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Friday, August 19, 2011

Contest Alerts, Agent News, WriteOnCon Highlights!

Happy Friday! I’m a bit exhausted from staying up WAY past my usual 9:30/10:00 bedtime, thanks to the awesome Forums at WriteOnCon, so let’s just dive into today’s info.

AGENT CONTESTS:

Mandy Hubbard Pitch Contest- Hosted by We Do Write, this contest ends at midnight tonight (August 19), so head on over and post your Twitter-sized pitch if you write Middle Grade or Young Adult.

Vickie Motter Pitch Contest- Hosted by Monica BW at Love YA, this is open to YA and adult fiction (fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic). No Middle Grade. Opens at 10:00 AM (EST) on August 22 and closes at 50 entries.

AGENT NEWS:

Holly Root of Waxman Agency (click Holly's name to go to her Literary Ramble's page) is relocating to the West coast and will be taking a query break from August 22- September 30, so if you are dying to query her and can’t wait until October, now’s the time.

Suzie Townsend of FinePrint Literary Management tweeted that she’s closing to queries for a hiatus on September 1st, so you’ve got about a week left to query her.

Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency (click and scroll down for her bio) was part of an awesome panel discussion (see link below), and she announced that if you attended WriteOnCon, you can query her (include that you were an attendee in your letter). This is AWESOME, because she’s a mega-cool agent who usually only takes queries from referral or conferences. Awesome.

My Highlights from WriteOnCon

There were so many incredible sessions at this year’s WriteOnCon and I’m so impressed by the ladies who put it together (*virtual round of applause*). The best part is that you can still access everything, even if you didn’t get to attend things this week. Below are just a few of the highlights according to Jess:

Vlog from Lindsay Leavitt on “The Debut Year”- Very honest and informative. Good background/realistic info for anyone who dreams of being published.

Vlog from Shelley Moore Thomas—She's hilarious and has Roald Dahl and JK Rowling as guest stars (Yoda too!). Shelley’s awesome and this vlog illustrates perfectly why she’s the Storyqueen. She talks about making the transition to different writing categories (PB to Middle Grade, etc.). Visit her blog HERE.

Moments that Matter, Matt Myklusch— This one was very special to me. It’s about finding a way to insert moments for your readers and really develop characters so that the reader cares… not just using characters as a vehicle to get through the plot. Plus, he used an audio clip from A Few Good Men.

Beth Revis Vlog- This down-to-Earth and sweet NYT Bestseller actually shows you her stack of drafts and explains why and how you can succeed as a writer. Truly inspiring.

Live Chat with Barbara Poelle and Holly Root- Without a doubt, this was the most entertaining Live Chat of the conference. Read the transcript—it’s hilarious and informative!

Live Chat: Michael Bourret, Marietta Zacker, Ammi-Joan Paquette: This was another chat that stuck out to me in terms of some really good questions and great answers.

There are so many more I’d love to mention, but you can peruse the whole event list at writeoncon.com

Have a great weekend!

28 comments:

  1. Wow! Todays post is jam packed with great info!
    Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Thanks for all the links! I attended both of the live chats that you linked to, along with the Sara Megibow chat and the ABLA chat. (They were lots of fun!)

    I also loved the Beth Revis vlog- it's a bit comforting, seeing how much she wrote before getting published. :)

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  3. Wow! Your blog is SO helpful! I'm glad I followed your comment back here!

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  4. Thanks for the post and Happy Weekend :-)

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  5. Wasn't able to check out WriteOn like I would have liked, but you've done us a service to pass on these links--thanks so much!

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  6. I so enjoyed my second WriteonOnCon. So many wonderful things in three days!!

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  7. WriteOnCon looks fabulous! Can't believe I missed it, but thanks for summing it up.

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  8. so helpful Jess! I have limited wireless so it's great to be able to see recaps like this when it doesn't crash on me:)

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  9. Wow, you're very up-to-date on agent news. Groovy:) Cool blog too:)

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  10. Oh my do I have a lot to catch up on!!! I love it that WriteOnCon is available even if you couldn't attend. So excited that all these names are starting to sound familiar to me! ;)

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  11. I stayed up too late every night this week and spent every possible minute reading and watching and listening to WriteOnCon. My poor kids! (Then again, I did make time for them every afternoon, including a trip to the amusement park.) It was so awesome. So much info.

    Thanks for your round-up!
    Vicki

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  12. Geez, where were you when I was going to college? I really could have used someone like you to go to my classes when I just couldn't drag myself out of bed, then lend me their notes. :)

    Thanks a lot!

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  13. Thanks for the links. I have two days left for Holly Root. Better hurry! Not much more time for Suzie Townsend either.

    I enjoyed the conferences, especially Beth Revis's vlog.

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  14. Great eh!!! I had a crazy week and missed all the fun, but wow! Thanks to some great friends I heard all about it. Incredible. And went over and read all the neato things!

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  15. Thanks for all the great info!

    You won something at my blog... :)

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  16. Ammi-Joan asked for a query and 5 pages from me once. I took it as a huge compliment, including the lovely rejection feedback she sent me :) She is very very cool indeed!

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  17. As always, you have the most amazing set of links. I just wish I had something that was ready to query!

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  18. Wasn't WriteOnCon the best? For us Aussies it's invaluable. I was looking for different stuff this year to last year, and there was still a pile of amazingly useful info for me. And that's before I get into the benefits of feeling part of a community!

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  19. I think my favorite was the vlog on failure. So encouraging!

    ~Debbie

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  20. WriteOnCon really was terrific. A LOT to take in, and I missed some of the things you posted here, so can't wait to go check them out. I also really liked Sarah Frances Hardy's vlog!

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  21. As ALWAYS you have so much good and helpful info! Thank you!

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  22. Thanks for the post re: Erin Murphy Literary - yipee!!!!

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  23. Thanks for your links. WriteOnCon was wonderful!

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  24. I just had to let you know that I am finally getting around to WriteOnCon, and I saved your post from all those days ago so I would know where to start. Thanks for the direction!

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