Our mentors are mentoring, our mentees are revising, and we hope you’re making progress on your own manuscript! While we’re all working toward the Agent Showcase starting on February 9, 2021, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2021 Pitch Wars Mentor and Mentee Teams.
Next up, we have . . .
Ranjeeta Ramkumar – Mentee
Cindy Baldwin – Mentor
Amanda Rawson Hill – Mentor
Cindy & Amanda, why did you choose Ranjeeta?
Cindy: I was immediately drawn to Ranjeeta’s spare, lyrical verse style! She has such a gift for capturing vivid details and making the reader feel like they are right there as they read. And the way Ranjeeta explores themes like silence, activism, and grief is deeply powerful and resonant.
Amanda: Ranjeeta’s poetry was stunning and understated. We loved that. But her subject matter, setting, and themes were so fresh and unique. We just knew that with a little help, it could be something absolutely amazing.
Ranjeeta, why did you choose to submit to Cindy & Amanda?
Oh my god! Where do I start? Amanda’s and Cindy’s wishlist was written exactly to fit my story. They wanted one that felt sad and heavy for MG, which dealt with tough topics but ended with hope and promise which was what I was hoping to go for. They welcomed stories from marginalized writers and stories about marginalized characters. On top of that, they wanted verse!
What really made me want them, pray for them to be my mentors was their passion towards everything they did, be it their writing, friendship, or life in general. That’s exactly who I am too. I wanted my mentor/s to be hands on, be big cheerleaders, emotional and have the ability to see the potential in my story and what it could turn out to be after their mentoring and that’s exactly what Amanda and Cindy said they are (and turned out to be true! ). Every sentence written about them and their wishlist in their website was saying we are a match made in heaven. I only hoped they felt that way too and picked me!
Oh, and the cherry on top was Amanda’s new book (yet to release) ‘The Hope of Elephants’!!! It was a sign from heaven, no doubt!
Cindy & Amanda, summarize Ranjeeta’s book in 3 words.
Cindy: Friendship, Healing, Dance
Amanda: Speak Without Words
Ranjeeta, summarize your book in 3 words.
Hope for elephants.
Cindy & Amanda, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
Cindy: I do almost all of my writing while hooked up to breathing treatments for my cystic fibrosis!
Amanda: I still have a huge soft spot for High School Musical.
Ranjeeta, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I hope to learn how to plot and revise a story, expand my writer friends list by belonging to another group of like-minded and driven writers, learn more about the publishing industry, keep my friendship with my mentors for life and get my manuscript polished for querying.
Ranjeeta, tell us about yourself. What makes you and your manuscript unique?
I am a stay-at-home mom presently, but I have tried my hand at various forms of writing including scriptwriting and copywriting before settling down to trying to become a children’s author. I have always loved animals but it’s my daughters who made me passionate about them, see their story through their eyes. If Elephants Could Talk is a book about how elephants feel about their bondage through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl. Even the most well-intended and kindest of owners can never give an animal enough freedom/ happiness if they are kept captive and used for human entertainment. I hope through the story of elephants, kids become more empathetic and kinder towards all animals, and which would eventually stop things like elephant/ camel rides, circuses and such.
Check out the latest news from Cindy & Amanda …
THE STARS OF WHISTLING RIDGE by Cindy Baldwin
This enchanting story about magic, family, and the meaning of home from the award-winning author of Where the Watermelons Grow is perfect for fans of Corey Ann Haydu and Natalie Lloyd.
Ivy Mae Bloom is almost thirteen years old, her name is almost a complete sentence, and her family’s RV is almost a home. That’s one too many “almosts” for Ivy. She desperately wants a place to put down roots, but it’s her mama’s job as a fallen star to tend the magic underpinning the world–a job that’s kept Ivy’s family living on the road since before Ivy was born.
After Ivy steals Mama’s entire supply of wish jars in the hopes of finding a place to call home, disaster strands her family in Whistling Ridge, North Carolina, with Mama’s star sisters. Ivy falls for Whistling Ridge immediately–she just needs to convince her parents to stay.
But something is draining the magic from the town, and the star sisters can’t pinpoint it. Ivy and her new friends find a clue in Whistling Ridge’s history that might explain the mysterious threat…but if Whistling Ridge’s magic is fixed, Mama will need to move on. Ivy is faced with an impossible decision: How can she help the star sisters lift the curse if it means losing her best chance at a forever home?
Available now @ Bookshop.org.
MY PET CLOUD by Amanda Rawson Hill
Max wants a pet, and a pet cloud seems way better than a cat, dog, or fish. A cloud is clean, quiet, and doesn’t shed. How hard could it be to take care of a puffy cloud? Author Amanda Rawson Hill subtly blends lessons on responsibility, problem solving, and friendship with lots of humor for a unique approach to the typical pet story. The added science element provides the perfect combination of learning and fun in a picture book illustrated by Laia Arriols.
Coming February 2022
Thank you for supporting our Pitch Wars Teams! The Agent Showcase is February 9-14, 2022. Make sure to stop by then and check out all our mentees’ entries when it opens.