Yes, this is another Pitch Wars post.
Non-writers: Due to editor input, I have given your consolation monkey a festive hat. I hope you enjoy it.

Writers: Here is is, the day you’ve been waiting for: Happy Pitch Wars Mentor Bio Day!
Today is the day, my friends, where I hope to convince you that I am the mentor you are looking for.
But first, some reminders and information:

Submissions start today (11/26)! The cut off time to get your applications (query & first five pages of manuscript) in is 8PM EST on December 5.

Send your applications to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com. Writers can apply for up to 3 coaches. The coaches’ categories are set. Coaches can only consider the categories they’ve signed up for. Writers cannot apply for a coach that is not in their category. (Note: My category is Middle Grade.)

For additional information about this contest go HERE.

· This is open to finished manuscripts only.
· You may only enter one manuscript.
· Only the genres requested by each coach will be considered for the contest.

Formatting
Subject line: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title
(Example: Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND)

Name: Your Name
Genre: The genre of your manuscript
Word Count: The word count of your manuscript

Query letter here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.

First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.

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REMINDER: You can send an application for up to 3 coaches.

Check back soon for a complete list of the amazing agents participating in the contest. There are over a dozen!

Now, about me

First off, let’s talk about what kind of project I want to work with.
Give me your Middle Grade!
I read and enjoy middle grade in all genres, but I am most interested in mentoring for fantasy adventures, fairytale retellings, or horror. Bonus points if you can make me laugh.
Some of my MG favorites are: The Peculiar, The Graveyard Book, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Sea of Trolls, Breadcrumbs, and The True Meaning of Smekday.
Less recent, but still oh so relevant is absolutely anything by Roald Dahl.

Okay, you have a manuscript that fits the bill. What kind of notes can you expect if we work together?
I will give a thorough content edit, with some line editing of things that particularly stand out to me.
For more details regarding these kinds of edits, I’m going to refer you to this post by Rachelle Gardener.

Now, why should you choose me?
Besides the fact that I draw awesome monkeys?
Because I will be the Rufus to your Bill and Ted, the Mr. Miyagi to your Daniel-San, the Professor X to your Jean Grey–and when you are discouraged, I will be the Atrayu to your Artex.

Only better, because you will not give up and die.

Here is what I have to offer:
I get stuff done. So far, this year managed to finish my own manuscript, write an awesome query, sign with an amazing agent, and go through two rounds of fairly extensive revisions. At the same time I have read more than 80 books (many of them MG) and made time to work on a few favorite critique partners’ projects. I have done all this while homeschooling my daughter; maintaining a household, friendships, and a happy family life; doing volunteer work; and hand-crafting three Halloween costumes–including one for a chicken.
The point is, I work exceptionally hard for the things that are important to me. Your manuscript is important to me. I want to win, but more than that, I want to see you succeed.

I have query letter skills. I wrote a query letter that The Query Shark liked enough to refer me to my agent. If you’d like to see some of my query crit work, you are welcome to take a look at a critique I did for Slush Pile Tales.

I’m really good at critiquing. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I really don’t like to brag–at least not about things that I’m actually good at. I bluster and trash talk for fun, but the things that I know I excel at I usually keep pretty close. That little personality quirk was making it tough for me to figure out what to say here, so I went to a friend and critique partner for help (Annie Laurie Cechini, author of LIBERTY, Rhemalda, 2/13). I asked Annie if she would write up a little testimonial for me. One hour later, she emailed me this awesome video:

If that doesn’t convince you, nothing will.

I’m looking forward to working with one of you. Choose me for your mentor and I’ll even let you pick our team name.

The Competition

Today all the coaches are posting bios/wish lists on their blogs. Before choosing your top three picks, check all the coaches’ posts in your category. To jump from blog to blog, just click on our pictures below.

Disclosure: I am using Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase any of the books I have linked to, I get a teeny-tiny commission. However, I would much prefer you purchase from your local indie bookstore.

Note: This was originally posted on a collaborative blog I was a part of. That blog no longer exists and so I have moved this here. Unfortunately, I could not move the comments, but I was then and continue to be very grateful for all the well wishes. ~H

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed this lovely little gem this morning:

I am beyond thrilled to announce that @franticsimple has accepted my offer of representation! Middle grade pirate hijinks to ensue!

— Brooks Sherman (@byobrooks) October 11, 2012

I always enjoy reading “How I Got My Agent” stories, so I thought I would share mine as well (though oh-my-gosh-I-am-suddenly-feeling-very-shy).

HOOK’S REVENGE is my first novel and it took me an outrageously long time to write. I had the idea many years ago – while half-sleeping off the flu, half-listening to my daughter watching a DVD of Hook. When I woke up, there was a character in my head, but I was a busy young mom and not ready to pursue a serious career in writing.
Still, I sketched out the idea and slowly wrote a horrible first draft. In the meantime my family moved back home to Oregon (more than 3000 miles away from where we had been living in Maryland), I began homeschooling my daughter, and my father-in-law passed away. (He actually entered the hospital the same day I wrote “the end” on my first draft.) Though I enjoyed writing, I wasn’t at a point in my life where I could make a serious commitment to it. Instead, I played with words on my blog and continued reading and learning.
Last fall, I did some beta reading for a good friend. I was ecstatic when she landed a publishing contract (Little plug: Annie Laurie Cechini, LIBERTY, Rhemalda 2/13 – so good!). I was inspired by her success.
The timing was right for me to dive in, and I got to work. I started getting up earlier and/or staying up later than everyone else so I could write. I fell in love with my story all over again. I rewrote, I revised, I rewrote some more. In addition, I set about building a support network. One of the best choices I could have made was to join SCBWI. There I found friends and mentors that really helped me to hone and polish my work.

In July, I felt that my manuscript was ready to begin submitting to agents. I read Query Shark and Slush Pile Tales to learn how to write a query letter, then spent an afternoon crafting one. After running it by a couple of friends, I revised a bit and set it loose on the world.
By that I mean, I sent it to five agents, then waited by my inbox.
Two weeks went by with no response. I began to suspect that everyone hated it and/or hated me.
I started a new project anyway.
One day I saw on twitter that Janet Reid (the Query Shark) was offering a personal response to queries sent to her within a specific time frame. This was not to be a critique or query advice, but a non-form response–likely a this-is-why-I’m-rejecting-you response.
The only problem? Janet does not rep middle-grade.
However, I did a little more reading on her blog, and found this bit of advice:

Query everyone. Forget that crap about honing a list and researching
what agents like. Query everyone. If they say no, so what. Maybe just
maybe you’ll find an agent looking to branch out, looking for a fabulous
new voice, looking for you.

Edited to add: Lots of agents say otherwise. They really hate being pitched to for genres they don’t represent, as it clogs up their already full query boxes. I’m not giving advice here – just stating what I did. Choose your own adventure.

I took her advice and sent in my query. Within 16 minutes (yes I counted) she sent me a lovely reply referring me to Brooks. I not going to lie, that bit of encouragement made me cry *hard* for at least 10 minutes. My husband thought I had lost my mind. He was likely right.
(The overly emotional response may have also had something to do with the fact that we had just spent the last five hours outside in 100+degree weather, building a chicken coop. Still, that validation was wonderful.)
So, I queried Brooks, and nine other agents. I started getting page requests, along with some rejections. It was all very exciting.
A couple of months after I started querying, I decided to reread my manuscript. I read the first third one evening and when I came to bed, I told my husband, “You know what? It really is good.”
The next day Brooks emailed to say he would like to chat. We set up an appointment for a few days later.
That night I read more and my heart sank. I had gotten past the most polished, most recent, best part. Things were not so good anymore, and I had achieved enough distance to see it. My manuscript was not quite ready and I was almost certain Brooks was only calling to tell me so.
When he called I was really nervous. It turned out that he did love my manuscript, but he saw the same problems that I did. We spoke for nearly an hour on ways to make things better. I promised him first peek at my revisions and hung up really excited to make changes.
Over the next week I ended up getting four new page requests from a couple of contest I entered – one from an agent that I had had my eye on for a very long time. I worked feverishly to complete revisions so I could give Brooks a first pass and not keep anyone else waiting too long.
When I completed my rewrite, I was so proud of my work. I had ended up adding an additional 5000 words and really loved the way things had changed. Brooks loved it too and quickly offered to represent me. I asked for a week to think it over and alert the other agents that were interested. I ended up with two offers (and a very interested third who did not have time to get an offer in before I accepted with Brooks, but very graciously offered a hearty congratulations).
One offer was from Brooks–who had an incredible enthusiasm for my work, but is still a fairly new agent, and another from the agent I had, at one time, thought of as possibly “my dream agent.” You would think that that would have made me happy, but I was miserable. It was hard to choose between Brooks and the other, more established agent. I needed to choose between passion and experience.
I emailed Brooks about where I was in the decision process and his reply blew me away. I knew for certain that he understood and loved my work. I also felt confident that he knows what he is doing. And I knew we would have a great time working together. The choice was suddenly easy. Though the other offering agent truly is fabulous, in my opinion, the best agent is the one that loves your work the most. I am 100% confident in my choice and really looking forward to our working together. I can’t wait to see what kind of mischief we’ll cook up.

PS: A few people have asked about my stats. Here you go:

Queries
Sent: 16
Page Requests: 5
Referrals: 1
Rejections: 4
No Response: 5
Query withdrew due to offer: 1

Contests
Entered: 2
Invitations to query: 1
Page requests: 4

Offers: 2.5