What's new....

My favorite local indie bookstore, Carmichael's, will host my book launch party in January! But if you can't make it, you can pre-order a copy of BREAKING THE ICE from them. You can even ask that it be personalized and signed (note this in the comments section when you order)! It'll be like you never missed the party. ;)

In other great news, RSVP is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

777 Meme...Not Quite Paradise

Fellow MG Beta Reader, Kidliteratian, and SCBWI Midsouther Brooks Benjamin tagged me for the 777 meme!

What this is: Go to the seventh page of your WIP, count down seven lines, and post the next seven lines. (I'm gonna go with full sentences because that makes a lot more sense!)

So this is from Not Quite Paradise, which is about a girl who goes with her friend's family on a cruise vacation...except the ship isn't exactly your average cruise ship. It's more of a five year old's princess dream ship. But when the ship offers a free cruise to whoever can win a scavenger hunt contest, Ella convinces her BFF to join her team. Even if it is a floating palace of fluff, Ella needs to win this contest to give her family a much-needed break from life.

Not exactly the most exciting part of the book, but this is where Ella and her friend find out about the contest...

"Calling all Little Highnesses!

“Ugh,” Riley says.

Are you the most royal of them all?

Enter the Prince and Princess of the Ship Contest!

Contest will consist of five parts – one for each day of your fabulous Little Highness cruise.

Please come to the Palace Theater for more information at 9:00 a.m. on Day 2 of your cruise.

You don’t want to miss this!"

If I can think of someone to tag, I'll come back and add to this. (aka: let me know if you want to be tagged!)

Tagging:

Manju Howard

RSVP Cover Reveal!

Today, Jen Malone and I unveiled the cover for RSVP! The book is due out in May 2015, and follows four twelve-year-old friends who form their own party-planning business in a small North Carolina beach town.

This book was SO much fun to write, and I think the cover totally shows that. We were lucky to snag the cover designer, who answered some of our questions and shared original cover sketches. Check it all out here.

You can add RSVP on Goodreads, too, if you want! (We'll still love you even if you don't, though!)

It's PitchWars time again! Read all about me here...

I'm so excited!! It's PitchWars time!!!!!

Okay, I'll cool it with the exclamation points. For now, anyway.

I can't wait to get the best ever PitchWars mentee and alternate (you hear that, other MG mentors?)!

So, why in the world would you want me as your PitchWars mentor when you can choose any of the other stellar MG mentors?

Well...


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1) Brag time: my mentee from last year's PitchWars, Abby Cooper, just signed with agent Rebecca Sherman from Writers House!!

2) I beta read like a madwoman. Honestly, I can't even remember how many manuscripts I've beta read. I'm a member of MG Beta Readers, an amazing talented group of writers, and together we run the Kidliterati blog. I'm also part of a semi-local MG and YA critique group. So, yeah. I beta read a lot. And no one's complained yet. I also tend to make random comments in your manuscript that may or may not make you laugh. (They make me laugh, anyway...)

3) I can spot your typo from a mile away. I did time in grad school editing academic works for professors, and held the ever-so-enviable position of Articles Editor on my law school's scholarly journal. (Now watch me have a typo in this blog post...)

4) I LOVE middle grade! Really, I'm the oldest twelve-year-old in the world. I spend all my downtime at writing conferences watching the Disney Channel in my hotel room. (Seriously. I don't have cable at home, people!)

5) I'll focus not just on shining up those first few pages, but making sure your entire manuscript is agent-ready. I'm talking plot, character arcs, pacing, writing quirks - all that good stuff! I want to help you make your manuscript as perfect as possible.

6) I have chocolate! See:

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/cacaobug/

Used under a Creative Commons License

Okay, I'll get to the important stuff now.


What am I looking for?


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Used under a Creative Commons License

Hamster! Not on a boat, but whatever.

Middle grade!! I read widely, and love all sorts of genres (including last year's speculative romantic hamsters on a boat....okay fine, I only mentioned that so I could keep the cute picture to the right). However, this year I'm ONLY looking for:

1) Contemporary. I write it. I love it. Funny, heart-wrenching, girl, boy, commercial, literary, all of it!

2) Historical. Any place, any time. I have a BA and a MA in history. I was the kid who dressed up as a Laura Ingalls-esque pioneer girl for three Halloweens in a row. 'Nuff said.

3) Twists on Contemporary and Historical. Meaning magical realism, time travel, alternate history, historical fantasy, mystery. Also, ghost stories, just because I feel like making an exception for ghost stories. If you're not sure whether your manuscript falls under this "twists" category, shoot me a tweet or leave a comment here, and ask. :)

4) The funny stuff. Ah, those books where I have to go find my asthma inhaler because I'm laughing so hard I can't breathe. Send me those (so long as they fall into categories 1-3).

5) Voice. A killer voice is one that grabs you on the first page and tosses you into the story so fast you can't even remember what it was you should be doing instead. (Again, categories 1-3 apply.)

6) Random things I love: characters who are passionate about something, sports, travel, performing arts, spooky stuff, mysteries, fish-out-of-water situations, how-the-other-half-lives stories, outdoorsy stuff, first crushes, friend stories, animal stories, smart kids. So long as they fall into categories 1-3. ;)

7) My favorite authors include: Meg Cabot (the voice...*swoon*), Janet Fox (lush, fabulously-written historicals), Veronica Roth (love her sparse style), Courtney Stevens (every sentence is perfect), Gennifer Choldenko (a lesson in how to make MG historical exciting, relatable, and completely un-teachy), and my fellow Aladdin M!X authors (fun, light, voice-y upper MG). This is just a snippet of my favorites, of course. But I hope it helps give you an idea of what I love.

***Please note: If I've read your work as a critique partner, or if you know me in real life, please apply to another mentor. I want to avoid any kind of bias, plus you already have me as a crit partner! :) If I've read your query or pages as a result of your winning a contest, you are welcome to apply to me as a mentor.***


Hey, wait, who am I?

I'm a contemporary middle grade author, represented by Julia A. Weber. My MG debut, BREAKING THE ICE, will be published on January 13, 2015 by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster. I'm also co-writing the RSVP books with Jen Malone, the first of which will be out on May 19, 2015 from Aladdin/S&S. I'm a grant writer for a non-profit by day.

In the past, I've moonlighted as a personal injury attorney and a business attorney (one of these was better than the other), a somewhat friendly retail associate (I can fold a sweater like no one's business), that nice lady who answers the phones at your ophthalmologist's office (where I learned how to spell ophthalmologist and understand things like PRN and HBP), and an ice rink Jill-of-All-Trades (I could rent you skates and get you nachos at the same time).



Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/lotterymonkey/
Used under a Creative Commons License
Ah, nothing like the aroma of hundreds of old, wet skates...

I'm obsessed with travel, camping, figure skating, cats, spinach, and indie music that makes me cry. I have a two-year-old daughter who is the light of my life.

Questions for me?

Ask in the comments, or tweet me! I love questions.


How do you apply to be my mentee?

Go here.

Who are the PitchWars agents?

Go here.


Yeah, I'm great and all, but who are the other PitchWars mentors?

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ARCs are here!

A box arrived from UPS yesterday evening, and it was full of pretty, shiny, gorgeous ARCs!

I kinda want to carry the box around with me and gaze lovingly upon them all day...

Aladdin M!X, critiques, and an awesome blog post

Last week, I guest-posted on the Aladdin M!X author blog with 5 tips for kids who want to do a creative project with a friend. I had so much fun writing this, and drew most of it from my experience writing RSVP with Jen Malone.

Today I critiqued a query and a first page for two Pitch Wars hopefuls on Brenda Drake's blog.

Also, I ran into this blog post from Authoress, talking about the dreaded, "What books do you have out?" question and how writing is not a hobby. I LOVE this post -- it's so spot-on.

Sporty Girl Books & a new release date!

Today I'm on Sporty Girl Books, talking skating and sporty girls!

And in other news, the release date for BREAKING THE ICE has been moved up -- to January 13th, 2015!