Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Twice The Mentors = Twice The Awesome


I'm back mentoring Middle Grade for Pitch Wars and I couldn't be more excited! But this year, I've got a special surprise for y'all. I somehow convinced my friend and CP, Addie Thorley, to co-mentor with me! That means you get two mentors with one entry.



Now I happen to know that Addie is made of pure amazingness and dear lord that woman can write! Seriously, she's ridiculously talented. But more important for you guys, Addie is a fantastic critique partner. She's great at catching issues and molding stories into something wonderful.

"But wait, slow down", you say. "Tell me a bit more about this Pitch Wars thing." Pitch Wars is a writing contest that matches unagented writers up with published and/or agented mentors to help polish up a novel for submission. There's an agent round at the end of the contest where agents can request subs from the Pitch Wars entries. You can find all the details here. Basically, Pitch Wars is sunshine, rainbows and puppy kisses all rolled into one.



So WHY should you choose me and Addie as your mentors? I'm so glad you asked.

1. I write YA, MG and picture books and I'm represented by the amazing Mandy Hubbard of the Emerald City Literary Agency. My debut novel, a YA contemporary called CHEESUS WAS HERE, will be released spring 2017 by Sky Pony Press. Addie is represented by the utterly fabulous Kathleen Rushall of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

2. Addie and I have both spent a long time in the query trenches before landing our dream agents. We have a great eye for queries, know the pitfalls to avoid and how to catch an agent's attention.

3. This is my 2nd year mentoring and I was a Pitch Wars entrant in 2015, though didn't end up being picked. Addie, on the other hand, was picked as a mentee in 2014. She racked up 12 requests in the agent round and had her first offer of rep five days later! Those are some serious chops. Point is, we know the stress, excitement and sheer insanity you're going through.


4. Addie & I kick-ass at critiques. Seriously, we've got references. I'm a details kind of girl and I will leave your manuscript bleeding red - no plot hole or awkward phrase shall be missed. Addie is amazing at big picture, plot structure, pacing and asking the right questions to get your story in shape. Together we are a dynamic duo of critique-slinging awesomeness.

5. Addie owns a wolf. Okay, he's part wolf, but seriously he looks like he needs his own Animal Planet show. I own two hedgehogs. Neither of these two things has anything to do with writing. But it shows we have great taste in pets, so clearly we must have great taste in other things.

6. If you pick us as your mentors, the three of us will work together to make your novel sparkly and awesome. Your query will send all other queries running away in tears because they're consumed with envy.



7. We made a video just for you! No seriously, we sang and everything. We're putting it all out there in our efforts to woo you to our side.



What we're looking for:

To see our wish list, favorite books, and pick up your mystery letter for Brenda's quote challenge, you'll need to head over to Addie's blog. Just think of the cool things she could be hiding over there. There might even be outtakes from our PitchWars Commandments video... but I refuse to either confirm or deny that fact.

Make sure to check out all the awesome Middle Grade mentors helping out with Pitch Wars this year:

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

No comments:

Post a Comment