Query Contest over at Children's Publishing

[meaganspooner]

The deadline for entries has already passed, but the KidLit gals over at Adventures in Children's Publishing are having a fantastic contest/workshop to help writers polish their pitches. I'm learning an absolute ton just from reading other writers’ pitches and the comments on them. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s ever written a query, is

Comments

[angelwingsbaka]

Your query makes me want to read TIW SOOO much!!!

[meaganspooner]

Aww, thank you! I want you to read it too! (Because then that would mean it was, you know, a book. Published. That people could read. Sigh.) I'm soooo excited to start querying, but also completely terrified and nervous. Thanks for the encouragement. <3

[animewave]

*Seconds the above* Your query sounds awesome. I'd definitely pick up a book like that on premise alone.

[meaganspooner]

Thank you! I can't tell you how good it is to hear that. When I do revisions (all... once... that I've done them...) it seems I turn into this terrifying mockery of my normal self where I hate everything I do, so hearing a voice of reason right now is fantastic.

Be sure to tell me how Joss is on Sunday! <3

[thunderemerald]

Your premise sounds fantastic! I hope I'm on your submission list when you're finished! :)

[meaganspooner]

You definitely are! See, I have the advantage of having already met you, and KNOWING how awesome you are.

Thanks so much! :D I just hope I manage to get the ms in decent shape. Oof. I dunno why I thought this whole revision thing was going to be so much easier than writing the thing in the first place...

[thunderemerald]

Hah! Grass-is-always-greener syndrome, maybe? I know that I, for one, am smack in the middle of my own first draft, and I am YEARNING to use my revision-brain instead of my draft-brain. I have such a hard time letting my writing be messy, I guess, so I look forward to cleaning it up....

[meaganspooner]

Yeah, you may have hit it there... I know right now I'm DYING to be out of revisions and into querying. But I can already guess that in the middle of querying I'm going to be longing for the halcyon days before the first rejections started coming in.

I know what you mean about letting the writing be messy. That was how I finished TIW in the first place, but WOW, what a struggle it was to get into that mindset.

[clumsybella15]

Okay, now I REALLY want to read TIW (I wanted to when I read a teaser you posted ages ago), but the thing in your blog post that made me squeal is... YOU'RE GOING TO SEE JOSS WHEDON SPEAK!!!! *squeals again* You're so LUCKY! I mean the title for my WIP came from an episode in Buffy season 7!

-Kayleigh

[meaganspooner]

Haha, thanks!

Oh man, and it was actually awesome! You know how you can build stuff up in your head, but you know it's never going to actually be that good? It was! I loved that the questions and answers (it was an interview-style talk) were actually geared towards writers. It almost made me feel like we were all a part of the same community, me and the rest of the audience, and Joss too.

Love that you're a Joss fan. First time you commented on my blog, I thought to myself, "Now, why couldn't my parents have had the foresight to name ME Kayleigh?" ;)

(What's the title of your WIP??)

[clumsybella15]

Sorry I'm only replying now--I stopped using my computer for 2 days (!!!) and only just checked my e-mails.

I wish I could have been there... :( Maybe someday Joss will do an interview and I'll actually be able to go. But I doubt he's coming to the South of France anytime soon...

My dad named Kayleigh after the song by Marillion :) And he wrote a poem to help French people (he's French and I've always gone to French schools) pronounce my name. If you want, I could post the poem on my blog and give you the link. Oh, except it's in French.

The title of my WIP is "The Way Wars Are Won". Giles says to Buffy in season 7, "This is the way wars are won" in the episode where Robin tries to kill Spike. (My sister and I recently did a Buffy season 7 marathon. Total watching time with breaks: 17 hours and 30 minutes, more or less. Oh yeah.)

[lilykaufman]

I'm so impressed you've put your query out there to seek feedback -- and look at the rewards you're reaping. People love it! (No surprise, of course. It's an awesome pitch because it's an awesome book.)

[meaganspooner]

Well, in no small part thanks to you, and your awesome first line suggestion. I think my original hook was "In a world where..." (No joke.) It's an awesome pitch because I have awesome people to help me market it. ;)