Another Pitch Contest

Check out all the details here for a pitch contest with Victoria Marini. Good luck!

GUTGAA - Elena's Pen

The last part of Deana's awesome blogfest is here! Time for us to post the first 200 words of our stories for critique. I'll be hopping around sometime today to give feedback and can't wait to read some awesome beginnings! I would love for some feedback too. Thanks!

My first 196 words for Elena's Pen (MG Fantasy):

Mr. McMichaels has hated me ever since he confiscated a story I wrote during class last week. A story about an evil goblin warlord. Named McMichaels.

I guess I can't blame him, but wouldn't most English teachers love a student who wanted to be an author? Not this one. I guess I was lucky he only threatened me with detention.

So I took my time walking to my sixth grade English class. Mr. McMichaels was the eighth grade teacher but he taught English to the sixth- and seventh graders too. I so am not looking forward to two years from now. I grimaced.

The crowded hallway slowly thinned out as sixth-, seventh- and eighth graders swapped classrooms. The scent of mold and putrid gym clothes wafted toward me when a kid slammed his puke-green locker shut, and I gagged.

"Elena?" someone called.

I turned and spotted Artex, the new guy. He smiled and waved a piece of paper in his hand. Wow, were his teeth white! "Hi." I smiled back, wondering why he was talking to me. I forced myself to not shuffle my feet or play with my hair. Good-looking boys always made me nervous.

Awesome Edit Giveaway

Be sure to enter Editor Cassandra's Summer FREE EDIT GIVEAWAY! We all need as many pairs of eyes on our MSs as possible before querying them so this is a fantastic opportunity. I know I'm entering! You can read all about the details here. Good luck!

Query Letter Blogfest

As part of Deana Bernhart's Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest, I am posting my query letter for my MG fantasy novel. It was originally written as YA, but I received a bunch of feedback from other authors and agents that I'm working on making it MG instead. I've also changed the FMC's name several times now. Originally she was Alexia but the MMC is Artex so two A names plus two X's probably weren't a good idea. After toying around with a few others, I think (hope!) I'm settled on Elena. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

Eleven-year-old aspiring novelist Elena loves the colorful pen the mysterious Artex gives her, especially when she realizes that whatever she writes with it comes true. But she questions the pen and its magic when it writes of its own accord about a fantasy world. The magical All-Knowers have only ever known peace until demons invade their Land of Imagining, intent on enslaving and killing them.

Elena is tied to this Land by more than just the pen - she is an All-Knower, as is Artex and her mother. She is able to control the All-Knowers with her pen, but the power comes at a cost – each time she writes with it, an All-Knower becomes a demon. After a demon kidnaps her family, Elena must go to the Land of Imagining. She will do anything, even if it means giving up her power, to save her family and her people.

New Short Story!

The latest story in my What You See is What You Get paranormal YA series is now available!

A Sight for Sore Fangs

Ana and Eric managed to survive an attack from two vampires, but the encounter was not been without danger, and Frank, Ana's friend, has paid the price. A vampire bit him, and now Frank is in a coma. He might never wake up… or he might, as a vampire.

Newly self-declared vampire hunter, Ana will not allow that to happen. She would never stake her friend!

Luckily, there is a recipe to save someone from vampire venom. A tear from a pegasus or a unicorn's horn. And a fang from the deadly basilisk that kills those who catch its gaze.

Vampires aren't the only evil creatures in the world. And to save her friend, Ana is going to need to make new ones, ones who can see what she can't.

Time is running out for Frank. Will Ana be able to save him?

Only .99 just like the rest of the books in the series! I hope you'll check it out!