nothing happened—this cute boy and I stayed good friends (right, boring!). So it took some time to turn it from a memoir to something purely fictional (i.e., interesting). While keeping it feeling real. Easy peasy, right?
A lot of the family stuff in the novel was inspired by my actual family, and the golf course we ran in the 80s and early 90s.
What a cool story to show that sometimes it DOES help to ‘write what you know.’ Okay, QUICK! Favorite pro-golfer?
I’ll have to go with Phil Mickelson purely for my parents. I’m much more interested in playing golf than watching televised golf. Michelle Wie would be my choice for fave female golfer.
Aside from your YA novel, you’re also a published children’s non-fiction writer. So in the vein of ‘Chicken or the Egg,’ what came first – your love of fiction or non-fiction? What are your non-fiction books about?
My love of fiction definitely came first. It was more a matter of “right place, right time” with the nonfiction. I was submitting picture books manuscripts to agents and editors in 2007. I had a couple of ideas for nonfiction and sent a few queries. A full year after subbing to Capstone Press, they assigned me my first work-for-hire project. I’m just finishing assignments seven and eight this month. So it’s been a really nice relationship. Very different than fiction, but I really like the research and learning new things. Getting to work with editors has also been a great experience—and it’s helped my writing ego a lot to see my work in print, and of course get paid.
My nonfiction runs the gamut from science to history. I’m not an expert, just a good researcher. And thank goodness for professional consultants and editors. They make sure it’s all 100% accurate.
Mother. Novelist. Non-fiction writer. Picture Book writer—Sheesh! How do you balance it all? What’s a typical “Kris Day?”
I’m going to quote Ron Weasley from p. 379 of HP Deathly Hallows. “That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was.” LOL.
+ 
= ???
Yeah…um, I definitely don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit, Kris (No offense RW!)
I don’t know! It all seems to be sort of coming together. I’ve worked hard for a while to make it work. My daughter is eight, and getting to be more independent. There’s no typical day. Every day is totally different. I write when I can—and my family is very supportive of my writing. The paying gigs help that along a bit. I’m currently a part-time grant-writer for a community college. Honestly, I never thought I’d be at this point and there are days when I look around and wonder how I got here!
Okay, and now for some Mad Libs – Writer’s Edition! List the first word that pop into your head for each prompt:
Adjective: fluffy
Noun (Plural): books (what else)
Adjective: sweaty
Verb ending in -ing: golfing
Adjective: warm
Occupation: writer
Adverb: quickly
And now here are Kris’s words MADLIBBED:
Fluffy Books, Non-fiction books, and Books – OH MY! There’s nothing this sweaty writer won’t try! After querying and golfing through the writer-slush, she found a warm writer who she hopes—one day!—she’ll “meet for lunch.” Send her your congrats and wish her well, for a quickly-placed THE SWEET SPOT sale!
And here are some of Kris’s children’s non-fiction book covers. Aren’t they fun???
Thanks for an Out of This World interview, Kris! (Get it? ‘Cause there are stars and suns on her covers and — oh, nevermind.)
And yesterday’s winner of a 5-page critique from Carolina Valdez Miller AND a signed copy of Feed by M.T. Anderson is:
Kelly Polark!!!
In honor of today’s guest, here are the awesome giveaways for Wednesday:
AND
A signed copy of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
The rules:
- You must be a follower of this blog.
- If you want to be eligible to win this prize pack, please stop by Kris’s blog and follow her too!
- 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 tomorrow for a guest post by Martina Boone from the Adventures in Children’s Publishing blog. And there only two more opportunities left to win these fabulous prizes:
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!
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:
AND
A signed copy of Feed by M.T. Anderson
The rules:
- You must be a follower of this blog.
- If you want to be eligible to win this prize pack, please stop by Carol’s blog and follow her too!
- 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!
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
The rules:
- You must be a follower of this blog.
- If you want to be eligible to win this prize pack, please stop by Ricki’s blog and subscribe or follow her RSS feed.
- 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!
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:
- You must be a follower of this blog.
- 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!!!
- 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!
By Cam
You GUYSSSSS! I got a blogger award! Do you know what this means???? It means 1) I am stylish (it says so right on the award, you know), and 2) I REALLY need to blog more often so I don’t go out of style.
Thank you so much to Chris Ledbetter at The Oracle and The Muse who crowned me with this blog-bling. As part of the award, I’m supposed to reveal seven things about myself and follow these rules:
1: Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2: Share seven things about yourself.
3: Award ten recently discovered great bloggers (except I only listed eight because my brain quit on me!)
4: Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.
So here are Seven Things about Moi:
- My daily after-school snack in high school was a bowl of frozen strawberries and pickles (not together because Eww!)
- I once was a telemarketer for a cemetary
- I have a debilitating fear of sharks and snakes and won’t swim in water I can’t see the bottom of or go traipsing through bushes or wooded areas without a big stick on-hand
- I once went sky-diving and after watching the video, realized my cheeks flap more than any one human’s cheeks should
- When I was a kid, my living room used to be bare of furniture except for a 14-foot (in diameter) trampoline
- Ball pits at fast food restaurant playgrounds give me a severe case of the heebeejeebees
- I love scary movies but can only sit through them with my fingers plugged in my ears and my eyes clamped shut
Here are the Bloggers I am passing this Award on to:
So there you go. Spread the Stylish Blogger love and remember to check out these FAB writers!
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.
By Cam
Any writer, agent, or editor worth their salt will tell you that the one thing you absolutely ABSOLUTELY must have in order to get published is:
A Critique Partner/Group/Community
This is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo true I can’t even tell you how true it is. Except maybe I just did since I have a hundred o’s too many in there.
But let me tell you why.
A few months ago, I joined a new critique group that would be focused solely on YA. What’s this fantastic group called, you say? YA FICTION FANATICS. And let me tell you, the women in this group are not only talented, gracious, hilarious, and intelligent. But they’re also the most selfless, honest, loyal, and lovable writers (and women) I’ve ever “met.” I can’t even begin to sing my praises enough for how much this group has helped me shape LIFE AFTER SEND to make it the best it can be. Their feedback has been right-on, and I know — hear that, Universe? — I know I’ll find an agent to sell this puppy one day. And when I do, it’ll be because of these women (plus the guidance and wisdom of my AWESOME AWESOME MENTOR, WHO NO AMOUNT OF CUPCAKES WOULD EVER BE ENOUGH TO SAY HOW MUCH I ADORE HER).For reals, I am humbled to be a part of such a giving group.
I love the writing community. It rocks.
And memorize these names because one day, we’ll take over the world. One YA at a time:
Vanessa Barger
RM Gilbert
Rebekah Purdy
Barbara Sheridan
Traci Kenworth
Min Buchanan
Kara Lee Critzer
Jennifer Bianco
Martina Boone
Penny Randall
Cambria Dillon - YA Writer represented by Vickie Motter, Andrea Hurst Literary Management
