Spooktacular Pitch Extravaganza Details

Update: Submission details can be found here.

Background came from this design.

Starting off this post with a huge shout-out to Master Yoda, Brenda Drake, for whom I've learned and borrowed fun ways to have a contest! (I always do my best to join her contest and find them super fun. So, I want mine to be like hers. Fun for all involved!) Brenda, you are the best and I hope I make you proud!

Okay, enough of the mushy stuff!

So the above picture says it all. If you've been following my twitter, you've seen me talking about a secret October project I've been working on. Well, this is it! It's grown, shrank, and reblossomed and I'm glad it did! This contest is a huge thank you to all of my blog followers, (I hit 100 followers and have been promising a contest for a bit,) and to my fellow writing friends I've met along my journey. Read the entire post and see what I've cooked up for you! *cue witchy laugh*

I can hear you now. "Details, woman! Details!" All right. All right. Settle down. Here are the details I know you're burning to know. The Spooktacular Pitch Extravaganza will open for submissions on October 13 at 8am EDT and stay open until October 16 at 12am EDT. On October 17 I will pull 50 names and have you email me your pitches to a special contest email then. So make sure you check back on October 17!

"What do we have to do?"

Great question! Polish and spit-shine your 3 line pitch (3 lines = 3 sentences. No specific word count. Just clear, concise sentences telling your story's plot. If you go over 3 lines, you'll be disqualified and someone else will take your spot) and the first 250 words of your finished and polished ms (if it ends in the middle of a sentence, feel free to go to the end of that sentence.) This contest is open to Adult, Young Adult, New Adult and Middle Grade fiction so bring it on!

"Who are we doing this for? You?"

Haha! No! This is a contest, so it should have a great prize and judges right? And here they are! It's a Corvisiero Literary Agency showdown! It's Brittany Booker vs Jordy Albert! Here are their bios.

Brittany Booker is a Jr. literary agent in training. She worked with Marisa Corvisiero in her time at the Lori Perkins Agency. She will graduate in December of 2012 with a BA in English. She is looking for novels that keep her up at night and transports her into the pages.In fiction she is looking for well-written contemporary romances, historical fiction, fantasies, YA and new adult. She is specifically interested in time travel novels. As for YA, Brittany is drawn to contemporary works; dramatic or funny romances; and urban fantasy. She's especially interested in YA that is funny and quirky. The goofier the heroine the better. She is a big sucker for happy endings. She also has a passion for books set in the south. She also has working knowledge of Japanese and Spanish.

Brittany is not looking for erotica, middle grade, memoirs or paranormal works at the moment.

VS

Jordy Albert is a Jr. Literary Agent in training. She holds a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University, and a M.A. from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has worked with Marisa Corvisiero during her time at the L. Perkins Agency for over a year. Jordy also works as a freelance editor, and of course enjoys reading in her spare time. She is a fan of the SyFy, History and Discovery Channels, enjoys studying languages (French/Japanese), and is teaching herself how to knit.

Jordy is interested in the following genres: Romance (contemporary, historical/Regency, paranormal. Erotica is okay, but it must have a strong plot and well-developed characters), MG/YA, dystopian, and horror. She enjoys quirky characters with a self-deprecating sense of humor. 

Brittany and Jordy will play a fun Halloween-esq game to win your pitches. Game, prizes, and how to format your entries along with contest email to be announced on October 8 along with the rules for these two lovely ladies. Make sure you come back for that.

Well, I think that's all for now. If you have any questions or just want to talk about the contest, my comments are always open! Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!

GUTGAA Meet and Greet Q's and A's

I'm taking part in the awesome blogfest called GUTGAA! Over the next few weeks, I'll be participating in meet and greets, pitch polishing, and so much more while meeting other wonderful querying authors such as myself! This is my first year of doing GUTGAA and I'm so excited! I can't wait to meet everyone and hope to make a few more awesome friends along the way. So now, for my A's to the GUTGAA Q's!

-About me!

I'm a southern girl and I love putting the south into my writing. I'm happily married to the love of my life and I couldn't imagine going through this journey without him! My favorite types of stories to write have a dark twist in them along with a romantic element. I'm always willing to help anybody if I can and find adding a dash of sarcasm and a sprinkle of dorkiness always makes things better.

-Where do you write?
I'm always jotting down ideas wherever they come. Even in the shower! But most of my real writing, (actually putting the ideas down on "paper") happens in the living room while snuggled on the couch.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?
An old white drop bead lamp we got from my hubby's family. It's my favorite lamp too. That's why it's beside me! :)

-Favorite time to write?
At night! I'm a night owl due to my hubby's work schedule and insomnia. Plus, the plot bunnies and my muse refuse to get working until the suns dipped below the earth and the moon is high in the sky. Well, unless it's an all weekend party. Then it's whenever I find enough silence to get things going.

-Drink of choice while writing?
Dr. Pepper or plain ice cold water. Tea and coffee are also nice during cold nights and mornings!

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?
Oddly, I hardly ever play just music while writing even though music is my second love. I like silence as in no talking in the room where I'm working. But the TV must always be on. If it's not, I can't write a single word. Weird.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?
SPARK was inspired by Mean Girls and a mixture of The Craft and The Cult. I'm drawn to those kinds of movies and wanted a book that I could read that had that feeling within its pages too.

The inspiration for my current wip came from looking at clothes on Pinterest. I kept looking at the pictures and imagining who that girl was and what she was doing.

-What's your most valuable writing tip?

It might sound cliché, but write what you love and don't follow trends. If you're writing what's trendy at the moment, it might fade by the time you're ready to query. That's why I feel you must love what you write. Because querying's tough and if you don't love your work, you'll want to give up before you've truly given the work a fair shot.

I hope you enjoyed my answers and I look forward to meeting you all!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!