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:

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Twice The Mentors = Twice The Awesome

It's Pitch Wars Time!

I'm so excited to be participating as a MG mentor in this year's Pitch Wars contest! Don't know what Pitch Wars is? You can find all the details here. Basically, it's made of rainbows and puppies and writerly dreams with a sprinkling of stardust.

I write YA & MG books and I'm represented by the amazing Mandy Hubbard of the D4EO literary agency. My debut novel, a YA contemporary called CHEESUS WAS HERE, will be released summer 2016 by Flux.

Reason's you want ME as your Middle Grade mentor:

1. I am insanely obsessed with books. This means I read a LOT and I'm very familiar with the YA and MG markets and what's popular.

2. I spent six months in the query trenches before landing my dream agent. I have a great eye for queries and I know the pitfalls to avoid and just the right way to catch an agent's attention. My request rate for fulls and partials was 3 times higher than the average Query Tracker user according to QT statistics.

3. I was a Pitch Wars entrant last year so I know the excitement, anxiety, heart-ache and sheer insanity you are going through right now.

4. I kick-ass at critiques. Seriously, I've got references and everything. I'm a details kind of girl and I can spot a plot hole at fifty paces. I eat awkward sentences for breakfast and spit them back out all pretty, if a bit spit covered. That metaphor got away from me.

5. I own two hedgehogs. There is nothing more therapeutic than a cute hedgehog pic when you want to pull your hair out because you've edited the same sentence 500 times in a row. Cat pics are cool, but hedgehog pics bring the true adorable to town.

6. My nerdy t-shirt collection is awesome and faintly disturbing.

7. I can curl my tongue. It's a talent.

8. My hair is teal (not green, don't listen to those pro-green people telling you lies). Teal hair is cool. So are bow ties.*

9. When I'm annoyed I get a British accent because I lived in England for five years when I was a kid. British accents are adorable so even when I'm pissed off, which isn't often, no one takes me seriously because I sound like I just want tea and biscuits.

10. If you pick me as your mentor, we will work together to make your novel kick literary ass. Your query will shame all other queries with its sheer amazingness.**

What I'm looking for:

I have a soft spot for fantasy and excellent world building.

I love a good mystery.

Voice will win me over every time (and yes, I know we're all tired of hearing about voice, but it's here to stay.)

Spooky stories were my bread and butter growing up and I still own every Christopher Pike book ever written.

I love a good twist.

Some of my favorite MG books: the Harry Potter series, the Percy Jackson series, May Bird & The Ever After by Jodi Lynn Andersson, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. L. LaFevers, anything written by Diana Wynne Jones (but especially the Chrestomanci series & short stories), Plain Kate by Erin Bow, The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, the Enola Holmes mysteries by Nancy Springer, The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud, The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens, Doll Bones by Holly Black, My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher, The Last Dragon Slayer by Jasper Fforde, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski, The Dragon's Eye by Kaza Kingsley, The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, The Water Glass by Kai Meyer, Savvy by Ingrid Law, The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell, The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black, and Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFluer. I could honestly keep going for pages and pages, but this should give you a good sense of what appeals to me. There's a little bit of everything as you can see. I warned you I have a book obsession.


What I'm NOT looking for:

There's pretty much nothing, other than erotica (and who the heck is writing MG erotica?) that I'll say a flat out "no" to. However, there are a few things that may not be the best fit for me. Never say never because for every rule there's some book I've fallen in love with that falls into that category.

Hard sci-fi. If there are spaceships and aliens, your novel is going to have to work extra, extra hard to capture my heart.

High/Epic fantasy. This means sword & sorcery books. Think Eragon. Again, there are books I've loved that fall in this category so nothing is set in stone.

Anything over 90,000 words. Even for MG fantasy, that's pushing the boundaries.

Books in Verse.

Anything that is poorly written or with a ton of grammar mistakes. I don't expect your book to be perfect (if it is, you shouldn't be entering PW anyway, go sub that thing to agents!) but I do expect that you've taken the time to make sure it's not riddled with spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes that make me feel like I'm reading something Google translate just spit out. This is a deal breaker.

Books written by my CPs, betas and friends. I already critique for you guys! Go flood my inbox via normal channels.


What you can expect if I pick you as my mentee:

You will work your butt off on revisions. I'll provide broad feedback as well as detailed, inline notes on your manuscript. We'll both be working hard to make your novel as polished and perfect as it can be. Whether we win Pitch Wars or not, your novel will be ready to wow agents and publishers and your query will be poised to win requests.

My critique style is very thorough. Your novel will likely bleed red when I hand it back to you, so please don't pitch me if you're not willing to work hard on revisions or if you can't take constructive criticism. I will cheer you on and listen when you need to complain about the evils of commas and I can cheerlead with the best of them, but I will also push you to do your absolute best. I will ask a million questions about your novel and I'll tell you bluntly if something isn't working. I put in a lot of time and energy when I critique a manuscript and I'm sure you'll do the same when you revise.

For submission guidelines, go to:
www.brenda-drake.com

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

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*I don't wear bow ties.
 **amazingness is difficult to quantify, but your query will also kick ass.

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It's Pitch Wars Time!

How I Got My Agent

Last summer I finished my second novel, Cheesus Was Here, about a girl determined to prove miracles aren't real when her small Texas town is overrun by ridiculous religious signs. I sent it to a friend and waited expectantly. I just knew my friend was going to love it and tell me how awesome I am and how fabulous my book is because, unlike my last disaster of a novel, this book was THE ONE.

She ripped the story to shreds. I cried. Then I picked myself up and began revising because she was right, the novel was a first draft and had sooooooooooo many flaws it's embarrassing. It's HARD telling a friend their story is a mess. I've been there. Thank God, my friend had the courage to tell me the truth.

I revised feverishly, impatient to get my book out the door and into the hands of agents. I finished a draft, had several CPs and Betas look it over and promptly sent a handful of queries out. I also entered a contest called Pitch Wars.

I knew in my heart, even if I wouldn't admit it out loud, that my book wasn't quite ready for agents. I was positive I'd get into Pitch Wars and a mentor would help me polish my poor little MS into literary gold. I carefully stalked and selected my mentor choices. But on reveal day, I didn't make the cut. There was some more crying. It's a theme.

Despite not getting picked, Pitch Wars was amazing. I made good friends, somehow talked one of the mentors I'd pitched into becoming my CP and had a lot of fun. I regret nothing. I also decided contests were fun so what the heck, might as well try a few more. I entered a Twitter pitch contest called PitMad and got several requests. After that I was hooked so I entered Pitch Slam, made the finalists list and picked up two more requests. Never one to quit I entered two separate Secret Agent contests, won both and got two  more full requests

Meanwhile, I flung queries out into the world, got some personalized rejections and *gasp* full and partial requests. I got quite a lot of full and partial requests. THIS WAS IT! One of these agents was going to fall in love with my novel and sign me right away! (Do you sense a trend?)

The rejections began rolling in. I could handle query rejections, but full and partial rejections were harder to shrug off. Especially when the agents were all saying the same thing. I began to despair. No one was going to love my novel and I'd blown my chance by querying too soon.

In early November, one of the agents who'd requested a full through PitMad sent me a Revise & Resub request. I leaped on it. This was my chance to revise the novel and address all those issues I'd missed the first time. Plus, bonus, she had some great recommendations on how to fix the novel. YAY! I promptly sent every single agent who had my full or partial an email saying I was revising the MS at an agent's request and would they like to see the new version when it was ready. All but one said yes. I now had 16 agents waiting on my novel. Ohhhhhh the heady excitement of it all.

I revised. Rewrote. Sent to beta readers. Incorporated feedback. Was lucky enough to find a few new beta readers and CPs and fixed more things. I revised that manuscript so many times there was red ink dripping from my laptop. I murdered a lot of darlings.

Finally, the manuscript was done. Now the agents would love it. Now I would get all the offers and my shiny new agent and I would dance off into the sunset together. In early February, I sent my revised manuscript to the 16 agents waiting for it and queried a few more.

The very next day I received my first rejection on the revised manuscript. DESPAIR! No one was going to love my novel. No one. Okay, my CPs loved it. And every rejection had really nice things to say. Sometimes bafflingly nice. But maybe my novel wasn't good enough after all.

The rejections trickled in. Four weeks later I was getting almost used to them, but still cringed every time I opened an email from an agent. When another email hit my inbox I prepared for the inevitable "love your writing but this just isn't for me" note. Instead, Agent A wanted to set up a call for the following Monday. OMG! This was IT! THE CALL! I tried to remain calm. It could be another R&R. But I just knew this was it.

On Monday, I called at the appointed time. Agent A had written down our appointment for the wrong day. Doh! We rescheduled for later that afternoon. That sounds horrible but it was kind of nice because by the time our second call time rolled around, I no longer felt like throwing up. It's the little things in life that get you through.

Agent A began by saying how much he enjoyed my MS and a few changes he'd like to see and then said the magic words: "I'd like to offer you representation." At this point 11 agents still had a full or partial. I immediately emailed them all, giving a deadline of two weeks to respond.

A few stepped aside right away. But, several more let me know they'd get back to me. A week later I got a second offer. Agent B called Sunday evening. I took the call sitting in my garage on the bare concrete so that the sound of my kids trying to murder each other wouldn't interrupt our conversation. (My kids are mortal enemies, true story.)

Agent B and I talked for an hour and it was amazing. My butt went numb thanks to the concrete and I didn't even care. We really connected. She was one of those dream agents I'd queried but never expected to actually work with.

I was so giddy after our call I danced around like an idiot, emailed my closest CPs and then stared at the calendar moodily. I knew, KNEW deep down, that I was going to sign with Agent B and waiting an entire week seemed like horrible torture.

I emailed Agent B the next day and asked her advice. She recommended letting the other agents know that we'd really hit it off and I was withdrawing my submission if they hadn't read the MS yet. If they had, I was willing to chat if they wanted. That way if an agent had already read the full MS and wanted to make an offer, I wasn't pulling the rug out from under them, but I also wasn't wasting anyone's time who hadn't read the MS yet.

All of the other agents stepped aside after that email, some really grateful that I'd been upfront about wanting to sign with Agent B. Agents are busy people and they read A LOT of requested material. Wasting their time when you've already made a decision is not terribly nice, even if you're just trying to be polite.

The next day was the most surreal of my life. For the first time I was happy every time an agent emailed to say they were stepping aside. I was HAPPY at being rejected. Every single email was one closer to letting me sign with Agent B. All of the agents were amazingly nice and wonderful, I really hated disappointing several of them and especially the agent who'd originally requested the R&R. But, as I said, I knew in my heart that Agent B was the perfect fit for me, Cheesus, and my future projects.

On Wednesday, March 25, just over six months after my first query went out, I signed with Mandy Hubbard of the D4EO agency!!!!!! I love that Mandy is a writer and an agent. Plus if you follow her Twitter feed you'll see that she's essentially made of awesome. And now I get to dance off into the sunset at last!

The Stats
Queries: 74
Full & Partial Requests: 27
Offers of Rep: 2
Agents who stepped aside: 9

Both of my offers came from slush pile submissions, though several fulls and partials were from contests.

The Oscar Speech
A few friends went above & beyond, reading the book multiple times and holding my hand through late-night angst sessions. Special thanks to Kimberly for inspiring me, distracting me & offering great advice. To Kate for being a kick-ass editor and reading the book so many times she can probably quote the entire thing by now. To Erica, for telling me that first draft had promise but needed a hell of a lot of work. To Addie, Jake, Rachel & Heidi for their amazing CP abilities. To the writers in my YANA critique group for line edits, support and all around awesomeness. To everyone who helped with my query during WriteOnCon, to every Twitter friend who cheered me along the way, to every writer who inspired me by posting their own agent stories: Thank You! And finally, thanks to my family for being excited for me, even when they're not sure why. I am blessed with amazing people in my life. 

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How I Got My Agent

A Dream Deferred, Not Derailed

Pitch Wars results are out and while 150 new mentees and alternates are celebrating this morning, over a thousand potentials are smiling bravely and pretending the results don't sting. We are told to act professionally and I completely agree with that. No tantrums or whining or sour grapes on the twitter feed or in blog posts. But our positivity culture has its drawbacks too. Grief is natural and necessary and I wanted to take a moment to say it's okay to be disappointed. It's okay to be upset and sad. It's how you handle those feelings that matters.

Bear with me while I go on a wee tangent. Ten years ago my daughter was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, a life-threatening, degenerative genetic disease that has no cure. It is a terminal illness, even with all our advances in medicine. I did not handle the news well. I cried, I screamed, I cuddled my baby tight and wondered how I'd ever get through the days ahead of us. And then I did what most parents facing something that awful do - I went online and began reading everything I could. And I stumbled across the best advice I've ever received in my life - it's okay to mourn. I wasn't mourning my daughter - I was mourning the dream of a normal life that died the day she was diagnosed with CF. Not only was mourning okay, it was necessary. I needed to acknowledge that my hopes for my daughter's future were real and important, that that life I'd imagined for us had value and substance. By giving myself permission to mourn that life I also gave myself permission to focus on a new one. That's the key - mourn what's lost, but then get up and find the good and hold onto that for all you're worth and build a new dream.

Flash forward to today. I am in no way saying that not being chosen in a contest is like finding out your kid has a terminal illness. What I am saying is the lessons I learned dealing emotionally with my daughter's diagnosis apply now as well. In our lives we have all sorts of dreams - some big and some small. I imagine for each writer reading this, finding an agent and getting published is a BIG dream. And so many of us had our hopes pinned on Pitch Wars and now those hopes are dashed. It's okay to mourn that dream. Of course, do so in the privacy of your own home (not on social media, not in any way that you will be embarrassed about later). Take a day off to eat a pint of ice cream, watch a chick flick, hang out with a friend, take a long bike ride, watch a sunset - whatever your comfort mechanism entails.

Then get back up and acknowledge that yes, you're disappointed, but this is a dream deferred, not derailed. Publishing is a long hard road, filled with disappointments, lots of waiting and a crap ton of hard work. We're in it for the long haul and there's no easy path. Last night I let myself have a bit of a cry, played with our pet hedgehog (best coping mechanism EVER to fight off the gloomies) and then I researched 5 new agents to add to my query list and worked on my Twitter pitches for PitMad. Doing something productive, taking a different path toward reaching my goal was just what I needed. The path to becoming published is different for every author, my path just jigged onto a different track. I've got this and so do you.

So let yourself mourn the Pitch Wars dream if you didn't get in. Then do something positive for yourself.

No matter what - you've gained a lot just by entering Pitch Wars. Go look at all your new writer friends on your social feeds, go check out that query and that first chapter that are SO much stronger now than when you started, and send a virtual hug to any critique partners you've picked up along the way. Winning is a matter of perspective -- in many, many ways we all won.

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A Dream Deferred, Not Derailed

Pitch Wars Love-fest

Ten reasons participating in the Pitch Wars contest has been a fantastic idea now matter how things turn out:

1. Meeting new critique partners I hope to swap many, many novels with in the future. *waves*

2. My query has been poked, prodded, polished and twisted on its head thanks to feedback from fellow writers entering the contest.

3. Making lots of awesome new writer friends on Twitter. Writer friends are the best because they're mostly nerds, they're funny and they totally get it when you need a writing pick-me-up or a kick in the ass.

4. First chapter revisions aren't as painful when you have lots of great feedback to incorporate from new writing buddies.

5. Kickboxing butterflies in my tummy. Yes, I KNOW I'm weird, but I actually like that feeling of half anticipation and half panic.

6. Lots of new books to be read thanks to stalking the mentor bios. I'm a book addict. I must feed my addiction. Pitch Wars is an enabler.

7. Distracting Twitter feed is a rolling stream of entertainment distracting me from what I should be doing during the day. That's a pro and a con.

8. Reading fellow contestant bios makes me appreciate how truly diverse and wonderful our writing community is.

9. Animated Gif overload. I never knew there were so many animated gifs in the world. I had a lot of fun picking gifs for my mentee bio.

10. Believing in myself and my writing enough to enter a contest. It's one thing to write a novel, it's another to send it out into the world.

Each and every person who enters Pitch Wars should pause and give themselves a mental hug - you've done something extraordinary. Yes, most of us won't make it into the mentee slots, but we've gained so much just by entering this contest. Thanks to feedback from fellow writers (and potentially the mentors) our writing can only improve.

Major thanks to Brenda Drake and all 75 of this year's mentors. Good luck to everyone entering and to the mentors as they make some really tough decisions!

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Pitch Wars Love-fest

Pitchwars Mentee Bio - AKA Nerds Of The World, Unite!

Hello there! I'm JC Davis, super nerd and YA writer.

Below are a few reasons I'd make a fabulous PitchWars mentee. Or crit partner. Or writing buddy on Twitter. Take your pick.

I am an unabashed book addict, every time I walk inside a library or bookstore I'm like

My book obsession probably requires a 12-step-program. I read roughly 100 books a year. While other people make sure their cars have first aid kits, jumper cables and such, my emergency kit consists of three of my favorite books just in case I get stuck on the side of the road. All that reading means I’ve got a good grasp on the YA market and what’s currently being published. I also like to think my reading obsession has improved my writing by osmosis.

Other people fangirl celebrities and actors. I fangirl authors. Seriously, at book signings I always look like this:

I own a hedgehog
Our hedgie’s name is Percy Jackson and he’s the perfect de-stressing mechanism whenever I’m facing a deadline, tough revisions or just need a chill out moment. As my mentor you’d benefit from all that hedgehog cuteness as well and I promise to faithfully tweet you hedgehog pictures whenever you need them. The life benefits of cute hedgehog pictures cannot be over stated.

I run a writing critique group with a nerdy name
I started an online critique group for YA & NA writers on Scribophile.com. I hand picked each of the six members, among them one of our PitchWars mentors, the fabulous Dannie Morin, so you can tell I have excellent taste! The group has been around for almost a year with the same members and no drama. The continued success of the group shows that I play well with others. Our name, The YANA project, has several meanings: a combo of the YA & NA genre acronyms, You Are Not Alone to reflect the supportive nature of our group, and it’s a Doctor Who reference. Because I embrace my nerd-hood in all things.

I make pretty, pretty things
In addition to writing and my raging book addiction, I’m also a crafter. I’ve made jewelry, statues, mobiles, art quilts. If you can think of it, chances are I’ve tried my hand at it. Most of my crafts are centered around books. I love trying new techniques.

I embrace my nerdiness in all things
I have a Hogwarts Alumni decal (that I designed and created) on the back of my car and a Harry Potter themed Christmas tree. One major benefit of my day job as a programmer is that I’m able to wear geeky t-shirts including Monty Python, Doctor Who, Percy Jackson, Hunger Games. But the real fun is at Halloween - I adore dressing up in costume and cosplay in general. Basically, I live and breath all things nerdy. Except video games. I completely suck at all video games, they're my Kryptonite.

My Writing
I've completed two novels. The first is locked in a drawer guarded by attack trolls until I can beat it into shape. The second novel is the one I'm submitting for PitchWars. I write on the train during my morning and evening commute and I will work my butt off on revisions.

In addition to my completed novels, I’ve also written six short stories over the years. All but one has been published, or will be published shortly, and the one remaining short story is presently in second round considerations at an eZine.

Curious about what I'm pitching? Here's a peek at my novel using the dreaded Twitter pitch format!
"Del hasn't believed in God since her little sis died. When "miracles" turn up around town, Del tries to prove Baby Cheesus & co are fake."

Thanks for reading my bio and good luck to everyone participating in PitchWars!

Now go forth and read more contestant bios at Dannie Morin's PitchWars blog hop.

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Pitchwars Mentee Bio - AKA Nerds Of The World, Unite!