PICK ME!
Today the coaches for Pitch Wars are posting something about themselves and what they’d like to critique for the contest. So without babbling on and on, here’s mine…
Something about myself…
The youngest of three children, I grew up an Air-force brat and the continual new kid at school. My fondest memory growing up is that of my eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tall tales, which gave me a strong love for storytelling. So it was only fitting that I’d choose to write young adult and middle grade novels with a bend toward the fantastical. When I’m not writing, running contests and workshops, or doing the social media thing, I haunt bookstores and coffee shops or read someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to my disappoint).
I’m represented by XXXXXX. My young adult novel, LIBRARY JUMPERS, will be out February 2014 and my middle grade novel is now out on submission.What I’m coaching for the contest…
For this contest I’m coaching middle grade manuscripts. I just finished extensive revisions for my middle grade and just started a new middle grade project, so my mind is trained on it at the moment. I have a passion to help others succeed, and I take critiques seriously. I’m very detailed with my notes and give examples to help those receiving them understand what the heck I’m talking about.
I enjoy anything with ghosts or stories that will transport me to places I’ve never been, real or fantastical. I’m a sucker for humorous and historical. I love creepy-crawly-make my skin goose-pimple novels. Basically, send me ALL the middle grade! I might be surprised what I’ll like. After all, it’s all about the characters, isn’t it?
Here’s a sample of my writing from my current middle grade project…
There was one thing Piper Philips despised more than sushi—people who were late. Rain glossed everything, making the street sheen like the plastic her mother wrapped her Fluffernutter sandwiches in each day. Fat drops of water fell from the doorframe and landed on the toes of Piper’s galoshes. The wet cold slithered up the sleeves of her rain jacket and prickled her skin. Parents in their cars swooshed across the wet pavement and braked up to the curb. Wet kids, resembling penguins in their black uniform raincoats, scrambled for the doors.
“Hey, Piper, maybe your dad will pick you up in an armored truck,” chided Keaton Wilson as he passed her. Obviously, the boys with him thought it funny. They laughed and snickered, clomping over the puddled cobblestones, splashing water up at Piper as they went.
Piper frowned. That wasn’t at all funny. It wasn’t as if her pop was behind bars for doing something bad like murder or something. He’d just refused to tell the judge who his source was for a story he’d written for the newspaper. The thing was, Piper felt her pop was wrong to protect a criminal. She wanted her pop home. And she wanted the kids at school to stop teasing her about it.
And here are the submission details…
Submissions start today (11/26) and the cut of time for applications (query and first five pages of manuscript) is 8PM EST on December 5.
Send your applications to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com. Writers can apply for up to 3 coaches. The coaches’ categories are set. Coaches can only consider the categories they’ve signed up for. Writers cannot apply for a coach that is not in their category
For additional information about this contest go HERE.
· This is open to finished manuscripts only.
· You may only enter one manuscript.
· Only the genres requested by each coach will be considered for the contest.
Formatting…
Subject line: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title (Example: Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND)
Name: Your Name
Genre: The genre of your manuscript
Word Count: The word count of your manuscript
Query letter here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.
First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.
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REMINDER: You can send an application for up to 3 coaches.
Check back soon for a complete list of the amazing agents participating in the contest. There’s over a dozen!
Today all the coaches are posting bios/wish lists on their blogs. So before choosing your top 3 picks, check all the coaches’ posts in your category before deciding which coach to submit. To jump from blog to blog, just click on our pictures below.
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35 Comments
Elaine · November 26, 2012 at 10:09 am
Why didn’t I realize you wrote MG? *hangs head in shame* I have a good feeling about Team Brenda…
N. Hughes · November 26, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Hi Brenda! I can’t wait to submit my application to this exciting contest. I’m a little confused about one of the formatting rules, though. When you say to include the “first five pages” of the manuscript, and then you add that they should be single spaced, do you mean to send you a total of five single-spaced pages? Or do you mean to take the first five pages of the manuscript (which is of course double-spaced) and re-format them to single spacing, which would mean I would send in a total of two and a half single-spaced pages?
Sorry for the confusion!
Brenda Drake · November 26, 2012 at 12:31 pm
It should be your five pages of your double- spaced manuscript, then make them single spaced for the email.
N. Hughes · November 26, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Aha! Thanks, Brenda, I appreciate the help.
Leila Rheaume · November 26, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I’m sorry. There are too many amazing coaches. I’m going through them and keeping the perfect ones up as tabs and it keeps crashing my browser. Please fix this. 😉
Brenda Drake · November 26, 2012 at 1:30 pm
The linky is?
Leila Rheaume · November 26, 2012 at 2:46 pm
It’s not the linky… I just crash my internet when I keep open too many tabs. Slim down on the number of awesome coaches and I’ll be good to go! (I was just being silly. Nothing’s wrong with your website, but I may need to shop for a new browser. *Shakes her fist at Internet Explorer*)
Emily · November 26, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Thanks for another great, Brenda! You’re the best!
Emily · November 26, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Another great…?
contest!
Wow–coming off a long holiday weekend 😉
N. Hughes · November 26, 2012 at 5:33 pm
One more question: should we get confirmation emails for each application? I seem to have only gotten a confirmation for the first one I sent in, and not the other two.
Brenda Drake · November 26, 2012 at 5:55 pm
You should have. I checked and all of yours were received.
N. Hughes · November 26, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Hmmm, my spam filter must have ate them. Thanks so much for checking, sorry for being a bother!
Donald Capone · November 27, 2012 at 8:16 am
Same here…I only received one confirmation email.
Brenda Drake · November 27, 2012 at 8:38 am
We received your entries. The receipt generator is not very nice this contest. Also, like your MC’s surname. 😉
Donald Capone · November 27, 2012 at 10:18 am
Thanks for checking. And yes, it’s a great name. Purely coincidental!
Annette G. · November 27, 2012 at 11:50 am
I also only received confirmation on the first. Should we assume you received all three?
Thanks
Brenda Drake · November 27, 2012 at 11:59 am
I did receive all three of yours.
Annette G. · November 27, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Thank you! And thanks for doing this contest. Must be taking loads of time, but it’s such a great idea.
Lora · November 27, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Ooh, another wonderful contest! I will have to try for this one 🙂 Whatever happens, it’ll be a blast!
Suzanne R. Klein · November 27, 2012 at 7:41 pm
I received confirmation for the middle entry only. Should I be worried? Thanks for doing this–such a great opportunity!
Brenda Drake · November 27, 2012 at 10:20 pm
We received all three of yours. 😉
Suzanne R. Klein · November 28, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Thanks so much!
Michael A. · November 27, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I officially feel like the unluckiest idiot in the world.
I submitted the wrong query to Pitch Wars…I know I know…*releases sigh of shame* I was excited and got ahead of myself. Anyway, I didn’t get any confirmation emails so I’m hoping that maybe I typed the email address in wrong. Could you help me out and let me know?
Brenda Drake · November 27, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Resend your entries. Make sure to explain that they are replacement emails.
erica m. chapman · November 27, 2012 at 10:29 pm
LOVE your excerpt!!! Can’t wait to read more <333
meredithmansfield · November 28, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Great contest! Thanks.
Looks like I’m not alone in only recieving an acknowledgement for my first entry.
Kay Camden · November 28, 2012 at 10:53 pm
I also only got an acknowledgement for my middle entry. I won’t admit how much that freaks me out, even after reading these comments. Let the anxiety begin! 🙂
Brenda Drake · November 28, 2012 at 11:41 pm
We received all three of yours. 😉
Kay Camden · November 29, 2012 at 7:16 am
Thanks!!
Deirdre · November 29, 2012 at 7:36 am
I want to thank you for hosting this great opportunity! Also- I adore your snowflakes!
Annie McMahon · November 29, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for organizing this wonderful contest! I sent my three submissions, and you’re one of my choices. MG is the best!!
Michael Seese · November 29, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Brenda —
I wanted to thank you and the other mentors for your generosity. Truly, it’s a great gesture. I also gave you a public shout-out in my blog. (http://michaelseese.blogspot.com/2012/11/pitch-wars.html)
Regards,
Michael
Cate Hart · November 30, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Thanks for a great contest!
I didn’t receive any confirmation email for any of hte three I entered. Do I need to resend since I didn’t get one at all. Thanks.
Sharon K. Mayhew · December 1, 2012 at 7:14 pm
What a great opportunity! I’m finishing up revisions, so I don’t think I am quite ready. 🙁
Lindsey Duga · December 5, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Oh dear, I didn’t receive a single confirmation email! Could I have somehow gotten spammed?
Comments are closed.