Big announcement!

I am so excited to announce that I have officially been offered and have accepted a contract from Etopia Press!  I don't think I need to tell you, but I am so excited about this! I have personally read several books published by Etopia so I can speak as to the quality of their work, and their covers have a reputation of being some of the hottest around town.

So how did I come to even have my work considered by them, you might ask?  By a contest, of course!  Remember back at PitchMAS when I had some bites from editors?  Etopia was one of those fishies, friends.  I am living proof that these things work.  And since I am still unagented I will absolutely be utilizing them again in the future.  Coming up in March is Pitch Maddness and I'm finishing up my latest manuscript right now and fellas, it's even better than my first.  It's the first in a series, actually, but that's a different post for a different day.

To mark the occasion I started my very own author page on Facebook *all kinds of feels*.  So if you feel so inclined to show some love, come on over here to keep up with the latest information on HEALING THE BAYOU's release.  Right now, you can see what makes my Paranormal Romance so uniquely me.  Cheers!

PitMad

So I thought I was contested out, Pitchmas was a little overwhelming for me but since I haven't heard back from any of those that requested I decided what the heck?  Let's dive into Pitchmas' virtually identical cousin, PitMad. 
Although not as busy as Pitchmas, I managed to score 3 more requests!  I had recently revamped the first few chapters following the advice of my PitchWars mentor, Cora, and was really excited at the instantly noticeable progress.  Two of the requests were partials, and with in an hour both of the responded back asking for a full. Weeee!




So, Internet, how was Pitmad for you??

Debut Author Challenge

You may or may not have noticed that I added a link at the top that says "2014 Reading Challenge" and if you click on it you'll see that in 2014 I've committed to reading a measly 25 books.  After coming across The Story Siren blog I've decided to combine this with the Debut Author Challenge.  I think this is a wonderful way to draw attention to up and coming authors and it excites me to no end to have the opportunity to discover all the fresh talent!  At least half of my book reviews will be done on books from debut authors to meet the 12 required to participate.  Let the fun begin!

PitchWars update!

I am so excited to tell you all that I have been selected as an alternate in PitchWars!!  The unimaginably talented Cora Carmack brought me onto her team and I couldn't be more honored!




For me personally, this is a huge milestone and a much needed accomplishment.  I was beginning to doubt myself, so this came at just the right time.  The other mentors that I had submitted to have already sent me phenomenally helpful advice and even though I'm still waiting on Cora's response I thought I would share something that I have figured out based on what the others had to say:

I had written my query letter as if the person reading had already read the book.  Bad Mary!

None of them said this directly, but from their input it was clear as day.  SO!  What else to do but fix it, right?  I stayed up all night re-writing my query until I was totally satisfied with it and I'll also be sending it to a couple of beta-readers to double check that it makes sense out of context.  PitchWars is already paying off for me, personally, and I would like to extend my greatest thanks to Brenda Drake for making it possible.  And, of course it goes with out saying, I am eternally grateful to ALL of the mentors that gave their time to help the next generation of writers.  You're all awesome!