Category Archives: pitching

Miss Snark's First Victim – Query contest

Posted on by

I have to give a shout out to MSFV. Authoress’ goal is to create the “premium slush pile” and aspiring authors show up to post, give feedback, and offer advice and encouragement to each other.

I entered 250 words of Butterfly Swords in one of the Secret Agent contests and learned a lot about how to hook from page 1 by reading the comments on my entries as well as other entries. The wonderful thing is that 50 entries get a GUARANTEED agent critique. Personalized feedback is priceless.

So Authoress is at it again, this time with a query contest. You can enter your query letter and first page, but you only have until tomorrow morning at 9am EST! The entries will be critiqued by Jodi Meadows of the Rappaport agency. Check out the link for details.

http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/2009/07/our-very-first-query-contest.html

Off to RWA Conference!

Posted on by

I’m off to conference for the rest of the week. I probably won’t be blogging here unless there is…*ahem*…news.

In case anyone’s wondering — YES! I’m a wreck. An absolute basket case. For a bunch of different reasons. The outer sense of zen calm I may exhibit *snicker* is only a defense mechanism to hide a squirrelly bundle of nerves.

But it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t at least attempt to reflect a little and put some order to all this. Last night I was thinking of all the RWA conferences I’ve been to. Each one sticks in my mind as a milestone.

  • 2006 – Atlanta: My first writer’s conference ever. I stayed by my lonesome in a free room I got from hotel points. I hardly knew anybody and I had 8 chapters of my first novel done. I attended workshops back to back and tried to soak up everything. This conference motivated me so much. Real people did this, I could do it too!
  • 2007 – Dallas: This year I was able to rope one of my critique partners into staying with me in a dinky hotel room outside of the conference hotel. My book was still about four chapters from finished. I was too scared to pitch — in fact, I didn’t even know how to sign up for an appointment! I met my beloved Romance Divas including Crystal Jordan who had received an offer right on the eve of conference! I watched Trish Albright, my chapter-mate, vie for the Golden Heart® award. She didn’t win the pendant, but she did win a contract with Dorchester. That’s the real prize, right?
  • 2008 – San Francisco: I jumped in with both feet. I had two books complete by now. The first one took 2 years, the second one, two months. (disclaimer: first draft only) I pitched to agents and editors for the first time and received three requests for fulls and a couple requests for partials. I schmoozed at chapter parties. I volunteered and lugged books around until my back was sore. I did that magic thing people always mention — I “networked”.
  • 2009 – Washington D.C.: I’m going to conference this year as a Golden Heart® finalist with the support of my wonderful agent and so many friends. Butterfly Swords is sitting on the virtual desk of publishers. I can hardly sleep with excitement.

RWA conference gives me a marker to stop and say, am I getting closer? Every year,  this conference has given me new hopes and dreams. Sky’s the limit this year, I truly believe that.