Beauty Queens review

I've heard so much about Libba Bray that, when I saw this cover, I snatched it up and devoured it one evening. I cannot wait to read her others, including Going Bovine, which makes me think of Far Side cartoons.

Blurb: Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to e-mail. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

What I liked: Everything. I LOVED this book - the sly parodies in each footnote of the author's alternative world, the over-the-top characters (one girl had an airplane tray lodged in her forehead the whole time!), the unflinching way Ms. Bray looked at teen sexuality and all its pitfalls, the jars of exploding exfoliating cream, the bodacious reality TV pirates who were vanquished in every sense of that word...Libba Bray's sense of humor is sarcastic, skewering and completely soft. Her writing snaps with life. She's on her characters' side, even when they make horrific mistakes. Or accidentally overdose on tranquilizer darts and go completely crazy. Whatev. There's room for them all in this book.

What I didn't like: Ummmmm...nothing? Is that acceptable to say in a review? *taps chin, stares into distance* Well, the ending is a bit out there. I guess. If you're twisting my arm to write something.

Fun stuff: Check out Libba Bray interviewing herself here. And her book trailer here.

Critique winner, upcoming posts and bling

Thanks to all of you who commented and entered Becky's drawing for a free, ten page critique. The totally random winner is:

Larissa!!

I know Becky will have fabulous advice!

The week ahead will be tres exciting (snuck a little high school French in there as I am wont to do in times of high excitement) because 1. on Wednesday, I am reviewing Libba Bray's Beauty Queens, which is so funny my throat is sore from snorting, 2. aspiring author Lisa Regan talks with me Friday about how she snagged her agent AND 3....wait for it...

Lisa's agent, Jeanie Pantelakis of Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency is sponsoring a 50-word Hook for Your Book contest!!!
*minor hyperventilation followed by chocolate intake*
This is for finished manuscripts only, in the mystery and thriller genres.
The contest begins this Friday so you have several days to get your editing groove on and buff up/spin down your hook to 50 soul-snagging words. When it's so shiny you need sunglasses to read it, head over to Lisa's blog and toss it into the comments. She'll have more details there. In her interview here, Lisa will share insider information tips on catching Jeanie's interest, or at least what worked for her. Be sure to check the Sullivan Maxx site as well, accessed by clicking on Jeanie's name. Contest deadline is August 19.

Thanks to Marcie for nominating me for the Liebster (aka newbie blogger) award. She's got an incredible tale of perseverance and pluck she's turning into a memoir. I can't wait to see it on the shelves!

Per the award guidelines, here are my nominees:

JJ DeBendicitis, aka Query Goblin. Check out her interview in this very blog and then go submit your query to her. She's a Mistress of Query Art.

Tracy Jorgenson, who is hosting a stupendously creative contest on her blog where she films a scene from your book! *blinking in awe* SOOO cool, words fail me.

Rebecca Hamilton who offers free editing on a regular basis on her blog, Free Editing for Writers (just so you get the drift right away). She's also very close to getting her MS published in a nontraditional way. Check out her author blog - linked from the site above - to read her story but I'll sum it up on one word: fearless.

The wondrous Taryn Albright
who puts my (former) 18 year-old self to shame. This girl writes, edits and blogs like a maniac. If I'd had an ounce of her gumption when I was her age, I'd be the freakin' president. Seriously. She's generous with her critiques so if you need a teen eye to assess your stuff, ask her. She works cheap. For now.

Interview with Becky Wallace part two, crit giveaway continues...

Yesterday, aspiring author Becky Wallace filled us in on her revision process and query stats. Today she's sharing about snagging her agent. She's willing to give away one, 10 page critique. To join in on the random drawing, please do three things: be a follower of this blog and post a link to this post either on Twitter or your own blog. Then in the comments, include your name, genre, title and email.

What made you choose to query Jennifer Laughran?
I did a lot of research about agents. I read blogs, comments, interviews, stalked client lists, and finally bought a Publisher’s Marketplace subscription. If you’ve read Jenn’s blog (literaticat.blogspot.com), you’ll notice her truly awesome/hysterically funny personality. Then you’ll look at her sidebar and realize how incredible her clients are. I was flattered that she would even consider me.

And if we’re being completely honest (and that’s the sort of girl I am) her sales record was freaking phenomenal for my genre. Jenn is agent-rockstar-extraordinaire and she was excited about my book! How could I not pick her?


Tell us about The Call.
Imagine sprinting through the Everglades at noon. It’s humid, the air is close, trees with twisted limbs and draped with moss snag your hair, and you’re pretty sure an alligator is stalking you. But you keep running because something totally life-changing is waiting for you in the next clearing. Yeah…that’s how I felt when Jenn called. Sweat literally dripped off my body (I know…eww). I was pumped full of adrenalin and terrified at the same time. What if she doesn’t like me? What if I say something stupid? What if I can’t think of any questions to ask? What if I can’t remember what my book is about?

I was shaky and stupid throughout the entire conversation. Even though I had a list of questions, I could barely read what I’d written. The words, “I’m-on-the-phone-with-an-agent-and-she-wants-to-represent-my-book-Is-this-for-real?” kept cycling through my head.

Honestly, it’s a good thing I didn’t go into cardiac arrest. I hope I sounded a little bit professional. A little. Maybe.

Ooh, I totally get sweaty when I’m nervous, too. I’m not a fan of sticky so the Everglades image made me wince. I’m guessing the elation set in after the phone call…

And now what? Are you on submission yet? If so, how many versions of your MS did you write? And how long did that take?

Yes, I’m on submission now. I think it’s been ten whole days. And it’s every bit as awful as querying. Maybe worse. I’m trying not to get my hopes up.

See the thing that no one tells you that even if you have an agent (even an agent-rockstar-extraordinaire) your book may still not sell. An author I totally love and respect has had five excellent books on sub and none of them ever got picked up. She’s had an agent for four years and just sold her first novel. That’s my new biggest fear (well…that and my completely unreasonable fear of the ocean because sharks live there).

So after my six initial drafts, I rewrote SIC following Jenn’s notes. It was the hardest revision because it was the most severe. I removed four characters (one that was practically my true character love), added one new character, changed the villain completely, and rewrote the ending.

I was on a pretty tight deadline to get it done—not one Jenn gave me. When I got her revision notes, I was seventeen days from my due date with my third baby. I wanted my book finished and sent to her before Critter No. 3 joined us. And somehow I managed to get it done.

Nothing like an impending baby to get your groove on. Smart woman to push thru…haha, a little pun there…*snort*

Most important thing ever to share with the agentless-but-hopefuls?

Can I give more than one important thing? Please? Okay, good.

1. Find a good critique partner. This person needs to be completely honest with you—someone who is liberal with criticism and light on praise. Someone who will poke holes in your plot, tell you when your characters are blah, and when your imagery fails to do its job. This person will become one of your best friends and assets. You may not like your crit partners all the time, but you will love them for the ways they make you better.

2. Put on some armor. This is a tough industry and it’s so, so easy to give up when someone tells you that your work sucks. And it will happen. Don’t quit. Toughen up.

3. Realize that everyone is better than you at something. Every time I read Cassandre Clare, John Greene, Kiersten White, or any of a dozen other authors, I think, “Holy crap. I suck so bad. Why can’t I produce those images or make my readers laugh or have such an awesome voice.” But you have something—you can do something that other writers can’t. Find that something and WORK IT. Then work on your weak areas.

4. Go with your gut. Although other people’s opinions are important, sometimes you just have to stick with your instincts. I don’t even want to think about the hours I poured into writing and rewriting my query letter when the original letter would have done the job. The same thing goes for your story. At the end of the day it’s your work. You need to be able to live with your final product. If you aren’t proud of it, you won’t stick with it. And you need a story you’re going to stick to.

I especially like this last one. You are a class act, Becky, and may The Book Deal be soon!
So post away, ducklings mine, and perhaps you’ll be the next of Becky’s critters to snag an agent.

How I snagged my agent AND crit giveaway!!

Today I’m joined by the lovely Becky Wallace, an aspiring author repped by Jenn Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. I’ve been following Ms. Becky’s blog for a while, caught by her upbeat, positive attitude in the midst of raising three young children at home…including an adorable new baby. Her book, Saw it Coming, a YA paranormal romance, is currently out on sub and to keep her mind off this terrifying/mind-blowing exciting fact, she’s willing to crit the first 10 pages of YOUR MS. You lucky ducks! To enter, please do three things: be a follower of this blog and post a link of this opportunity to Twitter or your blog. Then in the comments, post your name, genre, title and email address. Becky will pick a random winner!

How long were you seriously writing Saw It Coming before you decided it was time to query for your agent?

I’m a super sloooooooooowwwww writer. It took eight months of real, hard-core writing to get through the first 30,000 words. Then I participated in NANOWRIMO and wrote 35,000 words in November and the first two weeks of December. I was very, very, very lucky to find a critique partner who believed in the story as much as I did. She pushed me to write three chapters every day. It was insane. I was insane (probably still am a little). I ordered all my Christmas gifts from Amazon and fed my kids grilled cheese or mac n’ cheese pretty much every day. Then I spent two months rewriting, revising, beta-ing, and rewriting some more.

And this will probably sound crazy-masochistic, but I’d do it all again.

Well, we writers are all about masochism enjoying the creative process.

How did you know your MS was ready for querying?

I don’t think a manuscript is ever actually ready. I wrote six drafts, read it aloud a half-dozen times, sent it to five different betas, poured over every word. When I got to the point where I was quibbling over adjectives (or debating whether or not to rewrite the entire thing) I decided it was time to query.

How many drafts of your query did you do? Did you use any sites for feedback or just beta readers?

When I say I wrote 27 drafts of my query, I’m not kidding. The craziest part: the query that landed Jennifer Laughran was almost identical to the very first one I wrote. I posted my queries on AbsoluteWrite, Nathan Bransford’s forum, and on Writer’s Digest.

What were your query stats? Did you ever go back and revise your query based on those stats?

I sent out 35 queries, had a lot of form rejections, ended up with ten requests for fulls, and six offers of representation. I sent out two different versions of my query. A really, really short one (180 words total) and an average length one (256 words). I got three requests from the short query, but also the majority of rejections. Then I sent out the longer query and had much better results.

Good to know! I’ve heard the best length for Qs is right around 250 words…


To enter Becky's critique giveaway, please do three things: be a follower of this blog and post a link of this opportunity to Twitter or your blog. Then in the comments, post your name, genre, title and email address. Becky will pick a random winner!

Check in tomorrow for part deux!

Crit giveaway, agent contest, WriteOnCon AND what I wish I'd known

*drum roll* Becky Wallace is joining me tomorrow for a two-parter interview on how she snagged her agent. This lady is soo talented she received SIX - count'em 6!! - offers of representation for her YA novel, Saw It Coming. She's giving away a 10-page crit so stop by over the next few days and sign up.

Upcoming debut author Rachel McClellan is hosting a summer contest with agent Lauren Ruth from BookEnds, the agency that hosts one of my all-time fav writer blogs. You have until Aug. 11 to submit.

Also coming up is WriteOnCon's annual conference with extremely cool opportunities to network and capture agents' notice. If you haven't already bookmarked/joined their site, go on over and check it out! Be sure to sign up for their forums so when it comes time to get agent feedback on your query on Aug. 17, you're ready to go.

Thinking about submitting to contests makes me think of querying, which now has the same connotations has going for my annual exam. *shivers of dread* Because even if I write a jaw-dropping query letter, that's not going to hook me an agent. It's all about the pages...and the concept. I knew the former, of course. But nobody told me there's such a thing as market saturation. Agent extraordinaire Holly Root tweeted today that: Telepathy has become so common in my query pile that if it's stated the MC is unusual, I think, "Why? Is that weird?" And my last MS, the one I've laid to rest, had a MC with telepathy. Sigh. So as you, my handful of followers, look over your MS, don't do what I did. Don't even start writing until you're sure your idea is unique. Write what you know but be aware that if everyone else is writing about the same thing, your chances of publication (unless you are the vaunted exception to the rule, which I am not) are slimmer than they already are for aspiring authors.

Dipnetting

My son and I went dipnetting this weekend. It was a first for both of us and a hellacious/satisfying experience. Kind of like writing.

The photo above illustrates how dipnetting works. It was taken by my friend Stephen, who also took us to Fish Creek and showed us the ropes. Basically we stand in the water with a gigantic, five-foot net and wait for fish to swim in. This year we’ve had a record red salmon return . (Some say that’s due to the fact the Japanese fishing fleet was wiped out from the last tsunami. I felt so awful for that nation but there is a silver cloud to every lining…especially for those of us who love salmon. More survived this year and now we’re reaping the benefit.)

But I digress. The photo above is taken in Kenai, where dipnetting is akin to a Hawaiian vacation. Here is a link to a slideshow of where I went this weekend: http://bit.ly/mR9Lw5
One word: mud. To my waist. Not just any mud – the kind that traps you and slowly kills you as the tide comes in. And when the creek’s tide came in all the way to the tree line (photos in link are of the creek at low tide) I had visions of drowning via glacial mud stuckage. Or I’d lose my waders, my pants and undies and have to swim for my life, arriving on shore nekkid to explain to a trooper why he shouldn’t cite me for indecent exposure.

To avoid this fate, I left my son to carry the net and our 30 lbs of fish (he wore overall waders and is much taller than I am) and wrestled my way through the woods back to the car. No trail. Lots of devil’s club. Despite our fishing success, I wondered WTH I was doing. Was the experience really worth all this trauma?

The day was hard, embarrassing, filthy and also rewarding, exhilarating and a privilege. Only Alaska residents get to do this. We caught four salmon – not many, comparatively, but we’re the only two who eat fish in my family – and my son and I had periodic fits of laughter at our own incredible filthiness/fish blood coverage. He had a blast. I know it’ll be one of his favorite summer memories. And I’m in it!

And yes, my writing life right now is just like dipnetting. I’m wondering WTH I’m doing. It’s hard, it’s periodically embarrassing in a kind of nekkid-in-a-crowd-of-fishermen way. People around me are catching fish and I’m not yet even ready to put my net in the water. I worry my timing is off, that I’m not strong enough to haul in that huge net when I do hook an agent.

But writing, like dipnetting, is addictive. I’m going for it. The rewards are worth the risk of getting in over my head.

Hereafter review

I picked up Hereafter by Tara Hudson a few days ago because a) the cover was awesome (I'm shallow like that) and b) it's about ghosts. There's a wee ghostie in my MS and I've started reading other YA to see how authors treat them. It took me about four hours to read the whole thing.

Blurb: Can there truly be love after death?
Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live.
Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.
Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.


What I liked: The debut author did a great job with her first three chapters. Her cliffhanger at the end of ch. 1 was a super hook. She's nailed her audience by focusing all about the boy because this MC's main drive in her afterlife is to connect with another human. And later, to avoid the baddie.

What I didn't like: At times the writing drags, then speeds up unpredictably. There were a few anachronisms within the ghost context: why couldn't the MC float through walls, etc.? Why does gravity still work on her? Obviously, my idea of how ghosts work is different from Ms. Hudson's, which is part of the fun of supernatural fiction.

In the end: There are still a lot of unanswered questions at the conclusion, which made me think the author is setting up for a sequel. Examining my reaction to this pointed out the fine line between leaving loose-ends and frustrating a reader. It's difficult to do, especially for a debut author and in my case, I was left more with frustration than can't-wait-for-the-sequel taste in my mouth.

But if you've read it and have a different opinion, do share!