A Few Announcements and ELEGY/PPP Updates!

The final round of WRiTE Club 2012 has been posted at DL Hammons' blog! Please check it out and cast your vote. If for some reason the judges' panel is split between the two contestants, your votes will act as the tiebreaker. While you're there, please extend your thanks to DL for all of his hard work in hosting the competition!

Congrats to not only the top two writers, but to everyone brave enough to submit their work for critique. It's pretty terrifying. I should know... I competed this year under the penname RING GIRL (inside joke; my friend Ali and I once saw a sketchy craigslist ad looking for ring girls for some kind of local boxing club and joked about applying, even though we don't have the right... shall we say... body type? LOL). I had mini anxiety attacks every time one of my pieces went up and people started voting/commenting.

I didn't make it to the finals this year, but I was in the top four! So if you voted for me or left critique/feedback, THANK YOU. I'm improving every year!

This weekend was very productive. I got a ton of Christmas shopping done, cleaned the house from top to bottom, worked out twice, AND *drum roll* cracked open my poor manuscript for ELEGY that has been gathering dust since I started working on the revise-and-resubmit for PPP. I don't know why, but I always cringe when I'm about to reread something I've written months ago... and then I'm surprised to find out that it's not half as terrible as I thought it would be. Maybe it's a perfectionist thing?

Anyway, I ended up padding on just over 2K words. Nothing too crazy, but going back to a WIP requires the slow-and-easy technique - just like stretching a muscle you haven't worked out in a while. I like the direction that I'm taking with this story, so all that remains is to get it finished.

In PPP news, almost all of my readers have sent in their feedback, and it's generally minor stuff (more explanation of the details, a little bit more juice in terms of world-building, etc.), which makes me super happy. I'm thinking about waiting until January to resubmit to this agent, since it's been brought to my attention that most agencies/agents close for the holidays. I don't want to be THAT writer and bug someone right before her vacation!

SO. I'll have a little bit more time to polish it up even more, and I also think it's very fitting... 2013... a new year and a new PPP. And a new list of agents that I'll query who are looking for upper middle-grade action.

Speaking of queries... who's sending their work in for Pitch Wars? And did you get a confirmation email? I submitted but haven't received one yet. It sounds like a fun contest (styled after The Voice) and it's open until Wednesday night, so there's still time!

Happy Monday, all!

P.S. Shout-out to my beautiful friend Suzy Hayes, whose beautiful book THE WITCH OF LITTLE ITALY will be published in the U.S., Italy, AND Brazil!!!