September's Mystery Agent Contest is in Full Swing!

Hey guys... our Mystery Agent Contest over at Operation Awesome is in full swing and there are still about 25 entry slots available (as of 10:00 a.m. PST)! Here's the deets:

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It's PITCHING TIME! Are you ready to enter? Pitch your completed novel to our Mystery Agent. September's Mystery Agent has requested the following genres:

Adult

Young Adult

Middle Grade

  

• Fantasy (all types, incl folk & fairy tale re-tellings and magical realism)
• Adventure
• Historical Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Romance (YA only)
• Horror

(Dark comedy, original voices, and unique worlds a plus!) 

This is a three-sentence pitch contest, with a maximum of 75 words. Winner gets a full manuscript request from the Mystery Agent. 

This contest is open to veterans and newbies alike - so long as you have a complete and query-ready manuscript on your hands within the genres of interest, our guest agent would love to hear from you.

Contest goes live 9 AM central time and remains open until all entry spots are filled. The first 50 entries we receive will go on to our MA. Remember, this is a three-sentence pitch. Cheating with grammar doesn't count.

Head over HERE to read the official contest rules, and please spread the word! 

Be blessed!

Writerly news

In case you missed it, I've had quite the exciting couple of weeks. First, the local newspaper contacted me and interviewed me about Pity Isn't An Option and it came out last Wednesday (I kinda squee-d about this all over Twitter & the interwebs, not because of the interview, but because beneath the article there was a selection of other dystopian books & mini reviews about them and I thought that was *so* awesome), and on Monday Operation Awesome made kind of a big announcement (to me, anyway)!

Honestly, the latter piece of good news has been hoped for by me for some time. (I'm talking years.) After everything that went on with Lovemuffin, I decided to just concentrate on the writing for a while. Then, I was invited to join Afterglow Book Reviews. And I published Pity Isn't An Option. And the lovely Nazarea Andrews put together a group for us independent authors called Indie Ignites, and I was honored to get to be a part of it. Now, the newspaper. And Operation Awesome. (Did I mention their--I mean our--mascot is an owl? I mean, how great is that?) It's amazing how the Lord takes care of things when you sit back and rest and let Him do everything. Every single one of those opportunities arose, became available. I did not hunt them down. 

Now, I want to make it very clear that I am not bragging about this. What I'm trying to show is that if you stay in the writerly community long enough and get to know people for who they are and cheer them on and do what you've been made to do (uh, WRITE), things DO fall into place. I have a post coming up on the Operation Awesome site soon about stressing yourself out because you're so scared you're going to miss something or get left behind that you run yourself ragged.

It's not worth it, guys.

So many authors say this, and I have to agree with them: Take time to enjoy the process. 

It's worth it in the end, I promise! :)

Have a blessed weekend!

Thursdays with Snip - contests & news

It's ten o'clock Wednesday night and I'm so behind with Thursdays with Snip it isn't remotely amusing. (I do have a very good reason, which includes not saving the blog post I started yesterday and therefore losing all of the links I was going to share, but whatevs. I won't bore you all with how that happened.) PLUS, I was a terrible blog friend, mentioned Forever's new cover and contest, then never brought it up again! (Bad me! Very bad me!)

So here are the links I could remember:

Contests:

The Forests for the Trees: Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner is giving away five copies of this wonderful book. You can read more about the contest on her blog. (Contest ends Saturday.)

The Never-Ending Scene Blogfest (manuscript/synopsis critique): Brenda Drake is having a cliffhanger contest - post a cliffhanger on your blog, and enter to win a manuscript/synopsis critique (and more) by Cassandra Marshall. Details here. (Entries need to be posted by 8:00 a.m. ET October 25th.)

Shiver/Linger contest: So here's the link to Maggie's blog, where she tells you how to win AWESOME Shiver and Linger stuff. (Contest ends October 19th.)

All White for Twilight: Speaking of awesome, Operation Awesome is holding a All White for Twilight contest to win The Twilight Series books (not available in the US!). According to their blog:

The white titles will only be published between October and Christmas 2010, replacing the usual black jackets. The titles will have crimson-edged pages and crimson back covers, with text confined to the spines.

Check out the contest and more info HERE. (Contest ends October 31st.)

Kidlit: Adventures in Publishing's interviews and contest: Check out the interviews and enter to win newly released books here. (Contest ends Friday, October 8th.)

Writerly News

When it's Not Hot, Passion Can Carry It : Agent Kristin Nelson shared some great thoughts on having passion for a project.

The Answers: Cristi Goddard had an inspirating post about figuring out all of those writerly answers.

Essentials in Women's Fiction: Lydia Sharp posted about how to keep your ideas original when you're writing about baby-making decisions.

Defeating Your Inner Critic: Carolyn Kaufman is on Query Tracker teaching us ways to defeat our inner critic. Check out Part 1: Track the Problem and Part 2: Put the Critic on the Stand

The Query Tracker blog's Publishing Pulse: Lots of great stuff in last Friday's post .

HAPPY THURSDAY!