An update a long time coming!

Wow! It's been a little over a month since my last post and that was for the super awesome contest The Writer's Voice! I feel horrible for not posting, but I wanted to post something new only when I knew it was worth writing about. So, here's what's been going on since my last update.

The Writer's Voice: 

Well, as the button above that also used to be on my sidebar said, I was a part of the awesome Team Brenda! Our coach, the amazing Brenda Drake, helped me whip my ms into shape and set me on a revision race that ended with me loving my ms more than I had when I originally entered! Let's just say, she rocks!

So, my entry was put through the word wash, spit shined, and then posted on, Brenda's blog for all to see. Cheers were thrown mine and Spark's way and we love you all for doing so! Agents shopped around, but sadly we found no love in their arms. But don't worry! There's a happy ending coming--sort of!

#WVTP or Writer's Voice Twitter Pitch:

After some rocky road ice cream and a good chick flick, I did exactly what the White Snake picture says above. There I went again, down the only road I've grown to know. (Okay, sorry for almost quoting lyrics. I'll stop now.) Query in hand, I started thinking about what my next move should be. Well, I didn't have to think long because the wonderful all-stars of The Writer's Voice had talked a few dazzling agents into a twitter pitch party three days after my heart had been broken.

I had to sit and think about this. I had basically been turned down on Monday and by Thursday morning, I had to be ready to put my heart... I mean, ms back out there again and hope we wouldn't be shot through the heart one more time. Well, I'm an author! And as an author, I have to put myself out there no matter what happens. So, I got to work on my 140 character pitch complete with the #WVTP hashtag. It wasn't easy, but after using what my awesome coach had put to introduce me as her team member, I had something I thought worked and so did a lot of others.

Thursday: 12pm EDT/11am CDT my time rolled around. I'd went to bed around 6am, but sleep refused to come. So I got up at 10am, pitch in hand, ready for the party. Twitter freaked a few times on me, but it was okay. The party hadn't started yet, so it was allowed to live another day. Time for the agents to show up. I threw my pitch out along with a few hundred others and got nothing. Not even a nibble. My awesome friend, Erica Chapman, snatched one of my tops picks attention and I hoped I'd catch his eye too.

A few hours passed and I was way loopy by then. A pitch was being fought over by a few agents and one was chosen as the winner. One agent said something I found cute and funny, so I tweeted him that I'd pick him! My coach/friend mentioned something after I'd sad something, and one thing led to another...

The results of a wonky brain and a hail mary pitch:

It was getting late. Only a couple hours left for me to get someone to even want to peek at Spark. So, I threw a hail mary pitch out, never dreaming it'd catch someone's eye in the middle of the sea of amazing pitches being thrown out at the time.

My jaw dropped when the same agent, the one who'd asked my friend for her ms and I'd been joking around with/flattering him, said those magic words! Yes! The awesome agent, John M Cusick, said that he liked both movies I'd put in my pitch and wanted to read my ms!! I squeed so loud that my hubby almost feel from his chair before I told him why. A happy dance and some sleep later, I was doing a read through of my ms again & polishing my query before sending it off, praying he'll fall in love with it and ask for us to be on his team!

While I'm waiting patiently:

Agents are very busy people, so to keep myself from constantly checking my email, I've signed up for CampNaNoWriMo! Yep! I won November's NaNo, so I'm trying my hand at June's! I'm already 16K in and I think I'm loving this wip more than I've loved one in a long time. So, keep your eye out for an update and maybe even an excerpt!

And here it is!:

I feel another contest coming! During my time away my blog reached over 100 followers! You know what that means? Yep! I'm cooking up a contest with a prize or two in mind. So, watch out for it because it's coming your way soon!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!!

The Writer's Voice: Entry Number 31

The wonderful Brenda Drake, Cupid, Monica B.W., and Krista Van Dolzer are holding an amazing contest called The Writer's Voice. They're playing it like the NBC show The Voice. If I'm lucky, I could end up on one of their teams and with my coach's help, find an agent.

Thank you all for doing this contest!! You guys rock! Now for my entry:

Entry number: 31

Title: Spark

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Query:

It’s just like sixteen-year-old, Taisie Monahan, to fall flat on her face on the first day of her new school in her deceased mother’s hometown. When the popular clique in school accepts her into their group, she goes from zero to hottie in a flash, but their friendship comes at price.

When the nightmares stalking Taisie her entire life invade the real world, she finds solace in the arms of a mysterious biker boy. Soon Taisie learns she’s the missing piece to a centuries old prophecy and her new found friends will stop at nothing to make sure she fulfills her destiny.

A twisted cat and mouse game shows Taisie that the evil spectral who holds her mother’s soul will stop at nothing to get his hands on Taisie’s unharnessed ability to destroy immortality.

Forced to choose between her mother’s soul and her own freedom, Taisie must embrace her true identity and trust her new friends to save the ones she love or lose her soul forever.

SPARK is a young adult paranormal romance complete at 61,000 words.

First 250:

I knew he was there the moment my foot touched the sidewalk. That creepy-spider-crawling-up-your-back feeling was something that belonged only to him. My eyes searched the crowed frantically, hoping to get my first glimpse of my stalker before I realized what I was doing and stopped.

He was just another part of my endless nightmares. First day jitters had caused my nerves to play tricks on my mind and acting like a mess wasn't going to make my old rep of being freak-girl go away in this school any easier.

Pressing myself against a brick wall, I tried to catch a break from the sea of students flowing through the floodgates of Saint Isabel High. I'd never seen so many name-brand clothes in one place before. I took a step forward and then quickly returned to the safety of the wall.

Get a grip. People are staring.

I tried to will myself to listen, but the nagging feeling was still tugging at the edge of my mind, keeping me locked into place like a statue being held by chains.

“Hey! Come here!” My breath caught when the hot jock yelled and waved at me, or what I wanted to be me. After all, didn't I try to make myself look like his type when I got up that morning?

My finger lightly swiped across my sorry excuse for lipstick, kicking up a slight hint of cherry from my lip balm, making me feel like a little girl in big girl clothing.

Thank you for this opportunity and good luck to everyone!!