tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54935637061042065952024-03-18T22:19:03.907-05:00This Writer's World & Plot BunniesJamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.comBlogger276125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-22646512345183163362016-09-21T07:00:00.000-05:002016-09-21T07:16:26.439-05:00PITCH SLAM STAR WARS: THE WRITE SIDE - WELCOME TO TEAM JEDI PRINCESS!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thanks to Kim for making this awesome graphic!</div>
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Last year we fought the Death Eaters and thought we'd beat the darkness.</div>
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But we were wrong!</div>
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The dark side has awakened and it is now up to four Jedi Masters to take our teams and defeat the disturbance in the Force!</div>
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But wait! One of the Jedi Master's Jedi has been stolen by the Sith! The dark side has called out to them, tempting them to turn against the light. (I'm also hearing they had cookies and that was a big part of their choice to turn.)</div>
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This could only happen in one place.</div>
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That place is Pitch Slam: The Write Side!</div>
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And here is Team Jedi Princess!!</div>
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YA Contemporary <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/ya-contemporary-end-of-days.html">End of Days</a></div>
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Adult Fantasy <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/adult-fantasy-earthsong.html">Earthsong</a></div>
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YA Contemporary LGBT <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/ya-contemporary-lgbt-things-we-werent.html">Things We Weren't Supposed to Know</a></div>
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Adult Women's Fiction <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/adult-womens-fiction-girl-dot-com.html">Girl (Dot) Com</a></div>
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YA LGBTQ Contemporary Romance <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/ya-lgbtq-contemporary-romance-happiness.html">Happiness and Other Myths</a></div>
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MG Magical Realism<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/mg-magical-realism-online.html">Online</a></div>
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YA Contemporary <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/ya-contemporary-that-year.html">That Year</a></div>
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YA Sci-Fi <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/ya-sci-fi-queenofh34rts.html">Queen_of_H34rts</a></div>
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Adult Women's Fiction <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/adult-womens-fiction-improbable-girl.html">Improbable Girl</a></div>
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YA Sci-Fi <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2016/09/ya-sci-fi-rigged-identity.html">Rigged Identity</a></div>
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The other Jedi Master's teams.</div>
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<a href="http://llmckinney.com/blog">Team Take a Seat</a></div>
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<a href="http://kimberlyvanderhorst.blogspot.ca/">Team Obi-Wan and the Wookies</a></div>
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<a href="http://blog.lauraheffernan.com/">Team The Rey Guns</a></div>
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<a href="http://pitchslamcontest.com/">Team Sith</a></div>
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Jedi Council (Agents) are free to comment from now until 11:59 PM Eastern on 9/27/16.</div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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NOTE: Only agents may comment during the times listed above. Comments are on moderation so nobody may see what's going on behind the curtains. We want our Jedi Council to have a little privacy while choosing which Jedi deserve a certain Force phrase. ;)<br />
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If you didn't make it on a team, please don't take it personally! We could only have 10 per a team and that left many more we wished we could have included, but couldn't. That doesn't mean you're horrible or should feel bad, because you shouldn't! It just means we had to make tough choices and pick those we felt were truly ready for the Jedi Council and fight with the Sith.<br />
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As someone who loves doing contest, I've seen all sides. I've entered and didn't get in. I've entered and made a team, but no love was given. Then there were times I got requests. It's a process that doesn't always lead you to your agent. I'm still querying, which is EXACTLY what you should and need to be doing if you're 100% positive your MS is polished and ready to show the world. Just because you didn't make it, this doesn't make it the end. Contests aren't for everybody and they're not the only path. Keep your head up and keep going! Never give up!<br />
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And know, we believe in you!<br />
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-87463253241937533022016-09-21T06:59:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:59:01.976-05:00YA Contemporary: END OF DAYS<b>Genre:</b> YA Contemporary<br />
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<b>Title:</b> END OF DAYS<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 56,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? Gracie would love to be General Leia, because she would be jealous of the way Leia’s evolved into such a secure, powerful figure. I think she’s more like Finn, because they’ve both suddenly found themselves in a position different from what they’ve known their whole lives.<br />
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Three ex-best friends have one last chance to reconnect on a 1,400-mile road trip, but they’ll have to confront the breakup between two of them that divided them in the first place.<br />
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When my mom is sad, she’s sad in Spanish.<br />
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Our relationship has always relied on her spotty English and my spottier Spanish somehow converging into a conversation, but sometimes, when she’s emotional, she forgets about that. I pick out <i>love</i>, <i>call</i>, and, <i>miss you</i> while she wipes away tears, and my heart clenches with each of them.<br />
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“I’ll come home for Thanksgiving break,” I tell her, even though we still haven’t decided that.<br />
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She nods anyway, hugging me one more time. She says a few more words into my shoulder, but I only hear <i>Ada</i>. I tense automatically.<br />
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“Be careful.”<br />
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I can’t tell if she’s referring to the trip or the girl.<br />
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“Don’t let her hurt you.”<br />
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I don’t know why I wondered. I squeeze her shoulders and don’t say anything, because I’d rather not lie to my mom right before I leave her for months. She looks tiny, standing in our doorway in her work clothes. She’s filling our small apartment with her big sadness, and there’s nothing I can do about it because Prudence won’t stop texting me from downstairs.<br />
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“I’ll call you along the way,” I promise.<br />
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“Have fun,” she says, like she’s just remembered.<br />
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My phone buzzes in my hand again like Prudence is agreeing with her. A part of me wants to have fun, wants to jump up and down and thrill at the idea of this trip. A bigger part of me, though, can only imagine my mom puttering around our apartment with me gone.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-30988801465369383502016-09-21T06:58:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:58:11.475-05:00Adult Fantasy: EARTHSONG<b>Genre:</b> Adult Fantasy<br />
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<b>Title:</b> EARTHSONG<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 98,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? Rhia would choose to be Leia: a princess general who saves the world and gets a tempestuous romance subplot. All in a day’s work!<br />
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Magic is fading, leaving the realm blighted. When herbalist Rhia attends a council meeting to find a solution, she defies the abhorred king who abandoned her. Forget the kingdom—Rhia needs magic to repair their relationship.<br />
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Each step up the stone wall scraped a reminder into Rhia’s palms and knees. <i>You shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be doing this.</i><br />
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Airy flutesong and cheery drums echoed laughter from the city streets below, tempting Rhia away from the eerie silence of the black castle looming overhead. Every shadow twisted in the corners of her eyes—taunting her, daring her to approach.<br />
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The forbidding edifice frightened Rhia, but her heart pounded with a wild, vicious excitement. This was her only chance to <i>live</i>, beyond survival.<br />
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Perched casually atop the wall, her street brother Bronwyn reached down, offering a hand. She refused his help, pulling herself up and onto the ledge.<br />
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With a “suit-yourself” shrug, he swung himself down into the courtyard, landing with the silent grace of a cat. He paraded into the sunlight, unaware—or uncaring—of danger.<br />
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Rhia frowned. Confidence enough to deceive everyone, including himself. She carefully lowered herself to the ground and ran up to him.<br />
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“We’re clear. Five minutes before the new guards show up. Which way?” Bronwyn waited for her directions with his hands on his hips and a cocky grin.<br />
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Under the harsh stare of the bookseller, Rhia had studied the castle layout. “The garden has the best cover, and it’s close to windows.” She pointed toward a rose archway to their right. “That’s our entrance.” Rhia’s pulse quickened at the thought. Fading magic left the city streets tinged gray, but the grass beneath her boots dripped pure green. What wonders awaited her further in?<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-41213849991031102016-09-21T06:57:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:57:00.166-05:00YA Contemporary LGBT: THINGS WE WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO KNOW<b>Genre:</b> YA Contemporary LGBT<br />
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<b>Title:</b> THINGS WE WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 63,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> Luke Skywalker because Elspeth Fairfax wants nothing more than to break free<br />
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To fight their boarding school's book ban, rich-girl Elspeth and scholarship-girl Robin run an underground library. After the school's librarian is murdered, the girls try to discover if Holmes Academy is hiding more than novels.<br />
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I thought I would feel prouder when my father told me I was a disappointment to the Fairfax name. After all, I've spent fourteen years trying not to end up like them. I just didn't think it would happen this way. Or that it would hurt.<br />
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At least I don't have to stay in that house. One advantage of boarding school is escaping from my parents and who they think I should be. My father doesn't look up from the blue light of his phone when he parks outside the dorm. Not even when I slam the car door. It's pouring rain and I'm still damp when I take a seat on the floor next to Robin for the house meeting. <br />
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"How was your weekend?" She whispers. <br />
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I shrug, avoiding her eyes. <br />
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Robin tries to ask another question but Miss Crumbury claps three times like she's trying to get the attention of a dog. A couple of fourth-years whisper through the preliminary announcement about ramen noodles clogging the kitchen sink.<br />
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About the time they usually tell us what to expect for the upcoming week, Mrs. Holcomb stands up. She's a thin, grey-haired woman who likes to sit in the corner of the room like a spider waiting to pounce.<br />
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"Now, I have something very serious to discuss with all of you. I would appreciate your undivided attention." Even the fourth-years stop talking.<br />
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"I received a call from Headmaster Griggs. The trustees and the school have deemed this list of books inappropriate for young ladies.<br />
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-87337414164483028202016-09-21T06:56:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:56:00.936-05:00Adult Women's Fiction: GIRL (DOT) COM<b>Genre:</b> Adult, Women’s Fiction<br />
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<b>Title:</b> Girl (Dot) Com<br />
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My main character Barrie would always, always choose to be Princess Leia. Leia is a feminist hero, thwarting Vader, destroying the Death Star, and basically running the joint. Her relationship struggles with Han are familiar to Barrie's, though both end up "getting the guy." Finally, Barrie would clamor to rock that metal bikini.<br />
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In the ‘90s, Barrie’s dot-com career, stock option millions, and burgeoning, nerdy co-worker romance may vaporize if she’s sacked by company-invading Hollywood bigwigs. Her wits and webcam may help save – and reboot -- all three.<br />
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What the hell was Josh doing in <i>my meeting?</i><br />
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Yea, though I’d stumbled through the valley of the shadow of tech boys aiming Nerf guns at my head, this Nice Jewish Girl® (in too-tight Nine West pumps) stood unscathed, primed, and pumped for <i>The Promotion Talk.</i> I'd asked for a five o’clock one-on-one, banking on my boss Sammy having consumed at least one Long Island Iced Tea by then. (Par for his course in the land where the Internet never sleeps.).<br />
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My stomach growled its dissatisfaction that I hadn't eaten all day in order to fit into my favorite Jones New York suit. (I could eat later, right?) A confidence-boosting mantra, playing on internal loop, propelled me: <i>I am worth it. I am worth it.</i> This was my moment.<br />
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And there, perched on Sammy’s cartoonish red leather couch, sat my technology work counterpart – and guy of my dreams. For <i>my</i> meeting?<br />
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“Well, shut my mouth! I’m underdressed for this gig,” Josh said. He languidly pushed one of his long, blond surfer boy curls behind his ear and glanced down at his polo shirt and jeans. My jaw hinged open. Shut <i>my</i> mouth. Please.<br />
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Sammy’s black leather chair swiveled around, fern-green Calvin Klein Eternity wafting around with it. “Barrie, I know you and I had scheduled some time to talk about something, but we’ll have to postpone. We have bigger fish to fry right now.”<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-43716274222862266092016-09-21T06:55:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:55:03.670-05:00YA LGBTQ Contemporary Romance: HAPPINESS AND OTHER MYTHS<b>Genre:</b> YA LGBTQ Contemporary Romance<br />
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<b>Title:</b> Happiness and Other Myths<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 73,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> Elouise would probably end up being Pre-Obi Wan Luke but dressed in a Chewbacca costume… (All while wishing she was Princess Leia.)<br />
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Seventeen-year-old Elouise dons a hotdog suit and fake dates her bff to catch the eye of the park’s diving pirate. When fake feelings turn real, Elouise must choose between what she wants and really needs. <br />
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Everybody says the summer after your senior year is the best, the one for the history books, the one you never forget. And for me, it starts right here in this tiny break room— with a stomach full of butterflies and a brain full of fireworks. This is going to be my summer; no doubt about it. I take a deep breath and slide my finger down the crisp page in front of me, searching for my name on the corkboard of destiny.<br />
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Seriously. That’s we call stuff like this at Magic Castles Playland. It’s not a bulletin board; it’s a “corkboard of destiny.” It’s not a list of job assignments; it’s a “character reveal chart.” I swear to god everything here is about as whimsical as it is rusty.<br />
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I look lower, past the names of the ride operators and the food service people, over housekeeping and maintenance, until I get to the costume crew. I pause at the listing for princess, it’s not my name. Okay, that’s fine, disappointing but fine. I knew it was a longshot when I put in for it. My finger dips lower, gliding past the prince, and the pirates, and all the other characters that I don’t have a prayer of being, until it hits my name: Elouise May Parker. I drop my head against the board. No, no, no. Not again. I can’t. This has to be a mistake.<br />
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Seeley nudges me out of the way. “What’s it say?”<br />
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“I’m the hot dog.”<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-10759934731817323862016-09-21T06:54:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:54:04.722-05:00MG Magical Realism: ONLINE<b>Genre:</b> MG Magical Realism<br />
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<b>Title:</b> Online<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 30,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why?Stormtrooper number 79, ID HP404 for those who are confused. He is also known for daydreaming in the middle of missions, stealing from the Emperor’s fridge and talking his mates into playing Death Strike: Rogue Offensive.<br />
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<b>35 Word Pitch:</b><br />
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Twelve-year-old Harper’s birthmark is meant to show her soulmate. But when it leads to the troll stalking her YouTube videos, it’s getting removed.<br />
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<b>First 250 Words:</b> </div>
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Harper tapped CTRL on her Mac and said, “This team’s lousy! We need more kills here, guys!”<br />
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“Lousy like your soulmark,” a <i>Counter Strike</i> teammate answered on the chat, making Harper stab a counter-terrorist on her path way more times than necessary. She should never have told her team what her soulmark said.<br />
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Like it was with practically everyone else in the world, her mark was there since birth, and was supposed to be the first words her soulmate would say to her.<br />
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With her green sleeves rolled up, she could see the black words on her skin: <i>I like your vids, but honestly you mised the point of this whole game. It was fun to watch this, but in a sorta embarrassing way.</i><br />
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Not only was her soulmate a hater, but this moron also couldn’t spell “missed” correctly. And because of that she had to live with a stupid grammar mistake written on her arm.<br />
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As she fixed her headset, her team’s voices on the chat overwhelmed her. Harper was a second from hitting CTRL again to tell them to shut up when a counter-terrorist from somewhere over the rainbow headshotted her.<br />
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“You died”, the game told her by replaying the scene. She was inside a shed with her knife in hands, and had just stabbed another enemy. Then she was shot and <i>game over.</i><br />
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The counter-terrorists won, but soon the screen started loading to replay the same scenario. The crates spread around loaded first, and then Harper’s Mac slowly loaded the desert-like town.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-77729136524310354562016-09-21T06:53:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:53:03.744-05:00YA Contemporary: THAT YEAR<b>Genre:</b> Contemporary YA<br />
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<b>Title:</b> That Year<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 79,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? Sophie would be Yoda, because everybody loves and admires Yoda, and when it comes right down to it, Sophie just wants to be loved.<br />
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<b>35 Word Pitch:</b><br />
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Everything changes when Sophie’s BFF swallows a bottle of pills, ending her life. To heal and move on, Sophie must search for answers about Hayley's life and death.<br />
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<b>First 250 Words:</b> <br />
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I’m trying to figure out what strikes me as more strange. The fact that I’m sitting in a Christian church that has jack-o-lanterns lined up on the pulpit and ghosts hanging in the rafters, or the fact that my best friend is lying in a coffin in front of four hundred of our closest friends and family members. I mean, is it sacrilegious to display ghosts and goblins in a church? I wouldn’t know, since this is the first time I’ve set foot in one in almost ten years. We’re not really a church-going type of family. Not even on Christmas or Easter. The last time I visited a church was when my grandma died and it was a blur of wet family kisses and too tight hugs from my smelly aunts.<br />
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I’m staring at the front of the room where the big mahogany coffin sits on a raised platform but I’m having a hard time comprehending the fact that Haley lies inside. Her red and silver pom-pons are artfully arranged on the top and there are about a million baby pink teacup roses arranged all around. She loves all things pink. Being inside her bedroom is like slipping inside a Pepto-Bismol bottle, but it makes her really happy. Or made her really happy. Is it time to start talking about her in the past tense?<br />
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I suppose it’s only fitting that the lining of that coffin is pink satin and every flower in the room carries her favorite hue.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-48925414709841929372016-09-21T06:52:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:52:02.702-05:00YA Sci-Fi: QUEEN_OF_H34RTS<b>Genre:</b> YA Sci-Fi<br />
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<b>Title:</b> Queen_of_H34rts<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 86, 000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? Chewbacca. Because he looks mean and scary, but really, he's just misunderstood.<br />
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<b>35 Word Pitch:</b><br />
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Alice and /Queen_of_Hearts/ should be enemies. But when rival hackers steal the code they need, they ally to keep it from going to the highest bidder, taking with it the chance to save Alice’s sister.<br />
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<b>First 250 Words:</b></div>
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Cherry plunged out of the limo and slammed the door behind her, plastering a smile on her face. She pulled herself up as she imagined a marionette would be pulled up from a heap on the floor. The heap would be a more accurate representation of her state of mind, but she couldn’t let the crowd of predatory press sense her weakness. She had no desire to be their next meal.<br />
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People shouted her name, lights flashed. The early October chill bit at her arms and legs, but she ignored it all.<br />
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The double doors and the bald bouncer lay directly ahead. Just a thumb on the ‘print pad and she’d be safe inside. <br />
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<i>Almost there. Smile.</i> <br />
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<i>Keeping smiling.</i><br />
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The reflective silver of a faceless android plunged in front of her, a press pass dangling from it’s neck. Cherry braked like a crackerjack stunt driver, but she only narrowly avoided plowing into it. <br />
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Only inches from its chest, she could read the press pass. <i>The Investigator.</i> Dread poured over her like a winter-cold lake. The so-called investigative journal had dragged her name and her father’s company through the mud multiple times over the last year and its androids were programmed to be ruthless.<br />
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“Miss Hart!” the android yelled despite its proximity to her, its voice echoing metallically through her skull. “The Investigator would like to know if you plan on killing any more children in the near future. Perhaps you could get high this time and take out some pedestrians?”<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-84373073957074825442016-09-21T06:51:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:51:01.344-05:00Adult Women's Fiction: IMPROBABLE GIRL<b>Genre:</b> Adult Women's Fiction<br />
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<b>Title:</b> Improbable Girl<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 82,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? I have two main characters/narrators. Jane would say Obi-Wan Kenobi because his control of the force can manifest what's in his mind. Daniel has always loved R2-D2 with an affection that he's never felt for animals and most people. So, R2-D2. <br />
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Jane likes control and Daniel likes numbers. When they can’t get pregnant, Jane’s obsession and Daniel’s silence lead to cheating, separation. A tumor found on Jane’s ovary makes them see there’s something left to save.<br />
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I counted the stairs on the day we moved in. There are 60 steps to our apartment on the fifth floor, so every six steps is equal to 10% of the trip to the top. That is, if you ignore the 6 steps on the stoop. If I count those, then every 6.6 steps is 10%. I’d have to break the steps into fractions, and therefore divide the rise of my foot as it travels between one step and the next. After teaching three sections of sixth grade math, two of seventh, hall duty, and a faculty meeting, I can’t achieve that level of precision. So we’ll disregard those first 6 steps. <br />
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Tonight as I walk up, I count by ten percent as I always do. It’s a nice rhythm as my foot strikes each step and my shoe scratches across the surface. One, two, three, four, five, <i>ten</i>, one, two, three, four, five, <i>twenty</i>. <br />
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I like to know exactly where I’m going and how long it will take to get there. Beyond these stairs and their six-beat rhythm, I don’t know where Jane and I are going or how far away it is. That distance is undefined. <br />
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One, two, three, four, five, <i>fifty</i>. Fifty percent is nice, but my legs are burning a bit. By seventy-five, I’m getting close, and I normally start taking the steps two at a time. Not tonight. I just want to keep counting tonight.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-37334547075134028672016-09-21T06:50:00.000-05:002016-09-21T06:50:13.686-05:00YA Sci-Fi: RIGGED IDENTITY<div>
<b>Genre:</b> YA Sci-Fi</div>
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<b>Title:</b> RIGGED IDENTITY<b><br /></b><br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 85,000<br />
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<b>Special Question:</b> If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? <br />
My main character, Rigg, is adventurous, physically fit (she's a martial gymnast), and a hacker who can fix just about anything, so I will go with Rey.<br />
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After her mom's murder, 16-year-old Rigg follows clues to a super-AI who covets Rigg's technical expertise. She learns her intelligence is as artificial as the killer's, and to sabotage his plans she must sacrifice herself.<br />
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<b>First 250 Words:</b><br />
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I'd strapped three caff patches to my arm to stay upright, and Trace was late. “If he doesn't show soon, I'm rewiring his knowledge-implant.”<br />
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The sun trudged up the distant Serran mountains, and everything was blue and alien and too slow. I clutched my best ever flying-sim, let me rephrase that, soaring-sim. Only Trace would get the fantasticness of this coding because, although I'd never admit it, he works even harder than me.<br />
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But if he waited much longer, the morning wind would die, and we'd lose that outside roar of air inside my virtual world. I stomped a circle in the grass.<br />
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Finally, familiar rubber-soled boots squeaked up the hill accompanied by huffing, and eventually, Trace's mass of brown curls emerged. He didn't rush and rip sim-needles from my hand. Nope. Overloaded with three mega-backpacks, he leaned forward to catch his breath.<br />
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“Why are you late?” My hands vibrated with caffeine. “Do you have an android packed in there?”<br />
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“Woah, Rigg.” Trace carefully lowered each backpack. “First, I had to bring all my projects to make the class bell. Second, I optimized my visual-plant to ensure I could critique every nuance of your little masterpiece.”<br />
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“My opus, but”—I lowered my voice— “you operated on your implants? You'll blind yourself someday.”<br />
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“Are we testing this sim or not?”<br />
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I should have taken him to get his implants checked, but he seemed fine, the wind was just right, and I had a packet of perfection on this needle.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Jedi Council Force System</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-50445608076612837912016-09-13T21:07:00.000-05:002016-09-20T01:48:24.151-05:00YA Psychological Thriller: MAD SEASON<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You enjoyed critiquing us so much last year, (and so did we!) So we've decided to bring it back!! You get to critique the judges! Below you will find a correctly formatted pitch and first 250 not only for you to see how to format your final entry, but for you to also critique! My entry is for my wip which is currently in revision. The word count's fluctuating due to revisions and edits, but I'm going to be using the current word count for my example.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nobody's perfect and we all know pitching is hard. None of us nail it the first time. Really, almost none of us get it the twenty-first time. It takes work and practice. So don't give up! We believe in you and we can't wait to see what you do! And as Kim said, "Please join us on the #PitchSlam twitter feed for more words of encouragement, revision tips, and (during the final round) some teasers about our final picks. <3"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Name: </b>Jamie Corrigan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Genre:</b> YA Psychological Thriller</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Title:</b> Mad Season</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Word Count:</b> 65,000</span></div>
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<b style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px rgb(235, 235, 235); font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If your main character could be any Star Wars character, who would they choose and why? </b><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px rgb(235 , 235 , 235); font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Addie would be Han Solo. She gets having to be on your own with only your wits and best friend to survive. (And she knows he shot first!) Eirwen would be Kylo Ren because she does what she believes is the right thing to do even if it really is the most horrible thing.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px rgb(235 , 235 , 235); font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>35 word pitch:</b> </span>Someone's murdering girls and if 17-year-old Addie Delgado doesn't suck up her fear and get close to her stalker ex-BFF to gain information to the killer's identity, she'll join the dead girls club next.</div>
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Two-thousand two-hundred and forty-three. No matter how many times I’ve tried to will that last number to change, it refuses. I reach out and lightly trace the white paint making sure not to touch the ugly green surrounding it.<br />
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“Three. Bet it’s not counting us though.” I snort and quickly duck my head, hand falling to my side as the wave of shame washes over me. Goosies tickle the back of my neck. <i>I know, Mom. It’s just stupid small town crap.</i><br />
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“But still…”<br />
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A mockingbird lands on a nearby tree branch and rings out it’s good morning song. And in a flash a tiny glow awakens in the sky. I check my watch. <i>Six-thirty already.</i> Even though I’ve done this every day since I got home from camp, I can’t shake the fake surprise when the world remains the same as yesterday.<br />
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I’m a mile away from home. Just a far enough walk away to clear my head, but not make me want to hurl from overdoing it. My moms will be getting up a little over an hour from now, something I’ve managed to use to my advantage. The humid stickiness of no air conditioning could rip anybody from a comfortable bed in the dead of summer. Luckily I’ll be in the shower by then, faux-dirty breakfast bowl in the sink, and we’ll dance around each other for the rest of the day.<br />
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<b>More Judge the Judges can be found here!</b></div>
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<a href="http://kimberlyvanderhorst.blogspot.ca/2016/09/TWD.html">Kimberly VanderHorst</a></div>
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<a href="https://cindyrwilson.com/2016/09/12/ya-near-future-sci-fi-into-the-deep/">Cindy Wilson</a></div>
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<a href="http://blog.lauraheffernan.com/2016/09/the-revenge-of-writers.html">Kara Reynolds</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-78647547581312260512016-08-28T10:21:00.000-05:002016-08-28T10:21:56.578-05:00Pitch Slam is coming! Are you on the Write Side?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once again that time has come. Pitch Slam is on it's way and this year's theme is totally geeky and I love it! Yes, the image above is totally right. This year's Pitch Slam is Star Wars: The Write Side!!</div>
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Go to the <a href="http://pitchslamcontest.com/">OFFICIAL PITCH SLAM</a> website to learn all of the details and let me know in the comments if you're excited for this year's Pitch Slam? Are you going to enter! Until next time, happy reading and writing everybody!!</div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-65435620234233912232016-01-05T08:00:00.000-06:002016-01-05T08:00:15.055-06:00Happy Book Birthday to THIEF OF LIES by Brenda Drake!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0bCbQ4lpkYE_iE9DYiHk1wyN2KTqU0cOQhFw9JPBDqS626iV-NpLpdZRd5dHi_dq35CZZ2H2P2cn3g8k_jWuhKTkWURvJQsmJWDmSkwdgFTCeImJbrVdWN_0eoWfNwgtuuNbbjrvMSTsm/s1600/Thief+of+Lies_BannerFinal_RGB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0bCbQ4lpkYE_iE9DYiHk1wyN2KTqU0cOQhFw9JPBDqS626iV-NpLpdZRd5dHi_dq35CZZ2H2P2cn3g8k_jWuhKTkWURvJQsmJWDmSkwdgFTCeImJbrVdWN_0eoWfNwgtuuNbbjrvMSTsm/s400/Thief+of+Lies_BannerFinal_RGB.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://wp.me/p3YaD8-NX">Banner by JHPR</a></div>
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Today I have the honor of celebrating Brenda Drake's new novel, THIEF OF LIES! I don't know about you, but I've been dying to get my hands on this one and I'm so happy it's out in the world now so I can! And you can too!</div>
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Don't know about THIEF OF LIES or Brenda Drake you say? Well, sit back and keep reading because this party's just starting!!</div>
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<b>ABOUT THIEF OF LIES (LIBRARY JUMPERS #1):</b><br />
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Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather-clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels—magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books—rescue them from a demonic hound.<br />
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Jumping into some of the world’s most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren’t busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik’s world and her own, before both are destroyed.<br />
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<i>TOUCHING FATE:</i> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17669243-thief-of-lies">Goodreads</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thief-Library-Jumpers-Brenda-Drake-ebook/dp/B00YM6RD6M/">Amazon</a> | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thief-of-lies-brenda-drake/1122259496?ean=9781633752214">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
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<b>Excerpt from THIEF OF LIES:</b></div>
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We stepped into the Children’s Library and stopped in the center of the room. A massive light fixture designed to resemble the solar system dominated the ceiling. The hushed rumble of two male voices came from one of the reading nooks. I crossed the room, paused at the built-in aquarium, and inspected the fish. Afton halted beside me. </div>
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“This is great,” I whispered, not wanting to disturb whoever was in there with us. “Fish and books. What’s not to love?” Spotting a sign referencing classic books, I searched the shelves for my all-time favorite novel. <br />
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The male voices stopped and there was movement on the other side of the bookcase. I paused to listen, and when the voices started up again, I continued my hunt. <br />
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Warmth rushed over me when I found <i>The Secret Garden</i>. With its aged green cover, it was the same edition I remembered reading as a young girl. The illustrations inside were beautiful, and I just had to show them to Afton. Coming around the corner of the case, a little too fast for being in a library, I bumped into a guy dressed in leather biker gear. My book and notebook fell and slapped against the floor. <br />
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“Oh, I’m so sorry—” I lost all train of thought at the sight of him. He was gorgeous with tousled brown hair and dark eyes. Tall. He flashed me a crooked smile, a hint of dimples forming in his cheeks, before bending over and picking up my forgotten book. <br />
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He held the book out to me. “<i>Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?</i>” He’d quoted a verse from <i>The Secret Garden</i> with a sexy accent that tickled my ears. <br />
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I stood there like an idiot, my heart pounding hard against my chest, unable to think of a response. The fact that he had read the book and could recite a line from it stunned me. And impressed me. <br />
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<i>Say something. Anything. </i><br />
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“Good read there,” he said when it was obvious I wasn’t going to speak. He winked and nodded to a guy behind him before ambling off. When he reached the end of the row, he paused and glanced back at me, flashing me another killer smile, and then he disappeared around the bookcase. <br />
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Tingles rose in my stomach. <i>He looked back at me.</i> The guy following his Royal Hotness gave me a final appraisal before departing. His stringy blond hair hung over his large forehead. It looked like he hadn’t washed it in weeks, and there was probably an acne breeding ground under it. He grinned, and I broke eye contact with him, making for the nearest window. <br />
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<i>Oh God, you’re so lame, Gia. You could have finished the quote or anything less tragic than not speaking at all.</i> The response I would have said played in my head. <i>With silver bells, and cockleshells, and marigolds all in a row.</i> Why? Why hadn’t I said that?<br />
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<b>ABOUT BRENDA DRAKE:</b> <br />
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<img alt="Brenda Drake Author Photo2" class="size-medium wp-image-674 aligncenter" src="http://i0.wp.com/www.brenda-drake.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Brenda-Drake-Author-Photo2.jpg?resize=300%2C217" data-recalc-dims="1" /></div>
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Brenda Drake grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up are of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. <br />
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So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When she’s not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment). <br />
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<i>Author Links:</i> <a href="http://www.brenda-drake.com/">Website</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BrendaLeeDrake">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/brendadrake">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7012713.Brenda_Drake">Goodreads</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/brendaleedrake">Pinterest</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/brendadrakeauthor/">Instagram</a></div>
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Sounds awesome, right? So are you excited about THIEF OF LIES? Are you going to grab a copy or did you pre-order? Let me know in the comments and stop by Twitter and tell Brenda Happy Book Birthday!!</div>
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Oh! And don't forget about the giveaway!!</div>
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<b>GIVEAWAY</b>
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="cf6e2d2812" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/cf6e2d2812/" id="rcwidget_adfsjqi3" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-43414069718387750142015-10-23T07:00:00.000-05:002015-10-23T07:00:13.234-05:00Pitch Slam Hogwarts House Cup - Welcome to Team Slytherin!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There's a crispness in the air and the PitchSlam tag has come alive! You all received your owls and some of your boarded the Hogwats Express bound for Hogwarts! </div>
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Some of you tried your best, but platform 9 3/4 had a spell on it and you couldn't get through. (Darn Dobby trying to protect you!)</div>
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So you followed Hagrid, stood in the same chamber we did waiting for it to happen. And then it did! You entered the Great Hall and the Sorting Ceremony began!</div>
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The Sorting Hat was placed upon your heads and you found your house! And we welcome you all to House Slytherin! Below you will find your title and converse in the #PitchSlam common room. </div>
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But make sure you have your wands ready! For Hogwarts is under attack! The Death Eaters have returned and taken some of our fellow students and us Slytherins are not pleased about this! We needed them for...things!</div>
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Now we must defend our school and the entries stolen by the Death Eaters by cheering for each other in the #PitchSlam common room!</div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-1-fat-girl-on-plane-ya.html">Fat Girl on a Plane</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-2-bff-guide-to.html">BFF Guide to Everlasting Friendship</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-3-catnapped-mg.html">Catnapped</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-4-ride-line-eternal.html">Ride the Line Eternal</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-5-awake-and-dreaming.html">Awake and Dreaming</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-6-little-black-box-ya.html">Little Black Box</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-7-heart-divided-na.html">A Heart Divided</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-8-taste-of-darkness-ya.html">A Taste of Darkness</a></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-entry-9-love-spell-na-romance.html">Love Spell</a></div>
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Find the other Houses here:</div>
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<a href="http://llmckinney.com/blog/">Gryffindor</a></div>
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<a href="http://kimberlyvanderhorst.blogspot.ca/">Hufflepuff</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.lauraheffernan.com/">Ravenclaw</a></div>
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<a href="https://pitchslam.wordpress.com/">Death Eaters</a></div>
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Professors (Agents) are free to comment from now until 4<span style="line-height: 22.4px;">:00 PM Eastern on 10/26/15.</span></div>
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells being used</a></div>
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NOTE: Only agents may comment during the times listed above. Comments are on moderation so nobody may see what's going on behind the curtains. We want our Professors to have a little privacy while handing out points/spells. ;)</div>
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If you didn't make it on a team, please don't take it personally! We could only have 9 per a team and that left many more we wished we could have included, but couldn't. That doesn't mean you're horrible or should feel bad, because you shouldn't! It just means we had to make tough choices and pick those we felt were truly ready for the Sorting Hat and fight with the Death Eaters.</div>
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As someone who loves doing contest, I've seen all sides. I've entered and didn't get in. I've entered and made a team, but no love was given. Then there were times I got requests. It's a process that doesn't always lead you to your agent. I'm still querying, which is EXACTLY what you should and need to be doing if you're 100% positive your MS is polished and ready to show the world. Just because you didn't make it, this doesn't make it the end. Contests aren't for everybody and they're not the only path. Keep your head up and keep going! Never give up!</div>
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And know, we believe in you!</div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-24616783037230910702015-10-23T06:59:00.001-05:002015-10-26T18:24:21.970-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 1: Fat Girl on a Plane, YA Contemporary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqlTDKL2vTClJyxNARRxPVlFQzatcceZU1ajRe0rrjE1O7nHQpV2euJHggK9YxT1IEH0wJnk-Dg6A4rreTwcZ61Jv4NfNqf2Pp1rsee-QJ0s4PfUTEVjU4iMJS7ZZO1j1XaAIKdXVaOTtU/s1600/FGP1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqlTDKL2vTClJyxNARRxPVlFQzatcceZU1ajRe0rrjE1O7nHQpV2euJHggK9YxT1IEH0wJnk-Dg6A4rreTwcZ61Jv4NfNqf2Pp1rsee-QJ0s4PfUTEVjU4iMJS7ZZO1j1XaAIKdXVaOTtU/s400/FGP1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> FAT GIRL ON A PLANE<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> YA Contemporary<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 78,000<br />
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Cookie Vonn is sure she’d be a Gryffindor. But she’d like to speak with Dumbledore about those old-fashioned robes. Her sketchbook is full of new design ideas that may put Madam Malkin out of business!<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> To be the next great fashion designer, overweight teen Cookie Vonn must take on an industry where thin is “in” and take down a fat shamer who’s after her internship and her crush.<br />
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<b>First 250:</b></div>
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<i>Skinny: Day 738 of Weight Watchers</i><br />
No. You can’t just buy two tickets. That would be easy.<br />
<br />
Let’s say you weigh five hundred pounds and know for a fact you can’t fit into a single seat on the plane. It doesn’t matter. One person equals one ticket. You can thank global terrorism for that one.<br />
<br />
I watch the fat woman at the airline gate.<br />
<br />
She’s in tears, wailing at the flight attendant. “What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to get home?”<br />
<br />
Maybe I should tell her how it works. Two years ago, I was her. Two years ago, I weighed three hundred and thirty pounds. I was too fat to fly.<br />
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I would tell her one thing.<br />
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You can lose the weight, but you won’t get what you want.<br />
<br />
You won’t get home.<br />
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<i>Fat: One week before Weight Watchers</i><br />
Here’s what you have to do. At the airport, you have present yourself to the flight attendants at the ticket counter. They get to decide if you’re too fat to fly.<br />
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I’m on my way to New York, to a fashion preview. I’m the SoScottsdale blog’s nod to the brave new world where forty-eight percent of Americans are overweight.<br />
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I don’t know if I’m going to make it there.<br />
<br />
This is how it starts. There’s a plane change at O’Hare. I get the feeling they’re watching me from behind the counter. I tell myself how paranoid that sounds.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjv-Flc15pw-jGzginINepq2onLqh-MkqINl-CB-uK6efAvpgEhoY1IbD10XXbihSrdJNf_AwYJYzsZ5gPsZKTpo_U_Rhu3ZrMq-Cxtktjcp7P7uvvp7yTaFiG9p4bwHZxUurq5tEjkk_/s1600/Salazar_Slytherin_Locket..png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjv-Flc15pw-jGzginINepq2onLqh-MkqINl-CB-uK6efAvpgEhoY1IbD10XXbihSrdJNf_AwYJYzsZ5gPsZKTpo_U_Rhu3ZrMq-Cxtktjcp7P7uvvp7yTaFiG9p4bwHZxUurq5tEjkk_/s320/Salazar_Slytherin_Locket..png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-38691963641655548052015-10-23T06:58:00.001-05:002015-10-23T06:58:00.552-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 2: BFF Guide to Everlasting Friendship, MG Horror<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQItQFY5mfZzKEhNZt-I1wcpduS7nf9nyRT_hzH3x2VS1eAii41IKpOcpvDDZ8W_Z9-r45re4KHlD6fbDvStacOwmqJfnd7VxvtZ2k6d1GyuNZah1alc3qSxN-4JWdlnj5vLkBdw8Zz3V/s1600/BFF1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQItQFY5mfZzKEhNZt-I1wcpduS7nf9nyRT_hzH3x2VS1eAii41IKpOcpvDDZ8W_Z9-r45re4KHlD6fbDvStacOwmqJfnd7VxvtZ2k6d1GyuNZah1alc3qSxN-4JWdlnj5vLkBdw8Zz3V/s400/BFF1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> BFF GUIDE TO EVERLASTING FRIENDSHIP<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> MG Horror<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 30,000<br />
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Hogwarts House: Paige is everything Hufflepuff. She’ll sit quietly and let everyone else speak. No need to let her stutter out and bring unwanted attention to herself.<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> Fifth-Grader Paige finds The BFF Guide to Everlasting Friendship, promising everything she wants. But the longer the Guide’s in her possession, the more it possesses her. It may be the last friend she’ll ever have.<br />
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<div>
<b>First 250:</b> <br />
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Fifth grade recess is all about kickball until Sheri shows-off a bra strap, waiting in line for her turn to kick on Friday, makingMonday a dug-out strap fest.<br />
<br />
“Check out my new trainer; it’s just like yours,” Molly Birch says, showing a white strap digging into her shoulder. The rest of the girls follow suit and snap straps on their own shoulders to show how well they copied Sheri.<br />
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<i>When I asked Mom to get me a training bra she refused. ”P-please, Mm-mom. Everyone in fifth g-grade has a t-tr-trainer.” My stutter making it difficult to get the importance of my request across. Without a training bra, I’m nobody.<br /><br />“You don’t need one. You don’t have anything to support, and we can’t spare the money right now.” Like that’s the point of training bras. Mom doesn’t understand anything.</i><br />
<br />
Feeling brave, I pull the top of my shirt over my shoulder to show my undershirt strap. My strap is like a spaghetti noodle where the other girls have thick, padded lines under their shirts. Nervous of being seen as a training-bra-fraud bring out my stutter. “Mm-mmm-mee too.” My face contorts to get past the ‘m’ sound.<br />
<br />
Molly bursts into laughter, and then everyone else does too. I catch Molly twisting her mouth, mocking me. When someone turns around, she smooths out her face.I walk alone to the only tree nearby and the sound of fading laughter. The closest I’ll be to ‘popular’ is sitting under this poplar tree.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
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Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-11471233142902309672015-10-23T06:57:00.001-05:002015-10-23T06:57:00.066-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 3: Catnapped, MG<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGnSQsBVREcMnrArFf78342XiX7nsqkUK0qeMw4_1yfwKwjdU35KfTzkCPkHWf3bTGpulKqBjqsSkbquNUd3uqEygEYcsyanILcSysfMnPiuLLEYu5iL4_L82mwDJiQ6khUcOIq2B4VrlS/s1600/Cat1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGnSQsBVREcMnrArFf78342XiX7nsqkUK0qeMw4_1yfwKwjdU35KfTzkCPkHWf3bTGpulKqBjqsSkbquNUd3uqEygEYcsyanILcSysfMnPiuLLEYu5iL4_L82mwDJiQ6khUcOIq2B4VrlS/s400/Cat1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> Catnapped<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> MG<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 30,000<br />
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Gryffindor. Although Max starts out as being somewhat of a scaredy cat, he overcomes his fear in order to venture into the deep, dark forest to rescue his best pal, Chevis (the cat). This shows true courage, and the obstacles he encounters along the way help him grow and also shape his character in very unexpected ways.<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> Young puppy Max turns detective when the family cat disappears, but finds himself up to his muzzle in trouble in a forest overrun by genetically-modified apes intent on snatching the nine lives of stolen cats.<br />
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<b>First 250:</b></div>
<div>
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<i>I am Maximilian the Stealthy, on the trail of a trickster cat with a weird sense of humor and no tact.</i> <br />
Max’s nose twitched with excitement as he followed Chevis’ fresh minty scent. Hide ’n Sniff was as easy to play as eating. No wonder Chevis hadn’t taught him the game sooner.<br />
<br />
<i>Because he knows my nose is sharper than his sharpest claw.</i> <br />
At the laundry room door, Max slouched to the floor and snuck up on the spicy aroma coming from the dirty-clothes basket. He took aim and jumped.<br />
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His face rammed into the side of the basket, which fell over. Clothes spilled out: Doug’s school shirts, Mom’s dresses, Dad’s gym stuff. The ache from the basket slam vanished as he pounced and pranced, bit and rolled. His ears tangled themselves in his paws and—<br />
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<i>Hey! Chevis isn’t here.</i> <br />
Max shook himself in disgust and his ears whipped him across the face. Tricked again!<br />
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<i>I am Maximilian the Hunter, resistant to distractions. Always. </i> <br />
“Meeoooow. That you, Max?”<br />
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“Chevis?” Max dashed up the stairs. What a dumb thing to call out before the end of the game. But Chevis had sounded scared.<br />
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The living room and bathroom were empty. That left the kitchen. Max skidded to a stop against the refrigerator. A strange smell prickled his nostrils and his hackles rose. He sniffed the floor: rust and grime, mingled with a metallic, sweaty odor he’d never encountered before.<br />
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Someone had broken into the house and Chevis had meowed to warn him.<br />
<br />
Wait! Where <i>was</i> Chevis? <br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-63125643846332904102015-10-23T06:56:00.001-05:002015-10-23T06:56:00.056-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 4: Ride the Line Eternal, Speculative YA Thriller<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4RD17mC4ldUv-RRfcGiAd6denGkl4qASwModW3jcQvs1fYvakiZTRvFWZVAyvsMsBVxIQ4AgGZIryhTGnkYHrONkkKWsI-1a4nXJNwsY23UCOqaDiDkzyNPQ2ZAAdPtJQYCyL1BX0neW/s1600/RTL1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4RD17mC4ldUv-RRfcGiAd6denGkl4qASwModW3jcQvs1fYvakiZTRvFWZVAyvsMsBVxIQ4AgGZIryhTGnkYHrONkkKWsI-1a4nXJNwsY23UCOqaDiDkzyNPQ2ZAAdPtJQYCyL1BX0neW/s400/RTL1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> Ride the Line Eternal<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> Speculative YA Thriller<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 89,000 words<br />
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Claire would be in Gryffindor because she fights for those she cares about and fights even when all hope seems lost. Justin's street smarts and no-nonsense attitude would land him in Slytherin.<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> Teenage runaways Claire and Justin fight to escape a train that never stops and take control of their lives while battling shadow creatures trapped between life and death.<br />
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<b>First 250:</b><br />
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Chapter 1-Claire<br />
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An inhuman cry bleeds through the train car’s wall from the black night beyond, and I feel a pang of sympathy when little Andrew shivers at the sound. I see him shudder in my peripheral vision.<br />
<br />
I’m taking my life in my hands, looking out the window like this, but sometimes I just need to remind myself there’s a real world past those train windows. The second the inky shadow blots out the bone-like branches beyond, I snap my gaze back to the boy tucked into bed and sit down at the foot of the musty mattress.<br />
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“What were you looking at?” he asks, his voice fighting sleep.<br />
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Lying isn’t an option—he’s only been here a couple of years, but he already knows me too well for deceit to be an option. “Nothing we haven’t seen before.”<br />
<br />
But I shouldn’t have been looking. The last thing this train needs is another attack. I’ve got to do what I can to protect Andrew from the shapes that stalk us.<br />
<br />
“Stupid monsters,” Andrew says. He clutches the sheet in his fingers and I lean down, make him lock eyes with me.<br />
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“You’re brave. Say it.”<br />
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He screws his face up, trying to look like a little man, and my heart breaks for him. Andrew was nine when he boarded. Now he’s trying so hard to look twelve. He reminds me so much of my little brother. He has that same determined look in his eyes. “I’m brave,” Andrew says.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-12620837710736261042015-10-23T06:55:00.001-05:002015-10-23T06:55:00.413-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 5: Awake And Dreaming, Adult Contemporary Fantasy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUzoyogUAG8WbQXyTArsKFRw2Sr5MsCc4MtCBdlQeqF22xoJbpFZsG1BNzN9_ndPjtr2-Kp3Si_jaPpzAlWO8lEahM4lfspPCUOBvWLKXSoGoKf727_yr0jiBXpfg2CkSoAezSRwuVCyB/s1600/AAD1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUzoyogUAG8WbQXyTArsKFRw2Sr5MsCc4MtCBdlQeqF22xoJbpFZsG1BNzN9_ndPjtr2-Kp3Si_jaPpzAlWO8lEahM4lfspPCUOBvWLKXSoGoKf727_yr0jiBXpfg2CkSoAezSRwuVCyB/s400/AAD1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> AWAKE AND DREAMING<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> Adult Contemporary Fantasy<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 99,000<br />
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Emme would probably be sorted into Hufflepuff, because she's exceptionally loyal and dedicated, and breaking any sort of rule leads to much inner turmoil. She could definitely be sorted into Gryffindor though -- except she'd probably use Harry's tactic and ask the hat not to, mostly because she doesn't always recognize her own courage and bravery.<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> Emme creates fully-customizable Dreams for clients, but when her own Dream causes a murder, she becomes a weapon for two revenge-obsessed rivals. Customizing <i>this</i> Dream will mean deciding who to trust -- and who to kill.<br />
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<b>First 250:</b></div>
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Once someone's decided you're a hooker, there's not much you can do to convince them otherwise. Years of weekly interactions with Patty, my client's hyper-attentive security guard, had taught me as much. <br />
<br />
I'd mistakenly mentioned her hatred of me to Albert Gibbons after one of her more intense glare-filled interrogations at the wrought-iron gates of his estate, and now the start of every appointment turned me into a liar.<br />
<br />
Al ushered me down the hall of his guesthouse, gleaming white-tiled floor serving as roadmap to the back bedroom. "I trust you had no issues at the gates today?"<br />
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"None at all."<br />
<br />
His deep laughter echoed against the barren walls. "You can be honest, Emmeline." <br />
<br />
"No really. I mean, she still thinks I'm a prostitute, but that is totally fine." <br />
<br />
It was totally not fine. <br />
<br />
It might've helped, egotistically speaking, if I could convince myself Patty thought I was a high-priced escort, but everyone knows high-priced escorts don't drive Toyota Camrys. <br />
<br />
I followed him through the bedroom doorway. "Better a prostitute than the truth, from a jail-time perspective at least. So anyway…should I be using the side entrance from now on?" Patty had been delighted to pass on the message that I shouldn't use the front door as I normally did.<br />
<br />
A frown tugged at his lips. "No, just for tonight."<br />
<br />
"Okay. We can get started then." I shivered as a blast of the arctic-level air conditioning nipped at my exposed skin. "Safeword for tonight, Mr. Gibbons?"<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-86516625876855769772015-10-23T06:54:00.001-05:002015-10-23T06:54:00.373-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 6: Little Black Box, YA Contemporary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixm7U4caLaF_eo5-HJGzfjAkq4iZRNyCuC-JQ6SpcWgNdmeJP7CQGeqJk9YBJtdUzaFLTf8ssvzbERVNT-IhVOOrEScZZ0z1sOshySakf2aBup0_b7QrxB8QfB2i0ZSm8QRr2u7qt7rPPn/s1600/LBB1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixm7U4caLaF_eo5-HJGzfjAkq4iZRNyCuC-JQ6SpcWgNdmeJP7CQGeqJk9YBJtdUzaFLTf8ssvzbERVNT-IhVOOrEScZZ0z1sOshySakf2aBup0_b7QrxB8QfB2i0ZSm8QRr2u7qt7rPPn/s400/LBB1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> Little Black Box<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> YA Contemporary<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 56,000<br />
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Gryffindor because my MC goes for the underdog and wants to see justice served.<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> As the school’s secret Advice Doctor, 16yo Charlie prescribes cure kits after reading a patient’s symptom sheet. But when her BFF’s sheet reveals she kissed Charlie’s crush, revenge jeopardizes Charlie’s anonymity—and chance at love.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>First 250:</b><br />
<br />
<u><i>Charlie</i></u><br />
<br />
I’d had to tell Luke about my double life. It was the only way he’d agree to chauffeur me around town while I made my special deliveries.<br />
<br />
“How well do you know Penny?” Luke asked from the driver’s seat. He stayed well within the speed limit as we passed Taco Bell and headed to the Valley.<br />
<br />
“You’re not supposed to use real names,” I said.<br />
<br />
Luke smiled, the dimple in his cheek only a shadow in the dimness of the car. “You know we mute real names.” He glanced at the video camera secured on his dashboard. “We’re almost there, black box at the ready.”<br />
<br />
“For the record,” I said to the camera, “this excursion is brought to you by Joan Jett and all the girls out there who are through putting up with shit—”<br />
<br />
“Language. I have to mute that, too.”<br />
<br />
“Bad Reputation,” a favorite of mine by Joan Jett, blared on the speakers, and I sang along in my throatiest rocker voice until Luke laughed.<br />
<br />
In payment for his chauffeur duties, I’d agreed to let him film tonight: a documentary featuring me as the doctor, prescribing various forms of cheer to people after life had knocked them on their asses. Even if that meant a cupcake—or two.<br />
<br />
Penny’s house sat at the end of the street, perfect for a ding dong ditch. Luke parked behind a tree with branches so low they almost touched the roof of the car.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-81638000935170602752015-10-23T06:53:00.001-05:002015-10-23T06:53:00.105-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 7: A Heart Divided, NA Historical Romance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOEJP7VIy-kgYSjh-viBx2SF40n23CnMjdsj_WRQrw4aW_41WgGc1xsrUxjHCM6YGIRr19iD1wGbrtXyu_dtpp0jTF7xO9xHX_3BGcDFG-keZNhfPM-98d24h0wxUgm4cxIz1IptBLt26/s1600/AHD1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOEJP7VIy-kgYSjh-viBx2SF40n23CnMjdsj_WRQrw4aW_41WgGc1xsrUxjHCM6YGIRr19iD1wGbrtXyu_dtpp0jTF7xO9xHX_3BGcDFG-keZNhfPM-98d24h0wxUgm4cxIz1IptBLt26/s400/AHD1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> A Heart Divided<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> NA Historical Romance<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 83,000</div>
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Hufflepuff because she is very honest and unwavering<br />
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<b>Pitch: </b>In 1920’s Georgia, white parishioner’s daughter, Ginny falls for the black farmhand Pete. With her childhood sweetheart seeking her hand, and the KKK looming, Ginny and Pete’s hearts and lives are on the line.<br />
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<b> First 250:</b><br />
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The steam engine slows to a halt, brakes squealing under the weight of the locomotive and carriages, the noise cutting through the quiet of the peaceful Georgia town. Outside the window, steam swirls around the platform. I stumble to stand, the jolt putting me off balance, and grasp the back of the chair in front of me. Going home for the summer isn't really going home when my father up and moved after my mother's death. Straightening my traveling coat over my dress, I am suddenly surrounded by young men rushing to help me with my bags.<br />
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"Thank you," I say softly, as a young lady of my background should. If I learned nothing else at boarding school, I had at least learned how to be gracious.<br />
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Following three young men out of the carriage, I step down from the vestibule. A hand flies out and catches mine to help me. With a quick glance, I smile at the kindly round face of my father.<br />
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"My sweet Ginny." He opens his arms for me.<br />
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I fall into them, resting my head on his chest. "I missed you, Pa. How are you holding up?"<br />
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"Oh, it's been difficult without your mother." He gives me a firm squeeze, then slips my arm through his. "I'm glad you're here with me now. Settling into a parish is always hard."<br />
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"Especially when you were at the last one for ten years." We stroll along the platform toward the gates, the sweet, fresh scent of oaks ad new grass filling my senses. <br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-56061342094759950282015-10-23T06:52:00.000-05:002015-10-23T06:52:00.527-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 8: A Taste Of Darkness, YA Mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudG-oj79R27dcMUSOXu86WxMYEvih93RLwVat00ou8gTOE1iKu5rlD0bjrNQs4COY5a8xduDnqwJDnji5STjqSvhnFBdvQkmvXx-fCqDQm_qipPbDkzDOT9AbYuivirc_hmHEFbM6TJgV/s1600/ATD1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudG-oj79R27dcMUSOXu86WxMYEvih93RLwVat00ou8gTOE1iKu5rlD0bjrNQs4COY5a8xduDnqwJDnji5STjqSvhnFBdvQkmvXx-fCqDQm_qipPbDkzDOT9AbYuivirc_hmHEFbM6TJgV/s400/ATD1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> A TASTE OF DARKNESS<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> YA mystery</div>
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<b>Word Count:</b> 74,000</div>
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Our main character would belong to Gryffindor because she constantly stays brave, even in harsh situations!<br />
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<b>PITCH:</b> Seventeen-year-old Tessa Gill and seven other teens are picked to compete in a high-stakes international culinary competition; but the elusive host, the Chocolatier, might be holding secrets from the competitors. Willy Wonka’s whimsy meets Chopped. <br />
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<b>First 250:</b><br />
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Tessa Gill stood on the brink of a human stampede, furiously scouring through her frayed coin purse. The merchant before her looked dull, his apron and shoes speckled with corn flour. He huffed, as if tired of his own business, and crossed his arms over his broad chest.<br />
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“Look, lady, I can’t keep waiting for ya. Either gimme the money, or scram.” Before Tessa could respond, he gestured for the next person in line to come forward.<br />
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“No, wait, I have it,” Tessa said, scrambling through her purse still. Behind her she heard pellets of shouts and swearing, bodies pressing in on her. She was at the front of the crowd, just in front of the merchant’s booth. The merchant, an old man nicknamed Pot because of his full belly, sold spare vegetables, herbs, and any other food he could get his hands on. Tessa looked back, seeing a rattled throng of Harkwood residents, each face as angry as the one before it. Because it was approaching Saturday evening, the square was overflowing with people. If she’d come an hour earlier, she might have missed the rush.<br />
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“What’s the hold up? Come on!” someone shouted. Tessa turned back around, her hands trembling in her purse, and fished out the rusted coins.<br />
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Discounts were few in Harkwood. The lights of New York City dwindled from afar, yet Harkwood remained a poor, pitiable town. It was as if all the dust and hopelessness of New York had condensed into one solid town that had become Tessa’s home.<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-15981150099071344382015-10-23T06:51:00.000-05:002015-10-23T06:51:00.525-05:00Pitch Slam Entry 9: Love Spell, NA Romance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymt50tEzMA-SbdpKLnixfGHS38lmfv0K-P4QqfIPB38qZ0aBksFWoijnoBvNOy_KUoG2SwDTAcI_T9v2-2Yz-LXnMLQbRwfJEkorM9zjp5MeKwRRC1lJNCj9CCzPnqqzXvOFaCLdZzOkB/s1600/LS1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymt50tEzMA-SbdpKLnixfGHS38lmfv0K-P4QqfIPB38qZ0aBksFWoijnoBvNOy_KUoG2SwDTAcI_T9v2-2Yz-LXnMLQbRwfJEkorM9zjp5MeKwRRC1lJNCj9CCzPnqqzXvOFaCLdZzOkB/s400/LS1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> Love Spell<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> New Adult Romance<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 50,000</div>
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> My main character would be Gryffindor because she’s loyal and brave at heart.<br />
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<b>Pitch:</b> Twenty-year-old Tabitha Foster’s Selection Ceremony divines enigmatic Hunter Black as her true love. He must fall in love within a year or she’ll lose her magic forever. PRACTICAL MAGIC meets WITCHES OF EAST END.<br />
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<b>First 250:</b><br />
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Oma lit the remaining candles in the room, including the black flame candle. The inky flame danced, rebelling against stillness of the air. Oma had covered most of her Victorian house in dark cloths and shadowy colored lace. If my whole life wasn’t about to change, I would almost enjoy the ambiance.<br />
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"Tonight is the night, Tabitha," Oma said ominously. "It's the beginning of the rest of your life." She tucked her long silver hair into her scarf and flashed me an affectionate smile. Since I was little, she'd always said things like that, just a little too dramatic and with ample thrashing of her arms, her many rings on her fingers clanking. We were all witches, but none of us were as dramatic as Oma.<br />
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I stared down at my lap; my hands were trembling. <br />
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This was it.<br />
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Tonight, after twenty years, I would learn the identity of my true love. And I would have exactly one year to win his heart or suffer the terrible consequences. I tried not to think about it but lately, it was the only thing occupying my mind.<br />
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My sisters had been so calm, so confident during their Flamma ceremony. Why did I feel so scared? They'd been through the Selection. All of them, except for Esmeralda. She still had a few more years.<br />
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Aunt Griselda took her seat at the table and ran her long, bony fingers across the velvet wine-colored tablecloth. "Are we ready? It's time. I can feel it.”<br />
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<a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/2015/10/pitch-slam-hogwarts-house-cup-welcome.html">Team Slytherin</a> <a href="http://thiswritersworldplotbunnies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Points and Spells</a></div>
Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493563706104206595.post-49188158892814983832015-10-21T17:37:00.001-05:002015-10-21T17:37:53.943-05:00Pitches from the Pensive<div>
So my team decided to join in the fun and show our mock entries to #PitchSlam! Below you will find my "rough" pitch and first 250 of my current WIP. And just know, I too was nervous hitting publish so you are not alone!</div>
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Title:</b> Mad Season (WIP)<br />
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<b>Genre:</b> YA Psychological Thriller</div>
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<b>Word Count:</b> (Still growing.)</div>
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<b>Hogwarts House:</b> Addie values justice and is very loyal so she's totally a Huffelpuff. Her stalker ex-BFF, Eirwen, on the other hand is very cunning and everything about her screams Slytherin and the Sorting Hat would agree.</div>
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<b>Pitch:</b> Someone's murdering girls and if 17-year-old Addie Delgado doesn't suck up her fear and get close to her stalker ex-BFF to gain information to the killer's identity, she'll join the dead girls club next.</div>
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<b>First 250:</b></div>
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Two-thousand two-hundred and forty-three. No matter how many times I’ve tried to will that last number to change, it refuses. I reach out and lightly trace the white paint making sure not to touch the ugly green surrounding it.<br /><br />“Three. Bet it’s not counting us though.” I snort and quickly duck my head, hand falling to my side as the wave of shame washes over me. Goosies tickle the back of my neck. <i>I know, Mom. It’s just stupid small town crap.</i><br /><br />“But still…”<br /><br />A mockingbird lands on a nearby tree branch and rings out it’s good morning song. And in a flash a tiny glow awakens in the sky. I check my watch. <i>Six-thirty already.</i> Even though I’ve done this every day since I got home from camp, I can’t shake the fake surprise when the world remains the same as yesterday.<br /><br />I’m a mile away from home. Just a far enough walk away to clear my head, but not make me want to hurl from overdoing it. My moms will be getting up a little over an hour from now, something I’ve managed to use to my advantage. The humid stickiness of no air conditioning could rip anybody from a comfortable bed in the dead of summer. Luckily I’ll be in the shower by then, foe-dirty breakfast bowl in the sink, and we’ll dance around each other for the rest of the day. Jamie Corriganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11837319723353425561noreply@blogger.com0