Friday, August 1, 2014

My PITCH WARS bio and wish list!


Below is my Bio and Interests for PITCH WARS! After that you'll find the information on how to submit to me :) 

Bio: 
I'm a YA author represented by the amazing Jamie Bodnar-Drowley from Inklings Literary Agency for my YA Paranormal Romance novel entitled Judges and my NA Contemporary Romance novel Edge of Chaos. I'm a military spouse who married her best friend and have a beautiful baby girl named Lexi, and a spoiled english bulldog named Whiskey.

I love falling into books and losing track of time. Some of my favorite books (I say some because there is NO way to list them all) are--THE BODY FINDER and THE PLEDGE series by Kimberly Derting, THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS and THE INFERNAL DEVICES series by Cassandra Clare, the SOUL SCREAMERS series by Rachel Vincent, and FULL MEASURES by Rebecca Yarros (She’s a fellow mentor and is an INCREDIBLE author so check her work out!)

What I'm looking for: YA Paranormal Romance--Even though this genre is saturated right now a fresh concept and plenty of twists can catch my eye (please no vampire falls for the clumsy girl next door) Also the romance has to be strong. I hear ghosts are starting to make a come back as well as edgier YA so if you’ve got any of that send it my way too! 

YA with Biblical Themes--I enjoy everything from taking inspiration from the Bible to retellings to fallen angel stories! As long as it is believable and has a purpose in the story I'm ready to read it!

YA Fantasy--This genre needs strong world building and believable character motivations for me. I'd rather it be in the smaller scale verses epic and if there is a romance that is swoon worthy I'll be hooked! 

This year I’m also taking on the NA genre! After writing and reading it for the past year, I feel I’m able to help critique and shape it now. I’m open to any variety--contemporary, supernatural, fantasy, etc! 

Qualifications: I have a Bachelors degree in Creative Writing and read thoroughly in the YA/NA genres. I firmly believe that reading in the genre you write improves the strength of your skills immensely. I also have learned an incredible amount from my agent, my tight-knit critique group, and our experiences in the publishing world. The lessons I’ve learned along this journey have been so valuable to me and I love passing them on to help aspiring authors. 

I'm honest but never malicious and my comments are always geared toward making the story as strong as possible. I understand the hardships of querying and being rejected (a number of times) and I know how subjective this business is. Some agents will hate the query + pages and others will absolutely fight for it! The key is to never giving up and to be able to take constructive criticism--especially if you’re getting the same remarks/comments over and over again. I’ll never say something out of personal taste (and if I have to I’ll let you know it is only because of my tastes that I’m commenting). I’ll look at the MS with an objective eye and try to see it as my agent (or agents I’ve worked with in the past) would see it. I want to help writers realize their dreams of landing an agent and the way to do that is make the story as sharp as possible :) 

Also I’ve learned an incredible amount after being a mentor for the past two years in a row and am SO excited to be back again for a third time! Two of my past mentees have went on to publish some awesome books (see pictures and links below) To have had the pleasure of working with them and seeing them gain the success they’ve earned is amazing and is what Pitch Wars is all about! :) 

For more information on how to submit to me please visit the amazing Brenda Drake’s blog here!





Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros
Check it out here                        
                                                                     
Enchanted Heart by Mindy Ruiz
Check it out here


And please be sure to check out all the mentors below! You never know who could be a perfect fit! :)

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