2012 in Review

Professionally, 2012 has been one helluva year for me. In the space of 12 months, I:

-Landed an agent

-Got a book deal with my dream publishing house

-Completed revisions and copyedits on HEXED

-Outlined, re-outlined, and got 10K into the untitled sequel for HEXED

-Started a blog (328 followers and nearly 55,000 page views—not bad, me thinks!)

-Joined the admin team for OneFourKidLit (our blog launches Jan 1^st, so watch out for it!)

-Co-hosted Christmas in July (12 out of 30 entrants are now agented and one has a book deal with HarpenTeen, but who’s counting).

-Visited Los Angeles for ‘research’

-Met and became fast friends with an insanely awesome group of writerly peeps

-Probably a few more things, but I can’t remember at the moment.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe all that happened in just 12 months (Or that as successful a year could ever be duplicated again). Thanks to everyone who helped to make this year such a smashing success and who cheered me on along the way. I LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks especially to my sister Brandy Allard and my CP/co-conspirator Ruth Lauren Steven, who are both the bomb diggity and deserve showers of accolades, puppies, and shrines in their honor for everything they’ve done for me.

Now . . . I went into last year without much more of plan than to get my book published, but inspired by a blog post from Marissa Meyer, I’m going into 2013 with a few goals:

   1.    WRITE MORE. This seems obvious, right? But looking back at the last year, I realized I only have 1/10^th of a completed book to my name. There were 3 false starts of various projects, but nothing I can use. That’s not cool. In 2013, I’d like to complete two books: the sequel to HEXED, and SUPER SEKRIT PROJECT. 

   2.    Remain as committed as I have been to this blog and my internet presence in general.

   3.    Get the hell off my iPhone. I mean, I love my phone as much as the next girl, but the thing has a tendency of getting in the way of what’s really important—family. You heard it here first, folks: no iPhones at the dinner table, no iPhones at playgroup, no iPhones unless absolutely necessary!

I have a feeling 2013 is going to be a really exciting year (And not just because I finally get to say my book is coming out next year). Looking forward to great things to come! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! HAVE FUN! DON’T DRIVE AND DRIVE! SERIOUSLY, DON’T!

Query Letter Critique

Original Query Letter

Dear (Mr./Mrs. Agent Name)

Andrea Smith and her friends learn that they have fallen into a killer's trap. It all begins with a prank on a classmate that goes entirely wrong.

As if the prank wasn't bad enough, they accidentally kill the kid that was label a social outcast by their school. So they cover up the murder and lie to the police about it. They think they got away with the crime. But it will catch up with them sooner than they could have imagined.

Little do they know that someone close to the victim was watching them that fateful night. Someone who won't stop at anything to exact revenge. When a couple of Andrea's friends mysteriously disappear, she knows something bad is going on.

After receiving death threats, almost getting shot in a drive-by shooting, and having a strange person reach out to her in cyberspace, now she knows that this killer has hit too close to home. She grows frightened by the day and tries to find out who this person is in order to stop the mayhem.

She wonder if it's one of her friends or a scorned lover from a past relationship only because the killer knows many personal details about her. Andrea must solve the mystery quickly because her own life depends on it.

I recently published an article in Sync magazine. CRUEL SACRIFICES: BITTER SWEET MEMORIES, is a 53,000 word Young Adult novel.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

(Name redacted)

Query Letter After I Got My Grubby Paws On It

Dear (Mr./Mrs. Agent Name)

Andrea Smith and her friends learn that they Unnecessarily wordy have fallen into a killer's trap. It all begins with a prank on a classmate that goes entirely wrong. <I would move this second sentence down so that it’s the start of the next paragraph to highlight the first sentence, which is pretty dang good.

As if the prank wasn't bad enough, they accidentally kill someone the kid that was label a social outcast by their school. Not important. So they cover up the murder and lie to the police about it. They think they got away with the crime. But it will catch up with them sooner than they could have imagined. I hate to say it, but main characters aren’t coming across as very sympathetic here. At first we learn they’ve fallen into a killer’s trap, but actually they themselves are killers (and seemingly unremorseful, immoral ones at that—I would highlight that they cover up the death and lie to the cops because they’re scared, etc., etc., so they don’t come across this way.  

Little do they know that someone close to the victim was watching them that fateful night. Someone who won't stop at anything to exact revenge. When a couple of Andrea's friends mysteriously disappear, she knows something bad is going on. I apologize for the bluntness to come, but the plot so far sounds a little too similar to I Know What You Did Last Summer—a group of teens accidentally kills someone and now a mystery killer is after them, but who?

After receiving death threats, almost getting shot in a drive-by shooting, and having a strange person reach out to her in cyberspace After trying to shoot her, contacting her on the internet comes across as anticlimactic. Reword? , now she knows that this killer has hit too close to home. She grows frightened by the day and tries to find out who this person is in order to stop the mayhem.

She wonder if it's one of her friends or a scorned lover<Scorned lovers doesn’t sound like a YA plot. from a past relationship only because the killer knows many personal details about her. Andrea must solve the mystery quickly because her own life depends on it.

I recently published an article in Sync magazine. <Move this down to after the next sentence. CRUEL SACRIFICES: BITTER SWEET MEMORIES, Just my opinion but the title sounds much better without this addition. More punchy. is a 53,000 word Young Adult novel. What genre? Contemporary? Thriller? 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

(Name redacted)

To be completely honest, this query needs some work. I could have gone more in-depth with my critique but I’m not sure it’d serve much of a purpose as there just doesn’t seem to be enough plot here to carry a whole novel. Perhaps this isn’t the case at all and it’s just how it comes across in the query (Damn query letters! So hard!), but what I’ve read so far seems like a basic plot that could be great if expanded on, but one that has been done before. What it’s missing is the BUT element that would take it to the next level—Andrea and her friends cover up a murder. Now the murderer is after them and they have to find out who is it before their time is up. BUT such and such complication happens. Now what? This is just an example, of course, but hopefully you see what I mean.

Again, very sorry to have been so blunt, but I’ve done so with the sincere hope that it helps push you in the right direction. What I would suggest is linking up with writing groups or a critique partner if you haven’t already done that. Scribophile.com is fantastic and I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Best of luck, author! And have a great New Year.

Best YA Books of 2012

I’ve read A LOT of books this year, so many of them awesome for their own reasons, but I’d be lying if I said it was hard to decide which ones were my favorites. My favorites were so awesome they made the decision easy. They were the books I read in a day, neglected home responsibilities for, fangirled over like a 12-year-old, and recommended to unsuspecting teens browsing my local Chapters. So without further ado, my favorite books of 2012 are (in no particular order):

  1.    Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

  2.    Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

  3.    Cinder by Marissa Meyer

  4.    The Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

  5.    The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

  6.    The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

  7.    That’s it. I could force myself to pick ten but then it wouldn’t really and truly be a list of my absolute favorites.

If you haven’t already read these books, you should. In fact, do that right now. Drop whatever you’re doing and read these books. Then come back here and thank me :D

How about you guys? What were your favorite books of 2012? 

Things That Are Awesome

-Tumblr. I realize I'm super late to the party here, but I finally got myself an account. Follow me for all your .giffing needs!

-The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Again, way late to the party, but I just started reading it and it's friggin' awesome. I'm told the sequel is even better. I can't imagine how that's possible, but I'm excited nonetheless.

-Awesome coincidences. A coworker is moving and wanted to gift me a YA trilogy she thought I'd love (The Gemma Doyle series) so she wouldn't have to lug it across the country. This just so happened to be the exact YA trilogy my editor suggested I read. SCORE!

-This quote: 'If a book is well written, I always find it too short.'--Jane Austen, born today in 1775. And her wisdom still holds true hundreds of years later! 

-Toddlers. Always toddlers. Ben, listening to his chest with mommy's stethoscope: 'I can hear my heartbeep!' Later in the day we drove past an ambulance and he said 'Oh no! Someone has a big boo boo!' <3<3<3

-My Christmas present to myself. I got a little carried away, as you tell. I regret nothing. 

Query Letter Critique

Original Query Letter

Jimmy Rickliefs’ rock star career ends when a drunk driver runs a red light.

In the wake of the near-fatal accident, Jimmy’s shattered body can’t keep up with his job. Permanent injuries from the accident leave him barely able to walk. A brain injury caused seizures. When the emotional impact of his recovery starts tearing his marriage and his friendships apart, he starts to re-think going back to the band.

But when his daughter is born twelve weeks early, Jimmy’s priorities change. His daughter faces an uncertain future; the doctors don’t know if she’ll ever walk or talk. Between Jimmy and his daughter, medical bills are drowning the new family. Jimmy knows that if he quits the band, his wife will carry the financial burden and they could be out on the streets. But if he returns to the band that he loves, he could provide everything his daughter needs. Faced with a quandary between what’s right and what’s safe, Jimmy has to decide if returning to music is worth the risks.

Driven is mainstream/commercial fiction complete at 85,000 words. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Query Letter After I Got My Grubby Paws On It

Jimmy Rickliefs’ rock star career ends when a drunk driver runs a red light. Strong opener! Although, if I’m going to get picky, I have to say the last name sounds made up and not so rockstar-ish.

In the wake of the near-fatal accident, Jimmy’s shattered body can’t keep up with his job. Permanent injuries from the accident  It’s a given how he acquired these injuries since you just mentioned a near-fatal accident. leave him barely able to walk. A brain injury caused seizures You’ve switched tenses here. The rest of the para is present tense (which is correct for a query letter), and here you have past tense. When the emotional impact of his recovery starts tearing his marriage and his friendships apart, he starts to re-think going back to the band. I like this. It’s a nice set-up and I’m curious what’s going to happen next—exactly what you want from your reader!

But when his daughter is born twelve weeks early, Jimmy’s priorities change. I’m going to be honest, this seems like a big shift. You’d not mentioned his wife was pregnant before now—the focus was on Jimmy’s accident and difficult recovery, and so I expected you to built on that. Instead you’ve thrown a completely separate plot into the game. I would mention his wife’s pregnancy earlier, at the very least. But I’m not sure that alone would be enough to make this transition smooth. His daughter faces an uncertain future; the doctors don’t know if she’ll ever walk or talk. Between Jimmy and his daughter, medical bills are drowning the new family. Jimmy knows that if he quits the band, his wife will carry the financial burden and they could be out on the streets. But if he returns to the band that he loves, he could provide everything his daughter needs. <This doesn’t sound like a difficult decision. Live on the street and give your wife all of the financial burden? Or be a rock star, which is a job you love. It’s obvious what he should do. I’m willing to bet there are stronger stakes in your story that are difficult to see because you’re so close to the project. Damn you, query letters! Faced with a quandary between what’s right and what’s safe, Jimmy has to decide if returning to music is worth the risks.

Driven<The title should be in all capitol letters ‘DRIVEN’ is mainstream/commercial fiction complete at 85,000 words. Thank you for your time and consideration.

You have a solid start here. A great opener and lead-up to the stakes, and the bones of the query are very good. It gets a little weak near the end, but I can’t see that being something very difficult to fix. You’re in pretty good shape. Thanks for sharing this with me, and good luck in your querying endeavors!