Getting Ready for #pitchwars on Monday, 11/26, Plus #pitchmas Coming Up

Okay, there's been a lot of twitter chatter on this next contest, so I'm including a bit more detail than usual. However, you'll still need to follow the links for the full details. On Monday, 11/26 Brenda Drake and a team of authors will be hosting PitchWars.

We're extremely excited to announce an upcoming event where agented authors, industry interns, and editors team up with aspiring writers to shine up their manuscripts and pitches to present to some awesome agents.

Here's the deets...

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

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

·       Between November 26- December 5: Aspiring writers will submit 3 "applications" to their top choices for coaches to the contest email (check site for parameters, formatting, etc!) That means, participants will send three separate emails to the contest email addressing each with one of their three top choices for coach.

AND here are the mentors!:

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

1.	Brenda (MG)	12.	Gina (YA & NA)	23.	Summer (Adult & NA)
2.	Erica (YA & NA)	13.	Fiona McLaren (YA & NA)	24.	Lindsay (YA)
3.	Cupid (YA)	14.	Michelle (YA)	25.	Deana (YA)
4.	Krista (MG)	15.	Elizabeth P. (YA & NA)	26.	Lori (YA)
5.	Monica (YA)	16.	Tina (Adult)	27.	Rebecca (Adult & NA)
6.	Shelley (Adult & NA)	17.	Andrea (YA)	28.	John (YA)
7.	Dee (MG)	18.	Nazarea (YA & NA)	29.	Elizabeth B. (YA)
8.	Marieke (YA)	19.	Heidi (MG)	30.	Stacey (YA)
9.	Sharon (YA & NA)	20.	Kimberly (YA)	31.	Heather M. (YA)
10.	Dahlia (YA & NA)	21.	Heather (YA & NA)
11.	Jennifer (MG)	22.	Molly (YA)

Linky Widget expiration: 8 days ago.

Lots of YA, but some NA and four Adult in there too. A great opportunity to get some feedback on your manuscript AND query and get it in front of an agent. :-) .

On December 4-6, Pitchmas, A Holiday Pitchfest (multi agent/editor) will be happening on Jessa Russo and FeakySnucker's blogs. On December 4th Jessa will be hosting a pitch polishing workshop leading up to the first opportunity to pitch that evening on Tamara (FeakySnucker) Blog. PLUS a list of participating editors and agents is up for anyone who wants to peruse:

This will be a three-day event (you will not have to participate in all three days if you don't want to) where your peers will first help you hone your Twitter/Blog pitches and then you will have the chance to pitch your manuscript to your dream editor or literary agent!!! *All manuscripts must be completed and polished.

With NaNoWriMo winding down I expect there may be a spate of other contests in mid-December, before the holiday lull. In the mean time, if you missed them last week, a bunch of sites have been posting some great writing advice:
Red Sofa Literary Agency, in honor of NaNoWriMo is posting writing and submission advice every day! Day #13 - Best time to Query is good, as is Day #10 - Revise, Revise and  Revise again. Heck all of them are good, go and take a look.
Lit Reactor had a good post recently about Eight Words to Seek and Destroy in your Manuscript. They always have interesting and informative articles as well - from editorials on the Sock Puppet incidents at Amazon (and Amazon's reaction) to grammar tips to a discussion titled "Should Some Books Be Banned?" Not a bad place to check out or subscribe to the 'feed' for. (They also have classes and seminars, however I have no experience with them and cannot personally recommend them, so do your due diligence and ask around, read reviews, etc, before signing up)
Rachelle Gardner is on a roll with posts on What Does Your Online Activity Say About You?, 'The Best Blogging Tip Ever' and Writing a One Sentence Summary.

Finally one several of my friends (an myself as well!) can relate to: Writer Beware Blogs  Guest Blog Post: Mustering the Courage to Turn Down a Publishing Contract. While the hosts of all these contests I link to do their best to provide clear and unfettered access to publishers and agents, you still need to do your due diligence and check out each one. I'd suggest you do it prior to entering so if there's a request for more information you can go in eyes wide open and not just in a heady rush. To be clear, I'm not saying there have been any publishers which are on any of the 'beware' lists, or anything of that nature, in any contest that I am aware of, just that it make sense to not automatically assume a publisher (or agent) is in 'good standing' because they are taking part in a contest. (and that was clear as mud, but hopefully you get the point)

Along the same vein, Sarah LaPolla's blog post on 'Shady Business' ties in well with the above post. She talks about 'new' agents who have no experience as well as new (e)publishers and has EXCELLENT advice on what to look for (and what to watch out for).

Happy reading, and to those people participating in NaNoWriMo, go, go go! Fingers crossed you make your goal. (Making a note to myself, if I ever organize a pitch contest, I might want to run it the last week of November. People should be over their exhaustion from the explosion of  Fall contests. Maybe a 'black friday' one. Liking this idea! Something to mull over for next year).

Thankful Post, the first - My Kids

Yes, it's cliche. That doesn't make it any less true.

I am very thankful for my kids who really ground me. As a single parent I am the sole shuttler, the sole feeder and the sole advisor/disciplinarian. With all these hats, and more, my kids understand that people have many different roles in life and totally 'get' that sometimes, particularly when I am caught up in a scene, I am a writer and support me in my role. Okay, maybe not so much when my older teen complains that he needs to eat now!, (working on that self sufficiency thing) but generally, particularly as they've hit their teen years, they leave me to do my thing when I tell them I'm sitting down to do some writing.

And that ties into my writing advice. Make your characters multi-dimensional. No one has just one role in life, they are a son or daughter, a person within a community, they are what people see them to be and they are what they see themselves to be. Show them in these roles, have them act in slightly different ways around different people. Are they less likely to curse around their parents? Are they going to be more patient with kids? Plus try to avoid cliches, find the unique, unexpected aspect of their personality, the person no one expects them to be, and show us that too.

This is part of a series of post for a blog hop started by Brenda Drake. Please be sure to visit the other participants!

1.	Casey Roach	9.	Amy Trueblood	17.	Jessika Fleck
2.	Sarah J. Clift	10.	Swagger Writers	18.	Johana Vera
3.	Fiona McLaren	11.	Michelle Smith	19.	Carrie Crain
4.	Lizzy Froehle	12.	Abby Cavenaugh	20.	Katie Teller
5.	Rachel @ Rachel writes things	13.	Talynn Lynn	21.	Debbie Causevic
6.	Sarah Guillory	14.	Veronica Bartles	22.	You're next!
7.	Robin Weeks	15.	Ellie Heller
8.	Stacey Trombley	16.	Manju Howard

10/22 Upcoming Multi-Agent Pitch/Query Contests: #bakersdozen #agenttreat #pitchmas

I'm trying to clean up my upcoming contest list. One thing I've noticed, there definitely seems to be some burnout right now. Mother.  Write. (Repeat.) cancelled her monthly "Agent Inbox" (where people have the opportunity to be chosen submit a query to be read by an agent who then blogs instant feedback on the query on the blog).

First off, an apology: Due to unforeseen circumstances, I’m cancelling this month’s round of “An Agent’s Inbox.” And because of the general contest weariness I’ve noticed around the blogosphere/Twitterverse of late, I’m holding off on scheduling another until after New Year’s. I’m so sorry to anyone who was counting on entering a round this year!

Plus, there's this piece from Natalie M. Lakosil, on an agent's perspective on the current frenzy of pitch and query opportunities and some agents feeling like they've seen a lot of the same things in multiple contests. I actually wasn't going to enter a contest because there were only two agents and one had already seen my entry multiple times. In the end I decided to enter because I had revised the story and there was that other agent.  But the piece made a point I hadn't considered: keep track of which agents are participating in the contests so you'll know who's seen your work. I hadn't been doing that, but I will be now.

However, if you're just jumping in and haven't done a query contest before, Sticking To The Story has a wonderful post on what to expect and how to get ready. Even if you've done them before there's LOTS of helpful information there.

Short list right now. Here are the multi-agented contests: 

The ONLY multi-agent contest which has an entry this week (October 24), is Trick or Treat with Agents, so I'm going to put up the whole beautiful flyer they made up (it's hosted by the wonderful Brenda Drake, Kimberly Chase and Deanna Romito.) You will need to go the the blogs for information on agents wish lists and more particulars! (plus Brenda has a teaser up for her next big contest, Pitch Wars, which opens 12/10).

The following week, on October 30 and November 1, Miss Snark's First Vicitim (MSFV for short) will have the first entry windows for the ADULT authors who want to try to get in to Baker's Dozen. (This week she's having the secret agent contest, information in the single agent/publishing house section below). Here are the windows for Bakers Dozen entries (be sure to go to the site for all the details!)

  ADULT ROUND 1: Tuesday, October 30 (100 entries) ADULT ROUND 2: Thursday, November 1 (100 entries) YA/MG ROUND 1: Tuesday, November 6 (150 entries) YA/MG ROUND 2: Thursday, November 8 (150 entries)

AFTER NaNoWriMo, December 4-6, Pitchmas, A Holiday Pitchfest will be happening on Jessa Russo and FeakySnucker's blogs:

This will be a three-day event (you will not have to participate in all three days if you don't want to) where your peers will first help you hone your Twitter/Blog pitches and then you will have the chance to pitch your manuscript to your dream editor or literary agent!!! *All manuscripts must be completed and polished.

I'm keeping an eye on  Cupid's Literary Connection, I'm guessing they'll have a contest announcement before the end of the month.


For this next week there's only one contest (that I am aware of) which has ONE agent/agency or publisher stopping by (at least that I know about). Miss Snark's First Victim will host Secret Agent (who is looking for MG and YA). The entry window for the lottery is on 10/22, so be sure to hop over to her blog to find out the details.

There are many blogs which host pitch contests for single agents, I don't have a complete list by any means. One of the best ways to find contests is on Twitter, by following authors you see on the contests, and the hosts and agents as well, you'll see information on new contests as the information hits the twitterverse. 

Plus, up at the top of the blog, you'll see a link to a paper.li news article feed which pulls contest, agent news and publishing opportunities which I run across into one place. Easy to check and subscribe. There's general publishing news too, but mostly about pitch contests and submission opportunities. Wishing every who enters the best of luck!

SUBMISSION WINDOW FOR #PITCHON *WORKSHOP* - now open!

Workshops for Get Your Pitch On start on October 1, and....

Window to submit your workshop pitch is open now! 

But don't freak out if you missed the original post on 9/24, at this time we don't have a set deadline given the large number of spaces available. (Each host blog has set the number of pitches they can host. Only once those spots are full will the submission window close.) Of course you'll want to get your pitch into the workshop in well before 10/15 when pitches will be taken on both Down Under Wonderings and YAtopia to skip the slush pile and get your story in front of Managing Editor of Hardie Grant Egmont, Marisa Pintado. 

How to submit: 

Email your draft pitch to pitchonws@gmail.com and include PitchOnWS and the title of the manuscript in the subject line. Pitches must follow the formatting as specified for the Get Your Pitch On contest. Guidelines are here and you can see the list of blogs participating here.

(FYI: Example email subject line: PitchOnWS Looking for Alaska)


Important Rule: 
If you want to participate in a workshop, you must critique at least ONE other pitch. Want an incentive for doing even more? Head on over to the other host blogs to critique more pitches. For each critique you leave in the comments, you get an entry into the drawing to win one of eight 10-page critiques from one of the following: Sharon Johnston, Larissa Hardesty, Stephanie Diaz, Catherine Scully, Jodie Andrefski, Paula Sangare, Talynn and Kaitlin Adams. Please use the exact same name for all of your critiques. Also, Sarah Nicolas will be giving away three query critiques! The opportunity ends 10/14/2012.


A little more detail on the mechanics of the workshop:
Pitches will be posted on blogs and comments will be made with comments & suggested corrections for the pitch. ON MY BLOG (everyone is doing this a little differently) if you email me with an UPDATED pitch, I will do my best to change your post to reflect the new one. 

A strong suggestion: When you find your pitch make a comment and/or 'subscribe' to comments so you can keep track of what is being said. When you make comments on someone's pitch you might want to do the same!

An important heads up:

An interview with Commissioning and Managing Editor of Hardie Grant Egmont, Marisa Pintado, will be coming up soon on  Down Under Wonderings so that you have an idea what she's looking for. Pitches will be taken on both Down Under Wonderings and YAtopia on October 15th. The exact contest opening times will be included posts that day (although there may also be a sneak bit of information at the interview!).

Good luck everyone! 

p.s. Here's an excellent article on ways to approach your log line/pitch and keep it concise:  The logline—Who needs it? How do I write one? by Kelly Whitley

Hello Blogger World!

Well I'm back to having a blogger site (in addition to my EllieWrites2 Wordpress site) because there are so many things I can do here that can't do there. Like, oh, link to blog hops, and um, blog hops. Okay, I'm sure there's more but that's the reason I started this blog.

So, off to set up links to the first blog hop and get things done! If you want to read more of my usual posts, go to my other site EllieWrites2. Lots of stuff there!