Happy Halloween!

 Recently, there was a lively #KidLitChat discussion on Bluesky about whether or not Halloween stories need to be scary. As someone who has always loved the magical, imaginative part of the "spooky season" without so much of the "spooky" parts, I emphatically believe that Halloween tales can be a wide range of things. 

Millie the Middling Witch, attempting to spell
(artwork by Philip Bartles)

Spooky and scary? Sure, if that's what you prefer.

Sweet and silly? Absolutely! (Like candy for your brain!)

Heartwarming and hilarious? Why not?

I always love to see the wide range of stories entered in Susanna Leonard Hill's annual Halloweensie Writing Contest... but I always forget about it until the contest opens and then I tell myself I don't have enough time to write something worth posting. "Maybe next year" has been my mantra for the past several years. But this year, I didn't let myself off the hook! This year, I've entered a sweet, silly story that's been kicking around in my brain. It was quite a challenge to edit it down to the 100-word limit, but that's part of the fun of the contest, right?

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Happy Halloween, y'all! May your bags be full of treats and all your tricks be of the magical, wondrous, happy variety.

Miss-Spelled

Millie the middling witch couldn’t spell. 

She mangled the middle of her “prince to frog” spell and he simply got lost in a fog. 

She bungled the beginning of a pricklewort potion and got soft lotion instead. 

And instead of sweets for Halloween trick-or-treats, poor Millie conjured up sweat!

“Buzz off!” she yelled when a bee knocked at her door. “Halloween is ruined!”

But he had a hurt wing and couldn’t fly away.

Millie offered her lotion to soothe the wing, and the Spelling Bee was so grateful that he gave Millie a dictionary.

So she never miss-spelled again!

"Win" or "Lose," Pitch Wars Might Change Your Life

When entering online writing contests like Pitch Wars, it's important to remember that, whether you make it to the next level or not, simply taking that step forward to bravely enter might be the catalyst that changes your life forever. 

 I've written about this subject many times before. Many times. Like here, here, here, and here. And here. I've talked about how I got my agent after NOT getting picked in a contest. And how my debut novel, TWELVE STEPS, was both inspired by a contest rejection AND how success in a contest ultimately led to publication.

You might think that I've already exhausted the subject, and I couldn't possibly have anything more to say. Unless, of course, you've ever met me. Because then you'll know that I'm constantly looking for new insights and lessons to learn from the trials I go through.

Three years ago at this time, I was a Pitch Wars hopeful, biting my nails to oblivion while I nervously waited for the mentor picks to be announced. In case you haven't read the blog posts I linked to above, I wasn't picked for the contest. And I was devastated. I wanted to give up on writing altogether.

But my amazing new writing friends ... all the people I met in the contest trenches ... wouldn't let me give up. So instead of packing away my story pencils, I wrote something new. (And that manuscript went on to become my debut novel.)

Last year, and the year before, I participated in Pitch Wars on the other side of the glass, as a mentor. And I got to meet a TON of amazing writers. My fellow mentors. My mentees. Writers who submitted their manuscripts to me, who I wanted to choose but couldn't. Writers who chatted with me on the Twitter #PitchWars hashtag. I've met my best writing friends in the contest trenches.

But you already knew all of that, didn't you? I've told these stories hundreds of times, so why bother writing yet another post to rehash the same old tales?

Because when I tell you that participating in  Pitch Wars might change your life, I'm not just talking about your writing career.

If you read my blog regularly or follow me on Twitter, you probably know that last April, I was thrilled to hear that the Air Force was sending us back to Maryland, back "home," back to the area where the climate is best suited to help with my health issues. And you probably know that in May, I was devastated to discover that my home had been destroyed by water and mold. And you probably even saw one or both of the auctions that friends in the publishing community put together to help raise funds for the repairs, when the insurance company refused to pay.

You've probably seen my repeated posts, thanking people for their help and support, and counting the many, many blessings that have come from this particular trial. I honestly don't know I could get through each day without the support I see from my friends.

And here's the thing, folks: The majority of those people helping me and supporting me and carrying me through the trials when I literally can't walk another step on my own? Guess where we met? Yep. Through Pitch Wars and other, similar, online contests. Even the friend of a friend I mentioned last Friday ... the one who helped me find a temporary place to live so my family and I won't be homeless while we're trying to repair our house. You guessed it. The mutual friend connecting us was one of the writers I met in this amazing community.

When I say that Pitch Wars changed my life, I mean it. Yes, the experience made me a better writer. Yes, I credit much of my publishing success to the lessons I learned from both successes and failures in the contest trenches. But publishing success is only a part of what makes Pitch Wars great. The real value in these online contests is the connection you make with other writers. 

The friendships you forge here may be the relationships that carry you through when the stress of real life pushes you down. That's the true value of Pitch Wars.


For other perspectives on how Pitch Wars changes lives, check out the stories and advice in this blog hop with messages from last year's Pitch Wars mentees.

Don't Give Up! - Pitch Wars Lesson #2

In less than an hour, Brenda Drake will post the list of Pitch Wars mentor teams. As always, there were far more many amazing entries than there were available mentee slots. I personally had six entries that I wanted to choose for my team, and eight more that I knew I wasn't the right mentor for, but I still want to read when they hit bookstore shelves one day. And of the entries that didn't catch my attention, several others were hotly-discussed behind the scenes among other mentors.

The problem is, each mentor could only choose one mentee and one alternate. Which means only a handful of these amazing entries could be chosen. And I know I've said it before, but just in case you missed it the first hundred times or so, I'll say it again: You guys have talent!

Some of you are so close that I seriously expect to read your "I have an agent!" and "I have a book deal!" posts very soon. Others aren't quite there yet, but you're getting there, and as long as you keep moving forward, it will happen for you too. I didn't see a single entry where I would tell the author to give up. Please don't give up!!

Trust me, I know what it's like to pin your hopes on a contest, and I know how much it hurts when you don't make it in. I've been there. More than once. In fact, two years ago, I didn't make it in to Pitch Wars, and I nearly gave up on myself and my writing. I did give up on the manuscript I was working on at the time. But then I wrote something new. And if you've read my own "How My Book Became a Book" story, you know that new manuscript grew up to be my debut novel, TWELVE STEPS.

But there's more to the story.

Back when I was querying that first manuscript, I kept getting amazing personalized rejections. "I love the characters! I love the voice! The plot and pacing are perfect! But it's not for me." That's why I entered Pitch Wars in the first place. I needed to know what, exactly, was holding these agents back. What was it about my story that didn't work? So I picked my mentors very carefully. Not only did I look for mentors who wanted contemporary YA manuscripts, but those who promised feedback to everyone who applied to them. If I didn't get in, I reasoned, at least they'd tell me why.

Except it didn't work out that way.

I got an email from one of the three mentors I applied to, saying that she'd love to give me some feedback if I was interested. But even though I responded with a resounding "Yes, please!!" I never heard from her again. And I didn't get emails from the other two mentors at all. This was especially confusing, because I would talk to them from time to time on twitter, and all three made comments like, "You were so close! But I hope my feedback at least helped a little bit." (Feedback? What feedback??) I decided they must have tweeted some vague tips on the #PitchWars hashtag with my manuscript in mind, so I scoured the feed. I looked for any and all tips that might pertain to my manuscript in any way. And I applied that advice to TWELVE STEPS. Which went on to receive not one, but two offers of publication when I entered it into a couple of pitch contests the following spring.

But here's the part I didn't know until this week: Those mentors who never bothered to send me feedback? Yeah, they totally did. The emails must have disappeared somewhere in cyberspace, but yeah, those emails totally exist. How do I know? Well, when I mentioned in the Pitch Wars mentor private forum that I never received feedback that first year, one of the mentors I'd applied to went back into her "sent mail" archives and pulled up her notes. And two years late, I got to read her feedback on that first manuscript.

The best part?? Her feedback totally matched what I'd already figured out from scouring the tips on the hashtag. And because I didn't get the hand-holding I thought I needed more than anything else, I learned to trust my own gut. I learned to listen to that little voice that told me something wasn't quite right. And I learned to look for feedback on my own writing in the tips and critiques I saw given to others. In so many ways, I am who I am because I entered Pitch Wars and "lost."

Win or lose, you're stronger when you keep going.

It's Not a Competition (Just a Contest)!! Pitch Wars Lesson #1

As you know, I'm a Pitch Wars mentor for the second year in a row. For those of you who don't know about Pitch Wars, it's an annual contest hosted by Brenda Drake, where published/agented authors, editors, or interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and offer suggestions on how to make the manuscript shine, preparing them to submit their manuscripts to agents. There have been a LOT of success stories from previous Pitch Wars contests, and judging from the quality of writing I've seen so far this year, I expect even more successes this time around!

One of the torture trials fun things Brenda cooked up for us this year was a series of videos, where mentors had a chance to make fools of themselves introduce themselves to the Pitch Wars community. Of course, I jumped at the chance to participate, because I'm certifiably insane I believe we only really grow when we do things that scare us. Besides, I was afraid that, if I didn't, I'd be the only Pitch Wars mentor who didn't have a video. And so I sent Brenda the 30-second clip here to include in the mentor chat video.

I know. Amazing, right? Who wouldn't want a chance to be helped along by the best Pitch Wars mentor ever?? And do you see how effortless the whole process is? Yep. I'm awesome, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Yeah.

But here's my little secret:

It wasn't effortless at all.

I was shaking like crazy, stumbling over my words and feeling like a giant dork. And I almost didn't send my video in at all. Not because I didn't have faith in my abilities as a mentor, but because I kept thinking about all of the OTHER Pitch Wars mentors, and wondering how my video would stack up in comparison with theirs.

What if everyone else was more creative?

What if they were better looking?

What if I was the only one who looked like a dork, and everyone decided they'd rather miss out on the contest entirely than get stuck with that dorky mentor with a frog obsession? (Here's a fun game: How many frogs can you find hidden in my video clip?)

But here's another secret:

None of that stuff matters. Not really. Because Pitch Wars is a great contest, but it's not a competition. The whole point is to help each other get to the next level with our writing and our careers. To become better today than we were yesterday, and better tomorrow than we are today. (Really, isn't that the whole point of life here on earth??)

And we can totally "win" Pitch Wars even if we're not the most popular mentor or one of the contestants selected for one of the coveted mentee slots. (Fun fact: I wrote TWELVE STEPS after I didn't make it in to Pitch Wars 2012, as a final goodbye to the characters I loved from my first manuscript, intending to shelve the whole thing when I finished writing. Less than a year later, I accepted an offer of publication for my debut novel!)

And when I went back to look at the rejected clips to construct the blooper reel today, I discovered that at least ten of the nearly-forty not-good-enough videos were actually much better than I originally thought. Now that I wasn't comparing them to the better-than-Hollywood-quality videos I imagined that all of my fellow mentors were creating, I couldn't even remember why I'd deemed these clips unworthy. 

When all is said and done, It doesn't matter if I'm the "most popular" mentor or if I receive less applications than anyone else.

It doesn't matter if the mentee I eventually select for my team is fought over by all of the YA mentors or I'm the only one head-over-heels in love with his/her manuscript.

Because it's really not a competition.

That's not what Pitch Wars is all about. (It's an amazing contest, but trust me, making it into Pitch Wars isn't your only shot at success. It's just one contest. There are a ton of other opportunities waiting just around the corner!)

I promise to do my best, and that's enough.

I guarantee that by the end of this year's contest, my mentee and I will both grow as writers.

And I'm willing to bet there will be plenty of Pitch Wars success stories among those who don't officially make it into the contest as well.

I'm a Pitch Wars Mentor Again!

I'm so excited to be a mentor for 
Pitch Wars again this year!
(looking for YA this time around)

Last year was so much fun! I got to mentor three fabulous middle grade writers as they polished and perfected their manuscripts, in addition to all of the other amazing writers I met through the process, who I still count among my dear friends. If for no other reason, the lasting connections we make are the best reason for participating in online pitch contests like Pitch Wars.

So why do you want me as your 

Pitch Wars Mentor?

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I write in all age categories of children’s literature, from Picture Books to Young Adult, so I can bring a unique perspective to the process that other mentors may not have.  My debut novel, a Young Adult contemporary romance called TWELVE STEPS, released on 25 March 2014, and reviews have been great so far. Last October, I caught my amazing agent, Jessica Sinsheimer's attention with my middle grade novel, LETTERS FROM HEAVEN, and I also write picture books. 

Want to learn more about me? I have a list of links to recent interviews on my About Me page. Also, in case you missed it, last March I got to participate in a great online panel about being an introvert vs. being an extrovert in the publishing world, with Elizabeth Flora Ross and two of my favorite literary agents, Jessica Sinsheimer and Connor Goldsmith. (Jessica is one of the agents for Pitch Wars again this year, so this video interview is a great way to get to know her as well!)

 Through contests like Pitch Wars and connections I've made on Twitter, I've also helped dozens of writers with polishing their queries and manuscripts, 

See? It's official. I'm awesome. ;)

and many of them have gone on to find success in the query trenches and in online pitch contests like this one. In fact, one of my critique partners had an extremely popular pitch in last September’s Pitch Madness contest, spurring a bidding war between agents, which later led to not only an agent success story, but a three book deal! Another critique partner just signed with an agent (and I have no doubt her fabulous book will be snapped up soon.) And just a few weeks ago, one of my other critique partners announced her own two-book deal.

Even Brenda Drake, the contest queen herself, thinks I'm pretty awesome. (See? I have proof!)

Now, I'm not necessarily saying that choosing you as your mentor will guarantee amazing things will happen to you ... I'll just let the results speak for themselves. *winks*

So now that we've established the fact that you want ME to be your Pitch Wars Mentor, you're probably wondering what types of manuscripts I'm looking for, right?

This year, I'm a mentor for Young Adult! 

Specifically, I'm hoping to find:

*  YA Contemporary Romance -- This is my absolute favorite (as you probably guessed, based on my own books). I love a good "fluff" book (sometimes, cotton candy is exactly what the doctor ordered, after all), but I also adore a book that can balance romance and bigger issues in a hopeful, upbeat way. A couple of my recent favorites are THE BREAK-UP ARTIST by Philip Siegel and the CAMP BOYFRIEND series by J.K. Rock.

* Retellings -- I'm a sucker for taking well-known stories, like fairy tales, folk tales or titles from classic literature and giving them a new, fresh twist. Some YA favorites recently are DON'T FALL by Rachel Schieffelbein and OLIVIA TWISTED by Vivi Barnes

* Science Fiction -- I've always loved Isaac Asimov. In fact, I try to read his "Nightfall" collection of short stories at least once every couple of years. And I absolutely loved CINDER by Marissa Meyer. I'd love to find something with a similar feel. (I'm a little burned out on dystopian books these days. If your sci-fi story has a dystopian feel to it, I may not be the mentor for you.)

* I’m an incurable optimist, so I prefer stories with an upbeat outlook. If you write super-dark, serious books, I’m probably not the mentor for you. To be clear, I don’t shy away from serious issues, but I love to laugh. And if you can make me laugh and cry in the same manuscript, you’re golden.

No matter what the genre or plot, I’m looking for strong characters, a great story, and a unique voice. If your YA manuscript fits the bill, you definitely want me as your mentor. :)

If I'm not the mentor for you, there are many other fabulous mentors to choose from. Even more than last year!

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More details about Pitch Wars here, and 
you can find a list of this year's participating agents here.

Twelve Days of TWELVE STEPS #10

My daughter decided that, since my book is called TWELVE STEPS, we absolutely have to do something to celebrate the release for each of the twelve days leading up to the big day. So of course, we have lots of fun family celebrations planned, all linking to our favorite scenes and the lines that make us grin. However, as we were planning our activities, we realized that most of our celebrations only make sense if you've read the book. And we didn't want to spoil the surprise of our favorite scenes by explaining all of the inside jokes. But of course, we wanted to include all of you too!

So each day for the next twelve days, we'll be sharing non-spoilery favorite quotes with a new teaser graphic every day. And each day, I'll share something special and book-related with you as well: recipes, sneak peeks, giveaways and more!

 
Speaking of mistakes, one of my biggest fears with TWELVE STEPS was that I would forget to mention someone important in my acknowledgements. So I went over them several times, and even had my husband and kids read them to make sure I wasn't missing anyone. ... And I still forgot to mention a very important person! I realized my mistake too late to change the text (I realized it literally minutes after sending my absolute final approval for TWELVE STEPS), so I wanted to thank her publicly here:

Trish Larsen was the amazing photographer who took my author photo. Years ago, when I was writing my first draft of my first manuscript, she read a few pages. And she loved it. She was convinced, long before I knew that I had something worthwhile, that I was going to be a big-time famous author one day. Trish was just building her photographer portfolio, so she offered to take some pictures of me for my Facebook profile picture. And midway through the photo shoot, she turned her camera to show me the picture she'd just taken. "This one will be your author photo," she said. And of course, that's the photo I chose to use when I became a real author. :)

Thank you, Trish!!

Today, I'm having a Flash Giveaway on my Facebook page. Like my page and tell me your favorite musical, and one lucky commenter will win a signed print of this picture of Andi, drawn by my amazing artist husband, Phil. I'll choose the random winner at 9pm mountain time (11pm eastern) tonight!!

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Last Minute Call for Help

I posted the link on Twitter and Facebook, but I thought I'd put the call for help out here as well. I'm finishing up the absolute final revisions on TWELVE STEPS before it goes to press tomorrow, but there's one detail I've been trying to figure out for months unsuccessfully. Should Jarod Johnson, the boy Andi's been crushing on for years, have brown or blond hair?

Voting closes at 10pm EST tonight (21 Feb 2014). Please click this link and cast your vote!

Pitch Wars Middle Grade Alternate Showcase

Welcome to the Alternate Showcase!

Today I’m hosting some of the wonderful writers who participated in a six week boot camp where published/agented authors and industry interns mentored a team of writers to help them polish their manuscripts for agents. The mentors picked one to go into the agent round on Brenda Drake’s blog and two alternates in case their top pick dropped out of the competition.

The alternates were amazing, so we wanted to do a showcase of their talent to reward them for their hard work. Following this post you’ll find the pitches for the writers I’m hosting.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-20 - THE VANISHINGS

MENTOR: Marieke Nijkamp
ALTERNATE: Genetta Adair
TITLE: THE VANISHINGS
CATEGORY / GENRE: MG / Contemporary
WORD COUNT: 61,000

PITCH: Thirteen-year-old germaphobic Skyla faces a Mayan tunnel, a volcano, and an earthquake in Guatemala’s toxic dump to use her OCD skills and solve an epidemic before it kills her friend.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-19 - THE MYSTERY AT SPINDRIFT

MENTOR: Jen Malone
ALTERNATE: Chris Bailey
TITLE: THE MYSTERY AT SPINDRIFT
CATEGORY/GENRE: Middle Grade Mystery
WORD COUNT: 32,000

PITCH: When Ellie McCoy’s dog snuffles up a severed human finger among the palmettos, the twelve-year-old is scared breathless—until she realizes that solving a real mystery will turn a same-old summer on quaint Maydock Island into an adventure worthy of Nancy Drew.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-18 - SECRETS OF THE SAINT

MENTOR: Jen Swann Downey
ALTERNATE: Megan Basham
TITLE: SECRETS OF THE SAINT
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Fantasy
WORD COUNT: 82,000

PITCH: When twelve-year-old Katie Flannery and her brother, Jack, discover a scroll their father hid before he died, they become the guardians of their family’s 1500-year-old secret—a secret that began when St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Now they must stop their uncle from unleashing Patrick’s ancient enemy on the world.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-17 - QUINCY STRANGE AND THE TEN

MENTOR: Jennifer Malone
ALTERNATE: Heidi Boyd
TITLE: QUINCY STRANGE AND THE TEN
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Mystery
WORD COUNT: 48,000

PITCH: For Quincy Strange, forgetting to fasten his polo shirt’s top button is just as horrifying as being sucked into a black hole. But when he uncovers a canceled CIA project involving genetic testing on students, he finds his oddities to be his best attributes, as he forms a hypothesis that just might save the lives of the ten test subjects.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-16 - MANTICORE

MENTOR: Stephanie Funk
ALTERNATE: G.K. Byrne
TITLE: MANTICORE
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Horror
WORD COUNT: 49,000

PITCH: Aggie has been warned not to explore the Great Dismal Swamp near her new home, but a kitten’s sickly cries lure her in one afternoon. Only it’s not a kitten. It’s a monster. Now Aggie must hatch a plan to destroy it before it destroys her.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-15 - ALEX DE VEGA AND PANDORA'S BOX

MENTOR: Marieke Nijkamp
ALTERNATE: Patrice Caldwell
TITLE: ALEX DE VEGA AND PANDORA'S BOX
CATEGORY / GENRE: MG Supernatural Thriller
WORD COUNT: 44,000

PITCH: When a high-tech energy cube codenamed Pandora’s Box goes missing, twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Alex is hired by The Agency—New Atlantis’s secret intelligence service—to retrieve it from supernatural creatures who wish to use it to destroy the city in return for a cure for her comatose sister.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-14 - RISE AND FALL OF A HALLWAY SUPERHERO

MENTOR: Joy McCullough-Carranza
ALTERNATE: Davy DeGreeff
TITLE: RISE AND FALL OF A HALLWAY SUPERHERO
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Adventure
WORD COUNT: 50,000

PITCH: Jack teams with his school's mysterious hallway superhero to uncover a thuggish conspiracy going all the way to the principal’s office. But how can Jack expose the truth when he's framed as the evil mastermind?

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-13 - MIRACLE MEGGIE

MENTOR: Veronica Bartles
ALTERNATE: Toni De Palma
TITLE: MIRACLE MEGGIE
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG contemporary
WORD COUNT: 33,000

PITCH: Meggie knows Wanda’s miracle-making business is crazy. But when her sister is born prematurely, Meggie’s desperate for a miracle. As Wanda’s assistant, maybe she can learn to make magic and become her sister’s superhero.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-12 - THE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT

MENTOR: Shannon Duffy
ALTERNATE: Carmen Erickson
TITLE: THE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT
CATEGORY/GENRE: Upper MG fantasy
WORD COUNT: 61,000

PITCH: At a mysterious school, Andy learns he must transform into a wild animal for the final project. Now he must choose—bail on his friends, or stay and trade in his skin for a fine coat of fur.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-11 - THE INVISIBLE GIRL

MENTOR: Gail Nall
ALTERNATE: Amy Kinzer
TITLE: THE INVISIBLE GIRL
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Contemporary
WORD COUNT: 45,000

PITCH: When twelve-year-old Beatrice becomes homeless after her father disappears, her family moves into a rundown hotel.  Bee finds solace in the misfit group of drifters she meets, embarks on a search for her father, and fights to be seen in a world where she’s invisible.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-10 - STORM OF MAGIC

MENTOR: Jen Swann Downey
ALTERNATE: Meredith Mansfield
TITLE: STORM OF MAGIC
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Fantasy
WORD COUNT: 57,000

PITCH: Everyone believes usable magic died in the Great Mage War along with its practitioners. Then a violent storm infects eleven-year-old Rell with leftover magic which threatens to kill him. In a world now hostile to magic, Rell's survival depends on finding a mage to help him--one who doesn't want him dead.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-9 - MIMI LOST AND FOUND

MENTOR: Gail Nall
ALTERNATE: Pat Martinez
TITLE: MIMI LOST AND FOUND
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Historical
WORD COUNT: 49,000

PITCH: When dynamite arrives at the Paris Lost and Found, twelve-year-old Mimi ventures to find the source and discovers Paris is wired for destruction. She must save Paris! But if she asks for help and reveals her escapades, she’ll be locked in the abbey orphanage ‘til the end of the war.