Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Getting the Call with Peggy Rothschild

It seems appropriate to share a success story from previous contests this week. It's not necessary the requests from a contest that are the most important part. The advice is priceless. Thanks for sharing, Peggy. 



I entered Query Kombat in 2014 and received so much helpful feedback that I decided to enter the June 2015 contest with a new manuscript. (You might remember it was called Guilt by Association.) Once again, the critiques were enormously helpful. Using that feedback, I polished my query between each round. Although I’d sent out queries in the past, I hadn’t actually queried my contest manuscript. In late June, as the dust was settling from the competition, the wonderful Melissa Jeglinski of the Knight Agency requested the first 50 pages of my manuscript. I sent them off, then turned my attention to a different manuscript. Three months later, I received a request for the full. After giving it a quick polish, I sent it off. Then in November, I received an email giving me some feedback. Melissa also wanted to set up a time when we could talk.

I didn’t immediately realize that this was "The Call". I was anticipating feedback and a possible revise and resubmit, but not an offer of representation. Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting an offer, or maybe it’s because Melissa is genuinely warm and easy to talk to, or maybe it was the fun of chatting with a fellow cat-lover, but I was relaxed and had a great time getting to know her. The offer was the unexpected icing on top of that cake!

--------------------------------------------------

Peggy Rothschild grew up in Los Angeles. Always a mystery-lover, she embraced the tales of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys before graduating to the adult section of the library. An English major in high school, she switched to art her – other passion – in college. Peggy has authored two adult mysteries, CLEMENTINE’S SHADOW and ERASING RAMONA. PUNISHMENT SUMMER is her first young adult book.

At present, Peggy lives in the beach community of Ventura with her husband and their cats. In her spare time she focuses on transforming their yard into a drought-tolerant paradise and creating art pieces.


Punishment Summer - http://amzn.to/1VIgnLu
@pegrothschild

2 comments: