Agents of Sun versus Snow 2016

It's been a while between contests and I'm ready for some fun!


We have 16 agents for Sun versus Snow in 2016. Poetic numbers! Opps. We had sixteen agents, but another has stepped forward! Seventeen! Each and every one is fantastic. And they represent a variety of genres.

Submission is on February 1st at 4:00 pm EST. Go here to see the rules and how to format.

Part of the list of agent is on my blog. But listing all of them would be a huge post. So go to my co-host Amy's blog to see the rest. 

Mallory Brown

Literary Agent Assistant Mallory C. Brown of TriadaUS is seeking young adult, new adult, women’s fiction, and non-fiction. She is especially drawn to pieces with strong character-driven plots and witty humor. She loves contemporary fiction, low fantasy (think realistic world with a fantastical twist), and romance. Mallory also appreciates a well-placed comma and hopes you do, too.

Some of Mallory’s favorites at the moment are: ​Fangirl, Gone Girl, Outlander, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. 

Website|Twitter

Andrea Somberg

A literary agent for close to fifteen years, Andrea Somberg of Harvey Klinger, Inc. represents a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, including projects for adult, young adult and middle grade audiences. Previously an agent at the Donald Maass Agency and Vigliano Associates, she joined Harvey Klinger Inc. in the spring of 2005. Her clients' books have been NYTimes and USA Bestsellers, as well as nominated for The Governor General's Award, the Lambda Award, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. Andrea also teaches courses for MediaBistro and Writers Digest on topics such as nonfiction, memoir, mystery and thrillers, fantasy and sf. Her client list is quite full, however she is always actively looking to take on new authors who write in the following categories: Fiction: literary, commercial, book club fiction, romance, thrillers, mystery, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, young adult, new adult, middle grade. Nonfiction: memoir, narrative, popular science, pop-culture, humor, how-to, parenting, self-help, lifestyle, travel, interior design,crafts, cookbooks, business, sports, diet, health & fitness.

Website|Twitter

Penelope Burns

Penelope Burns is the newest member of Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners. She came to the agency as an intern after graduating from Colgate University in 2012. Currently, as an agency assistant, Penelope is looking to a build a list of her own. She is interested in Literary and Commercial fiction and non-fiction, as well as a variety of Young Adult and Middle Grade. 

I'm actively looking for YA/MG novels with a unique voice or an unreliable narrator, or an interesting and unique premise. I'd also love to see a YA contemporary romance, or a clever MG with a lot of humor. I am not seeking adult thrillers. 

Website|Twitter

Mark Gottlieb

Mark Gottlieb’s focus on publishing began at Emerson College, where he was a founding member of the Publishing Club, later its President, overseeing its first publication and establishing the Wilde Press. 

After graduating with a degree in writing, literature and publishing, Mark began his career with the Vice President of Berkley Books (Penguin), working with leading editors. 

His first position at the Trident Media Group literary agency was in foreign rights, selling the books of clients around the world. Mark later worked as Executive Assistant to Robert Gottlieb, Chairman of Trident, with responsibility for organizing/managing diverse authors and their complex business transactions. He next assumed the position of audio rights agent. Since Mark has managed the audio rights business, the annual sales volume has more than doubled. Mark showed great initiative and insight in identifying talented writers. 

In passing the Audio Department's torch, Mark is building his own client list of writers. He is excited to work directly with authors, helping to manage and grow their careers with all of the unique resources that are available to Trident.

Website|Twitter

Whitley Abell

Whitley Abell joined Inklings Literary Agency in 2013. Before joining Inklings, she completed successful internships with Carol Mann Agency and P.S. Literary Agency. She is based in St. Louis, MO, where she daylights writing proposals of the entirely unromantic variety. She graduated in 2011with a BA in English and Creative Writing, and again in 2012 with a MAT in Secondary English Education, which basically means she can tell you anything there is to know about feminist literary theory and the Common Core Standards.

Whitley is currently building her list and is primarily interested in Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Women’s Fiction. She is open to almost anything within those arenas, be it contemporary or historical, romance or thriller, realistic or supernatural, tragic or quirky. She has a soft spot for the goofy guys, awkward ducks, April Ludgates, and devout fan girls of the world. Manic pixie dream girls will be turned away at the door.

Please, NO picture books, poetry, non-fiction, or genre romance, crime/mystery, or sci-fi/fantasy for the adult market.

Website|Twitter

Patricia Nelson

Patricia Nelson joined Marsal Lyon Literary Agency in 2014. She represents adult, young adult, and middle grade fiction, and is actively building her list.

In general, Patricia looks for stories that hook her with a unique plot, fantastic writing and complex characters that jump off the page. On the adult side, she is seeking women’s fiction both upmarket and commercial, historical fiction set in the 20th century, and compelling plot-driven literary fiction. She’s also looking for sexy, smart adult contemporary and historical single title romance. For YA and MG, Patricia is open to a wide range of genres, with particular interest in contemporary/realistic, magical realism, mystery, horror, and fantasy. She is interested in seeing diverse stories and characters, including LGBTQ, in all genres that she represents.

Website|Twitter

Victoria Lowes

Victoria Lowes was born and raised in Queens, New York and graduated from the City University of New York, Queens College. Before joining the Bent Agency, she completed internships at Serendipity Literary and the Carol Mann Agency. She now lives on Long Island and in her spare time she can be found teaching dance classes for young students or watching re-runs of The Office.

I’m looking for both commercial and literary fiction as well as young adult titles. My favorite genres are historical fiction, suspense, mysteries, upmarket women’s fiction, and romance.

Website|Twitter

Melissa Jeglinski

A graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in English with a writing concentration, Melissa Jeglinski began her career as an editor with Harlequin Enterprises. Looking to work with a variety of authors and genres, she joined The Knight Agency in 2008.  With over two decades experience in the publishing industry, Melissa has fostered her clients to National prominence including a recent Newbery Honor. She is a member of RWA and AAR. Melissa is currently seeking projects in the following areas:  Romance (contemporary, category, historical, inspirational) Young Adult, Middle Grade, Women’s Fiction and Mystery.

Website|Twitter

Lydia Moëd

Lydia Moëd came to Canada from the UK, where she worked as a foreign rights executive for UK publishers including Usborne Publishing and Elwin Street Productions. She has also worked as a freelance literary translator and editor, and as a bookseller at Foyles in London. In addition to handling foreign rights for The Rights Factory's children's and YA list, she is building her own list of clients for representation.

For fiction, she is most interested in acquiring science fiction and fantasy, though she also enjoys magic realism, historical fiction and stories inspired by folklore from around the world. For non-fiction, she is interested in narrative non-fiction on a wide variety of topics, including history, popular science, biography and memoir. She would love to bring more translated literature into English, and particularly welcomes queries by authors from marginalized groups.

Website|Twitter

Rena Rossner

Rena is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars Program, where she double-majored in poetry and non-fiction writing. She studied at Trinity College, Dublin and holds an MA in History from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She worked at bookstores in four countries, has written extensively for The Jerusalem Report and The Jerusalem Post, and worked in PR, grant-writing, and website development at The Jerusalem Foundation. She is a writer of both fiction and poetry as well as the author of the cookbook EATING THE BIBLE, which has been translated into five languages.

Rena is interested in representing Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction in all genres, Adult Literary and Contemporary Fiction especially Upmarket Women’s Fiction, Historical Fiction and Thrillers. She is also actively seeking Young Adult, Middle Grade and Picture Books.

Website|Twitter

Danielle Burby

Danielle graduated from Hamilton College with honors and a double major in Creative Writing and Women’s Studies.  Before finding her home at HSG, she interned at Writers House, Clarion Books, Faye Bender Literary Agency, Dunow Carlson and Lerner, John Wiley and Sons, and SquareOne Publishers (along with stints as a waitress and a farmers’ market vendor).

Her passion lies in YA, Women’s Fiction, and mysteries. She gravitates toward stories with a strong voice and particularly enjoys complex female characters, narratives that explore social issues, and coming-of-age stories. Genres that appeal to her include contemporary YA, medieval fantasy, historical fiction, cozy mysteries, and upmarket Women’s Fiction. She finds it hard to resist gorgeous writing and is a sucker for romantic plotlines that are an element of the narrative, but don’t dominate it.

Danielle was involved in way too many singing groups in college and is always up for karaoke. She also enjoys both tea and coffee, managing to defy the naysayers who claim they’re an either-or thing. She is, however, distinctly a chocolate person.

Website|Twitter

Getting the Call with H.A. Raynes

Chase away the winter blahs with this inspiring story. H.A. found not only an agent but a friend. We should all be so lucky!

After three years and as many revisions with my writers group, I decided my manuscript was ready to be sent out. Using mainly http://querytracker.net, I spent a month compiling agents interested in thrillers (my genre) and currently accepting submissions. During this time I also fine-tuned my query letter (endlessly, it felt!). I ended up having two versions and played around a bit to see if one of them had more bite than the other. To give you an idea, in the end, I went with query #12. What a torturous process! Onward...

I gave myself a year to get published via the traditional route after which I would reassess and likely self-publish. From the time I started sending queries until the time I signed with an agent was about four months. But I was relentless and sent out multiple queries daily. In the end these were my stats: 

QUERIES SENT: 68

REJECTIONS: 43

UNANSWERED QUERIES: 23 

REQUESTS FOR PARTIAL: 7

REQUESTS FOR FULL: 6

OFFERS OF REPRESENTATION: 2

My first offer of representation was by a very small agency run by two women. Despite having no other standing offer at the time, I turned them down because I wasn't in love with the books they represented and couldn't find anything online to legitimize them as agents with clout of any kind. Also, they didn't go out of their way to get to know me at all...

My second offer was like a whirlwind romance. I sent a query. In a day the agent asked for a partial. The following day she asked for the full manuscript. The next day she emailed and asked for a get-to-know-you call. A call! I freaked out. I might have danced. It was amazing. Butterflies. The phone rang and I knew it was fate when, in a lovely British accent, she told me she loved my book. Talking a mile a minute about why she loved it, I just nodded on my end, jaw hanging. I think the one remotely articulate thing I uttered was in the vein of:  

"Uh huh...I'm so excited...Yes...No, I can't think of one thing to ask. I'm just so excited." 

She said she knew "just the editor" for it and, though she wasn't even 100% finished reading the novel, she wanted to hear my voice and see if we gelled. 

We did. And four months later I had a final version of my MS, newly edited, and signed with HarperCollins and their Witness Impulse imprint. Craziest thing of all, my agent lives a mile away from me. She started her publishing career in London, then went to New York and finally moved outside of Boston when she felt established in the industry (and added kids to the mix). Now I can meet her for lunch or a coffee to talk about the elementary school where her kids attended and my kids attend now. Crazy small world. 

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

H. A. Raynes was inspired to write Nation of Enemies by a family member who was a Titanic survivor and another who escaped Poland in World War II. Combining lessons from the past with a healthy fear of the modern landscape, this novel was born. A longtime member of Boston’s writing community, H.A. Raynes has a history of trying anything once (acting, diving out of a plane, white water rafting, and parenting). Writing and raising children seem to have stuck.

Nation of Enemies, A Thriller: 

2032. Turned away by London Immigration because of his family’s inferior DNA, Dr. Cole Fitzgerald returns to work at Boston’s Mass General hospital. He purchases ballistics skins for family, a bulletproof car and a house in a Safe District. As the War at Home escalates, Cole begins an underground revolution to restore civil liberties and wipe away the inequity of biology. Along the way he’ll risk his family, his career and his life when he discovers the U.S. government may pose a greater threat than the terrorists themselves.

LINKS: 

Nation of Enemies, on Amazon: http://amazon.com/Nation-Enemies-Thriller-H-A-Raynes-ebook/dp/B00T3DR58U

Author site: www.nationofenemies.com

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/haraynes

Twitter: http://twitter.com/hollyiswriting

Facebook: http://facebook.com/HARaynes

Cover Reveal for MACHINATIONS

Perfect for fans of Robopocalypse, this action-packed science-fiction debut introduces a chilling future and an unforgettable heroine with a powerful role to play in the battle for humanity’s survival.

The machines have risen, but not out of malice. They were simply following a command: to stop the endless wars that have plagued the world throughout history. Their solution was perfectly logical. To end the fighting, they decided to end the human race.

A potent symbol of the resistance, Rhona Long has served on the front lines of the conflict since the first Machinations began—until she is killed during a rescue mission gone wrong. Now Rhona awakens to find herself transported to a new body, complete with her DNA, her personality, even her memories. She is a clone . . . of herself.

Trapped in the shadow of the life she once knew, the reincarnated Rhona must find her place among old friends and newfound enemies—and quickly. For the machines are inching closer to exterminating humans for good. And only Rhona, whoever she is now, can save them.

Pre-order Machinations today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

And don’t forget to add it to your list on Goodreads!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hayley Stone has lived her entire life in sunny California, where the weather is usually perfect and nothing as exciting as a robot apocalypse ever happens. When not reading or writing, she freelances as a graphic designer, falls in love with videogame characters, and analyzes buildings for velociraptor entry points. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in German from California State University, Sacramento.

Machinations is her debut novel, releasing June 14th, 2016 from Hydra/Random House.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Pinterest

Mentors of Team Snow 2016

Here they are! The mentors for Team Snow. We'll plow down the competition and bury them under bulldozers of snow!

They will be helping the picks polish up their query letters and first pages. Here's a little something about the mentors. Please do follow them on twitter and buy their books. They work hard to help writers and deserve your thanks. Do read down to the bottom of the post for a special surprise!

And more than just bios, they are also listing their favorite writer snacks and cold weather memory for an added bit of fun. Join in. Leave a comment with your favorite writer snack and/or favorite cold weather memory.

And visit Amy's blog to see the Sun mentors. 


SFF mentors:

Vicki L. Weavil turned her early obsession with reading into a career as a librarian. She has a B.A. in Theatre, a Masters in Library Science, an M.A. in Liberal Studies, and is currently the Library Director for a performing and visual arts university.

Vicki’s debut novel, the YA fantasy, CROWN OF ICE, was published by Month9Books in 2014. Two additional books in the Snow Queen Saga series will be published – SCEPTER OF FIRE in fall 2016 and ORB OF LIGHT in 2017.  Vicki’s YA scifi, FACSIMILE, will be published by Month9Books on March 8, 2016, with its sequel, DERIVATION, scheduled to release in 2017. A new YA Fantasy, THE DIAMOND THIMBLE, will be published in 2018. She also writes adult science fiction.

An avid reader who appreciates good writing in all genres, Vicki’s been known to read seven books in as many days. When not writing or reading, she likes to spend her time watching films, listening to music, gardening, or traveling. Vicki is a member of SCWBI and is represented by Fran Black of Literary Counsel, NY, NY. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two very spoiled cats.

My favorite writer snack is also one of my favorite snacks -- popcorn! 

Cold weather memory: Back when I was a child, we had a huge blizzard that kept us out of school for 3 weeks! (This was in northern Virginia, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains). There were 20 foot drifts, and the roads right beyond our house were completely impassable -- they had to drop supplies from helicopters to the people who lived farther up the mountain slopes!

I remember walking done a road that was partially cleared (for foot traffic, anyway) and feeling as if the drifts were great walls rising up on either side of the road. It was like a strange, new world. We had to pull a sled up to the small country store in our rural town to get a few things like milk and flour. 

Website/blog: http://vickilempweavil.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VickiLWeavil

Author Page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VickiLempWeavil?ref=hl

Author Page on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7091425.Vicki_L_Weavil

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/vickilweavil/

In 1994 Sarah Remy earned a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Pomona College in California. Since then she’s been employed as a receptionist at a high-powered brokerage firm in Santa Barbara, managed a boutique bookstore in Virginia, read television scripts for a small production company in LA, and worked as a teacher's aide in Washington State. She writes fantasy for Harper Impulse, and speculative and LGBT fiction for her own imprint: Madison Place Press. She's an equestrian, a Holmesian, a Hobbling, an X Files geek, and a staff member at the Organization for Transformative Works. 

You can find Sarah at www.madisonplacepress.com, on Twitter as @sarahremywrites, and on Tumblr if you ask nicely.

Romance and WF mentor:

Laura Heffernan is a California-born women's fiction writer, represented by Michelle Richter at Fuse Literary. One Saturday morning when she was four or five, Laura sat down at the family's Commodore 64 and typed out her first short story. She's written ever since. Laura also works as a freelance editor and interns for a super cool literary agent. She's pro-Oxford comma, anti-unnecessary to be verbs, and believes cookie dough is a key food group, especially when writing or editing.

When she used to have spare time, Laura enjoyed travel, baking, board games, and new experiences. She lives in the northeast, freezing like the true California girl she is, with her amazing husband and two furry little beasts. Although she insists on wearing flip-flops long after any reasonable person would give them up, Laura is pleased to announce that she may have finally found the perfect fuzzy socks.

Favorite writer snack: cookie dough (sounds good to me!) 

Cold weather memory: This will come as shocking news to anyone who follows me on Twitter, but my favorite writing and editing snack food is chocolate chip cookie dough. It’s best when made from scratch, but I’m happy to eat the prepackaged stuff from stores, too. When I die of salmonella, no one will be surprised.

I grew up in a land where cold weather was a fantasy, something experienced in far-away lands like Hoth or Boston. So I don’t have any childhood memories of snow or “cold" temperatures that wouldn’t make me roll my eyes now. But after I graduated college and moved east, I started working in an office full of native New Englanders. One day, I was minding my own business, working at my desk, when I looked up and saw the weirdest thing - giant white blobs hurtling out of the sky toward the ground. “Oh my God! What is that?” I pointed and yelled. All of my co-workers chuckled, because I truly had no idea what falling snow looked like. 

MG mentor:

Wade Albert White is the author of the middle grade novel, The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes, and its sequel, The Adventurer’s Guide to Dragons (and Why They Keep Biting Me), forthcoming from Little Brown Books for Young Readers in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In addition to writing, he teaches part time, runs, and hones the skill of playing video games with his kids and losing every single time (really, it’s an art form). He is represented by Elizabeth Kaplan of the Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency.

Favorite writer snack:

Trail Mix

Paragraph:

One of my favorite cold weather memories happened during my first year in university. The entire city was buried under five feet of snow in about a day and a half, bringing everything to a complete standstill (I mean, I know I live in Canada, but Holy Snowfall, Batman!). Local snow removal contractors hired out students in droves to help shovel out people’s homes. And I mean that literally. They would drop us off in the middle of a street, point in the direction of a house (in some cases with little more than the roof showing), and say: “Somewhere around here is a driveway with two cars in it, and over there is the front walkway. Those people are trapped in there until you dig them out.” I spent the next thirty-six hours shoveling. That was twenty-five years ago and my arms are still tired.

Twitter: @wadealbertwhite

Website: wadealbertwhite.ca

Mystery and Thriller Mentor:

Max Wirestone is the rapidly balding author of the Dahlia Moss mystery series, which Charlaine Harris called "a barrel of fun," and was featured in Barnes & Noble's "Best of the Season" book display. His first novel, The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss, is currently available in ebook, audiobook, and hardcover, and the "The Astonishing Mistakes of Dahlia Moss" will follow later this year.

Max is also an alumnus of contest just like these, having sent his on query into Query Kombat not too long ago. 

My favorite writing snack is bourbon.

My favorite winter memory:

I grew up in southern Alabama, where winter isn't so much as a season as a cosmic happening, like a comet that crosses path with the earth every five years. I suppose my favorite memory is the time it 'snowed', which meant that the the thinnest possible layer of jack frost kissed the ground and Alabamans panicked like it was Ragnarok. Stay off the roads, everyone! A glaze of jack frost is here! Stay inside! Protect your children! Dress appropriately!

My brothers and I wanted to build a snowman, because like other Alabamans, we really did think the end was coming. This was hard because it wasn't at all the right kind of snow, or, arguably, snow at all. Also there was practically none of it. We drug our little wagon all over our yard and picked up every ounce of 'snow' we could get, despite the fact that our snow mostly consisted of decayed leaves and dirt. When we were done, there wasn't a speck of white in the entire front yard.

Then we built a tiny little snowman, which was mucky and horrifying, and essentially looked like something that belonged in the Blair Witch Project. It was made of dirt and its cold black charcoal eyes seemed to say: "please kill me."

The neighborhood kids were so jealous.

Follow him on twitter at @maxwires (he loves the attention) or gaze into the void of his blog at maxwirestone.com

Contemporary Mentor:

Marty Mayberry writes young adult and adult stories, and infuses them with romance. When she’s not dreaming up ways to mess with her character’s lives, she works as an RN/Clinical Documentation Specialist. She has a BA in International Affairs in German and an Associate’s Degree in Nursing. She lives in Maine with her husband, children, and three neurotic cats. She’s a member of SCBWI, YARWA, and a PRO member of RWA. Give her a long walk on a powdery beach, an ancient ruin to explore, or a good book, and her life’s complete.
Her young adult sci-fi thriller, PHOENIX RISING, won the 2015 YARWA’s Rosemary Award for speculative fiction.

She’s represented by Jessica Watterson of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency.

My favorite writer snack: Plain goldfish crackers. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

My favorite cold weather memory: We recently lost our chocolate lab due to illness. He was almost twelve. I guess my favorite winter memory is from when he was younger, healthier, zippier. We have a long driveway that gradually slopes toward the road and every year, when the snow is packed down from tires, we go sledding. Tucker (or dog) loved sledding. Or, he loved racing along beside us when we went sledding. He’d bark, jump in front of us and nearly make us dump our sled, and then wait for us at the base, tail wagging, panting, mouth wide in a toothy grin. My favorite memory is of the recent sled ride I took in honor of Tucker. Hope you had a good run, buddy.

Twitter: @marty_mayberry
Website: http://martymayberry.com/



Aren't they the tops! 

Now the special surprise!

We will be having a Mentor Chat with two sessions on January 29th at 3:00 pm EST and 9:00 pm EST. You can visit the Mentor Chat on twitter and pick the brains of these experienced writers along with the hosts. Feel free to ask questions about genre and word count or writing in general. Ask about their experience on submission or once they were published.

We will be using the hashtag #svschat. Can't wait to see you all there. And the agent post will be coming Friday!  

Growing as a Writer

I was very lucky when I was newer to writing to stumble upon Agent Query Connect and somehow get myself into the Speculative Fiction group there. I started doing the summer critique marathon to hone my manuscripts, and I have entered every year since I first wrote Kindar's Cure (the second of my nearly six manuscripts). All of my ms have been critiqued there.

I remember my first marathon when I was getting weekly critiques for the first twelve chapters of Kindar. The group consisted of writers with all levels of experience--some were just starting, a few had agents, some soon made book deals. (Even more of us have had success now.) Back then it was a struggle to remember all the rules of writing. We used to have debates about how to cut out all the "was/were" usages from our manuscripts. Taking out all the "was/were" and rewriting sure made for some awkward and twisted sentences. We worried out how many adverbs might be allowable. We argued on whether we should stray from "said/asked" as dialogue tags into the more inventive "shouted" or "whispered" or other form of label for speaking. We counted each exclamation mark and wondered if there was a magic number of them that was too many for an agent to let slip past. Some even preached against using any -ing verbs. In other words, we sweated the small stuff.

There is an art to teaching yourself to avoid "to be" verbs and using action verbs instead. It really didn't come naturally to me at first. But trying to remove ninety-five percent of them was a mistake. Oh, I still avoid them as much as possible and keep them out of description the best I can, but now I've relaxed as a writer and know they aren't the ending of all things. It's all right if "was/were" slips in, especially in character inner thoughts. It feels more unnatural not to have them.

The same with dialogue tags. A few "he commanded" in place of "he said" never killed anything. I'm no longer frightened by the sight of an 'ly word in my manuscript, though I do avoid pairing them with the dialogue tags. I have learned not to let my characters shout loudly for example. :-) 

My editor actually add exclamation marks in places during our content edit of Grudging and told me they are okay when needed. They aren't the bane of edit/agent existence as I'd supposed.

I was particularly fixated on cutting all the filtering from my manuscripts. It was my writing religion. They are extra word count after all, not really needed. As bad as the crutch words like 'just, even, still and back." I struck out all the "she heard, he looked, and they knew." But now on my sixth manuscript, I let a few of these despicable blackguards filters slip back in. They have their uses and can be helpful at establishing character after a POV change.

The critique group no longer points out semi-colons, determine not to use too many. My editor changed many of the ones I had to dashes. Dashes seem to be the new cool tool. But using semi-colons no longer scares me. They are just another punctuation.

Yes, there are rules to the pure writing side, the putting words to paper creativity. And sweating the small stuff at first and learning to follow those rules is part of the process of growing as a writer.

Because rules are meant to be broken. And the good thing about experience is it gives you the instinct to know when is the right time to break the rules and add that adverb. Practice may never makes perfect in writing, but it does give the confidence to stop sweating the small stuff. 

Or maybe it means you've conquered the small stuff.

Where are you on the journey? Do you sweat the small stuff yet? Don't worry if you do. It leads to better things!

Getting the Call with Jackie Yeager

There's no better way to start the New Year right then with a Call post. Let's start the year with inspiration and see what blooms! 

I have news that I can finally share...

I have an agent!!!

After 8 years of writing, revising, querying, waiting, hoping, dreaming, and wishing to find the perfect literary agent to represent me and my middle grade work, I am thrilled to finally say…

I am now represented by the amazing Rebecca Angus of Golden Wheat Literary!

Please excuse me while I faint a little on the keyboard of my laptop. And then pinch myself, because I’m still overwhelmed and shocked that I’m not dreaming any of this. I mean 8 years, three manuscripts and loads of rejections in a supremely competitive marketplace has been my world until one week ago!

If you’re interested to read on, I’ll share with you the story of how my writing career changed in one normal day. Just one. It wasn’t too long ago that I mentioned on this blog that I’ve never dreaded Mondays the way many people do. I see each Monday as a day full of endless possibilities for the week to come. ( A little sappy, I know!) At the time though, I had no idea how true that statement would soon become for me.

My writing journey began eight years ago with a middle grade manuscript and a dream to become a published author. I whipped out an entire novel in 6 months flat and sent it out to one literary agent after another, positive that each one would be the one. If I knew then that it would actually take me three manuscripts, many more revisions, countless rejections and all this time to get to this point, I’m not sure I would have pressed on. Wow, am I glad I’m a patient person.

So how exactly did this big moment finally happen for me?

In May of 2011, I was in the process of querying my second novel. I was also fresh off a trip to the University Maryland for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals (a creative problem solving competition) with my team of 11 year-olds. It was an unforgettable experience and I decided right then, that I needed to write a new middle grade story. Not about Odyssey of the Mind specifically but about 5 kids who embark on an unforgettable journey. What that journey would be, I wasn’t yet sure, but I knew that it had to be special. It had to be amazing. It had to be over the top.

And so I spent the next year brainstorming what this story should look like. I began drafting in the spring of 2012, and by late spring of 2013 I had a completed draft and somewhat revised manuscript. I wasn’t ready to query yet though. The story needed polishing, and many more revisions.

I continued to revise over the summer and in the fall I found an amazing soon to be published critique partner on a blog I had been a long time reader of, Miss Snark's First Victim. And though separated by hundreds of miles, she was able to help make the story stronger. She also walked me through her publishing process. I learned so much from her and made a special friend as well. Faithful readers to this site will know I’m talking about Beth Hautala, author of the amazing MG novel, Waiting For Unicorns. I am so grateful for her early feedback on this book.

While Beth was reading for me, I began work on my query letter, knowing that I’d be sending it out to literary agents  eventually. Soon after, I saw that a well- respected agent was hosting a query letter event—a mock slush pile read. In it, she would tell participating writers whether or not she would reject it if it came across her desk (and why) or if she would request additional pages. I was anxious to hear what she thought because she had requested the full of my second novel ( and eventually passed) the year before. To my shock and surprise my letter was one of 5 out of 616 that received a request for the full manuscript! As in, she wanted to read the whole MS, giving me a shot at representation (again)!

Say what?? I nearly fell off my chair when I got that email.

So naturally I panicked because this story had been read by no one yet. (Except a few chapters by Beth, but I hadn’t gotten her feedback yet). My two critique groups for my earlier manuscripts had kind of disbanded and I hadn’t found anyone else to read  for me yet. My husband, like the Prince Charming with no writing experience that he is, offered to read it—to at least let me know about any glaring mistakes. So on a business flight across country, he emailed me and texted me page numbers where he needed clarification and where he saw typos. I was so thankful for his sharp eye and support on the fly!

Months later, the agent politely declined to represent me. But what she offered instead was priceless. She emailed me pages of feedback detailing the strengths of the MS and her suggestions for how to make it stronger.  She loved the concept, characters, and story but advised me to make some changes to make it strong enough for representation  before querying other agents. She saw potential but not for her own list. I couldn’t believe an agent would take the time to help a writer who she had no plans to represent.

It took me over a year (with work and family commitments) to make the changes based on Beth’s feedback and the agent’s feedback too. It was a frustrating time because the changes were not major but I had little time to work on it! But as I chipped away (lots of late nights and early mornings) I saw my manuscript  improving.

But still my manuscript was not ready. Call me picky but I knew it needed more work.

Enter fall of 2014. A new reader of this blog contacted me about becoming critique partners. She and I were in similar situations. We both wrote MG. We both had written several manuscripts. We both had received countless rejections, but we both also had a fiery determination to improve and make our stories stronger.  We clicked right away, and I knew at once that not only would her feedback be invaluable, her friendship would be too. And I was right! The feedback I got from Melyssa Mercado was spot on and amazingly insightful. My story is what it is because of her and I value her friendship and support immensely. I began the querying process soon after, even though Mel was still working on my chapters. I couldn’t help it. I knew it was too soon but I was impatient and had waited so long to get this story out there.

So I sent the first round of queries out – 6 in all and got one partial request.  That agent eventually passed so I stopped querying. I did however participate in my first Twitter pitch event, #Pitmad. It was a great experience. I made many new great writer friends, received two requests on my pitch, and soon submitted my query and pages to those agents. One requested additional pages, but ultimately she passed as well.

During this time, I also submitted to Pitch Wars, an event hosted by Brenda Drake, where published authors can choose to mentor you in order to make your manuscript perfect and attract the attention of agents. I was not chosen, but the feedback on my query letter and first chapter was extremely helpful. Each mentor had a fresh perspective and made me look at my story in a new way. It was just the kick in the pants my query letter and opening pages needed.

Throughout the winter, I worked hard to revise based on those comments and Mel’s feedback too, but decided to wait on submitting until she was finished with my book.

In May 2015, after Mel finished, I began round 2. I queried six more agents. This time, I received no requests. Discouraged, I began to think I was pitching this book all wrong—again.

In June, I decided to enter the next #PitMad Twitter event, in hopes of attracting the attention of agents (again). I received several favorites on my pitches this time, three from small presses, one from an agent who had already passed on my MS, and one from Jessica Schmeidler at Golden Wheat Literary, a brand new literary agency. Intrigued, I submitted to Jessica the first three chapters and synopsis, and waited for her response.

Soon after, in July, I changed my query letter and my opening pages and decided to go ahead with round three—another six agents. I received a few rejections from these and honestly just waited for the rest of the rejections to come in.

Weeks later, I learned that Pitch Wars, the mentor competition I had entered last year was coming up. I decided to enter, thinking even if I didn’t get picked for mentoring, I may get useful feedback on why my query letter and opening pages were not hooking the right agent for my book. (As I did the year before.) So I decided not to query another agent or enter another contest until I got their feedback. I figured it was a waste of time anyway. If my query and opening pages weren’t strong enough, why bother? So, I spent the next week polishing my submission materials for Pitch Wars.

But around 7am on July 15^th, I woke up, glanced at my Twitter feed, and noticed another pitch party was happening that day, #Pit2Pub. I wasn’t at all prepared to participate in this one. I didn’t have a ton of pitches ready and I didn’t feel like being tethered to Twitter all day, getting my hopes up once again. Besides, I had decided enough was enough for a while. But something convinced me to throw a couple of pitches out anyway and see what happens.

So I tweeted two pitches. Just two. Definitely not enough to catch an agent’s eye as the fast moving twitter feed rolled by. I actually did get two favorites though, but from small e-book publishers. I was happy they were interested, but really I was still holding out hope that an agent would fall in love with my book and help me get it traditionally published.

The next day, On July 16^th, I got a notification from Twitter. I had another favorite on my pitch! And it was from an agent, Rebecca Angus. I looked her up and (almost) to my dismay, I realized she was also an agent at Golden Wheat Literary. Translation: It was the same agency that I had already submitted my chapters to, not another agency interested in my book. But I was excited thinking that maybe my book would be a good fit for their agency since now two agents there had favorited my pitches! So...since Jessica had not yet responded about my book, I sent a her a message asking how I should proceed. I also thanked Rebecca for her interest but pointed out that Jessica had my chapters already. Later that day, Jessica forwarded my chapters to Rebecca, whom she thought might be a better fit for my book.

Okay then. I was excited, but not jumping for joy. Why? Well, lots of agents had read the opening chapters of my manuscript—16 so far. And they had all rejected it. And I had been through this whole process with my other two manuscripts also, so I was used to not getting my hopes up. But still the wait began—again!

On July 22^nd, I received an email from Rebecca Angus. She told me she loved my first few chapters and would like to read the full manuscript if it was still available! So of course I did a mini happy dance and sent her the full within the next few minutes.

For days I tried to forget that my book baby was in Rebecca’s hands, tried to forget that she could be the agent that finally loved it as much as me, tried to ward off negative thoughts and stay positive. But it was hard! I researched Golden Wheat Literary. I stalked Rebecca. Lol She followed me on Twitter! (gasp!) I followed her right back. I followed her clients. And mostly I tried to not get my hopes up. But I realized a LONG time ago, that doesn’t work anyway. Think positive. Picture the outcome you desire, blah, blah, blah…

A few weeks passed and suddenly it was August 10^th.

A Monday. The day of the week most full of possibilities. :)

Rebecca emailed me in the afternoon. She said she had read halfway through my manuscript and adored it so far. She wondered if it was still available and asked me a question.

I practically passed out. She adored it so far! She adored it so far! OMG she adored it so far!

I thanked her for her kind words, told her I hoped the rest could live up to her expectations, answered her question and then waited to hear from her again.  And then I held my breath.

But I didn’t have to hold it long.

Rebecca emailed me later that evening. She told me she had finished my manuscript and it was everything she hoped it would be and more! She said it again in all caps. She loved my story so much and wanted to set up a call to talk about representation. She wanted to call me!

I read her email and my eyes filled.  My breath caught and I almost broke down. Was this really happening to me? Had Rebecca just offered to represent me?

I raced down the stairs to find my husband (my prince Charming who saved the day with this manuscript two years earlier). He screamed and hugged me. I beamed and called for my kids. They screamed and hugged me too. I turned around in circles, and spewed some incoherent words, not sure what to do next.

I tried to respond to Rebecca’s email but all I could think to write was OMG! OMG! OMG!  So I decided to wait awhile before drafting that response!

Eventually I remembered how to think again and we set up The Call for three days later. That night we spoke on the phone for over two hours. She told me what she loved about my book, her very specific plan for submitting it, and more. So much more. We clicked immediately and I knew from the first few moments that Rebecca and Golden Wheat Literary would be the perfect fit for me and for my MG story.

She had been an Odyssey of the Mind kid. She understood the over the top world I had tried to create in my story. She loved the voice. She loved the characters. She loved the themes. She loved the futuristic elements. She loved the conflict. Listening to her gush about my little story, I felt like she loved it as much as I did. And I knew without a doubt that she was the right advocate for me and for my work.

At the end of The Call, she officially offered to represent me and a half hour later, I had a contract in my hand! Rebecca gave me time to think it over an urged me to let any agents who had chapters of my manuscript know that I had an offer on the table and give them a chance to respond.

As you can imagine, the next week was agonizingly slow. I nudged the other agents and had a request from one of the top ones on my list.  Ultimately though, my decision was easy. I really no longer wanted representation by any of the other agents. I had an offer from my dream agent. I didn’t want to wait! But I did wait the appropriate time. It was professional courtesy after all.

Rebecca and I corresponded all week. She answered my neurotic questions and sent me amazing messages about my book on Twitter. I was anxious and excited and just wanted to make it official.

Finally, I contacted Rebecca Angus, literary agent extraordinaire, thanked her again for the offer, told her I would be honored to work with her and Golden Wheat Lit, and signed the contract. Then I covered my face and let out a breath I had been holding for eight long years.

I have an agent! I have an agent! I have an agent! And I feel so very blessed!

So for all of you who think your time will never come, think again…

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”  ~ Walt Disney

Thank you to all of you (my husband, my children, my family, my friends, my critique partners, my writing peeps, and those involved in PitchWars and #Pit2Pub) who believed that I could reach this milestone. It means everything to me.

So now the hard work begins.  My book isn't on bookstore bookshelves just yet. But at least this is a start! :)

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Jackie Yeager writes middle grade magical realism, where anything is possible. Her stories are set in the real world, but have a hint of something spectacular too. She is represented by literary agent, Rebecca Angus of Golden Wheat Literary.

She lives in Rochester, NY with her husband (her real life prince charming), and their two teenage children (who happen to be royally amazing). When she’s not living in her own fairy tale world, writing, or hanging out at her website, she spends her time ghostwriting e-books and blog posts for businesses, reading, running, and cheering for her family at their sporting events. She’s also the coach of a middle school Odyssey of the Mind team who recently competed at the World Finals!

Her website, www.swirlandspark.com is the site for kids (and kids at heart) who like to write. There you’ll find middle grade book recommendations, writing tips for new writers, writing tools for tweens, and her weekly blog posts.  Twitter