Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry National Writing Contest

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In partnership with We Need Diverse Books Penguin Young Readers celebrates 40 years of  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor by launching a debut children’s fiction contest to find talented, ethnically diverse authors writing for readers ages 8-14.

The deadline to enter is June 21, 2016 at 11:59pm. Open to people of color (or those who self-identify as other than white) who are residents of the fifty United States, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories and possessions, aged 18 and older.

Submit your manuscript (25,000-75,000 words) for a book about diversity for ages 8-14 and you could receive a publishing contract from Penguin Random House LLC with an advance of $35,000, plus royalties!

#PBPitch Twitter Contest is Tomorrow!

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PBPitch Logo

It’s not often picture books get included in twitter contest’s where agents participate to sign a new client, but this one is all about them! If you write or illustrate picture books, mark this event on your calendar. Writers may pitch only twice during the event for each manuscript: once in the morning and once in the evening. This keeps the feed from getting congested. Plus, agents won’t exhaust from reading repeat pitches and ditch the party!

To be clear, the contest starts on June 16, 2016 from 8am-8pm EST. Be sure to include the hashtag #PBPitch in your 140 characters. If your an illustrator/writer be sure and attach one illustration to your COMPLETED manuscript. For all information regarding PBPitch, FAQs, and even a fantastic list of agents who represent picture books, go to the PBPitch website.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Colorado Writing Workshop

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The Colorado Writing Workshop is a special one-day “How to Get Published” writing workshop on Saturday, July 30, 2016, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Denver-Thornton. In other words, it’s one day full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. They’ll discuss your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the day’s classes will help point you in the right direction. And of course, their are pitch and critique opportunities!

Here are some of the agents participating:

  • literary agent Carlie Webber (CK Webber Associates)
  • literary agent Dawn Frederick (Red Sofa Literary)
  • literary agent Alex Barba (Inklings Literary)
  • literary agent Lisa Abellera (Kimberley Cameron Literary)
  • literary scout Angie Hodapp (Nelson Literary)
  • literary agent Greg Johnson (Wordserve Literary)
  • literary agent Becky LeJeune (Bond Literary)
  • literary agent Samantha Fountain (Corvisiero Literary)
  • literary agent Laura Zats (Red Sofa Literary)
  • and possibly more to come.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Writing From Color & Native Voices Contest

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According to the website, there are many paths to publication and one that has risen in popularity is online contests. (Isn’t that the truth!) The W.C.N.V. is such a contest, but also an attempt to directly combat inequality in the industry, by focusing not only on Native characters and characters of color, but authors as well. This contest will feature queries and the first 300 words of COMPLETED, POLISHED manuscripts written by native authors and authors of color. The entry window will be open from 12:00 am (midnight) Eastern June 12, 2016 until 11:59 pm Eastern that same day.

Ge here for submission guidelines and agent/editors (56 so far) participating go here.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Avalon Writer’s Retreat hosted by Kathleen Temean

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Avalon, NJ

It’s summertime! Who’s up for a writer’s retreat on the beach in Avalon, New Jersey? Kathleen Temean is hosting this fantastic event where writer’s can stay in a house she’s rented on the beach to work on their manuscripts. Even more perfect is that literary agents will be attending to give full  and partial manuscript feedback! She has two sessions arranged:

First Session (Sept. 25-Sept28) has these participating agents:

Agent Kurestin Armada from PS Literary. She is actively acquiring Upmarket and Commercial Fiction, Magic Realism, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Alternative History, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ (any genre), select Young Adult and Middle Grade, Graphic Novels, Mystery (including mystery with elements of SF/F), and Romance.

Second Agent – waiting for confirmation – Building list for Picture books, MG and YA.

Second Session (Sept. 29-Oct. 2) has these participating agents:

Agent Scott Treimel from the Scott Treimel Agency and Jaida Temperly from New Leaf Literary.

Mkay, so this session is already full. But Kathleen will allow you to get on a waiting list if someone has to cancel their spot. What? A waiting list for the agency that represents Veronica Roth’s Divergent Series. Who wouldn’t put their name on the list!

As always, good luck and have a great retreat!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction

 

 

Midwest Writers Workshop

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Midwest Writers Group

This workshop will be held July 21-23, 2016 at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. MWW states the mission is to give all writers the opportunity to improve their craft, to associate with highly credentialed professionals, and to network with other writers.

They have more than 45 different instructional sessions with top quality faculty during their three-day program on everything from fiction to nonfiction, marketing, and ways to get your creative juices flowing. Thursday focuses on genre-specific intensive sessions. Friday and Saturday are packed with sessions on the craft of writing and the business of writing.

Some of the faculty includes agents:

Rachel Ekstrom – Irene Goodman Literary Agency
Molly Jaffa – Folio Literary Management
Lauren MacLeod – The Strothman Agency
Jim McCarthy – Vice President, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
Uwe Stender – TriadaUS Literary Agency
Brent Taylor – TriadaUS Literary Agency

And editors:

April Osborn – Associate Editor at St. Martin’s Press
Liz Pelletier – Chief Executive Officer and Publisher of Entangled

There are even opportunities for pitching and manuscript evaluations, along with query critiques. Think about it, three days socializing with writerly people! What’s not to love!

As always, good luck and happy learning!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

PitMad Is Approaching

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This is a reminder to polish your pitches for Brenda Drake’s #PitMad coming on June 9, 2016 form 8am-8pm (EDT). This is a twitter pitch contest requiring 140 characters (which includes your genre and age category). Only submit polished, finished, and unpublished manuscripts! Rules state to only pitch three times per manuscript for the entire day.  Please don’t break these rules so it will remain easier for agents/editors to surf the feed for favorites. If they see a bunch of repeats, they’ll be more likely to stop looking!

Remember to NOT favorite (heart) a pitch you like unless you are an agent or an editor. While authors are flattered to know you love their pitch (because it’s freaking hard to put a synopsis in 140 characters), they wind up shedding a tear when they realize it wasn’t an agent/editor. Okay, maybe not literally, but they do have a mini-heart attack. (Seriously!)

Although there will be many legitimate professionals searching #PitMad for an awesome story to snag, be aware anyone can trawl the feed. If you get favorited, be sure to check out credentials before submitting.

And finally, not going to be home during the contest? Use TweetDeck to schedule your tweety pitches! As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction

The 2016 Tennessee Writing Workshop

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Tennessee Workshop

The Tennessee Writing Workshop  will take place July 23, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee and is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course the event, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited seats at the event (130 total). Some of the agents participating are:

  • literary agent Cate Hart (Corvisiero Literary)
  • literary agent Julie Gwinn (The Seymour Agency)
  • literary agent Tricia Skinner (Fuse Literary)
  • acquiring editor Laura Apperson (St. Martin’s)
  • literary agent Eric Smith (P.S. Literary)
  • literary agent Marisa Corvisiero (Corvisiero Literary)
  • literary agent Victoria Lea (Aponte Literary)
  • and more to come.

So hurry if you want to attend, especially if you want to pitch to an agent!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction

Monthly Mumbles

Literary

Congress Hotel Banquet Hall

After many months of cramming college classes into my busy work schedule, I’m finally done! Grades have posted and my full degree accepted. Woohoo! Since I’m a non-traditional student, I opted to have my degree mailed instead of attending the ceremony. But I’ll admit, part of me wishes I’d attended because I worked my arse of for it! In any case, I can’t wait to hold the paper in my hand. The completion tastes sweet on my tongue folks! Just sayin’.

Last week, I attended the Writing Workshop of Chicago and learned some great things, hung with my BFF, met some great writers, and explored a haunted hotel! First, let me say that when an agent states they need to be hooked by the first paragraph, they aren’t joking. I attended a session where anonymous first pages got read aloud and a panel of agents put their arms up when they had heard enough to stop reading. My jaw dropped at how fast hands went up nearly every time. Of course, there were a few pages when hands weren’t raised, but not often. This just reiterated to me the importance of the first sentence in what should be an amazing first paragraph.

The workshop was held at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. This structure was built in 1893 and the some of the architecture was breathtaking–and creeping in other areas. Al Capone had virtually made it his home back in the day and the government had purchased it during World War II to make headquarters. A group of Chicagoans purchased it in 1945, remodeled and opened back up to the public. The hotel has been known for ghost sightings and has one room so haunted it’s nailed shut! I took many pictures and lurked the halls and stairwells trying to tease ghosts out of hiding. Unfortunately, I didn’t encounter any specters during my stay. What I did get though was a helluva idea for a story!

Now, let me say as I writer, I cherish books. I love smelling the fresh ink drifting off the pages. But on my long drive to Chicago and back, I decided to try an audio book. After completing Abandon by Blake Crouch, I decided I’m in love with audiobooks! Now when I drive to and from work, or while doing housework, I’m listening to a book being narrated. Oh my gosh, I’m going to get through so many more books I’ve wanted to read! I’ve no idea why I’ve never done this before!

With more time on my hands, I’m making good progress on the new book I started. This story is going to be high fantasy. My grandson has inspired a lot of the characters due to things I catch him saying or some odd question he has asked. The innocence of a four year old child can make us see things in such different lights. So, I’m taking his indirect suggestions and creating an entire world with new beings. I’m totally excited about this story!

That’s all for now. Have a great day!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fantasy

Literary Agent Internship Opportunity with Heather Flaherty

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If you’ve thought about learning more about the agency side of publishing, Heather Flaherty of The Bent Agency is looking for a new intern! She doesn’t even require you to have any kind of publishing experience. However, she would like for you to be familiar with the New York Times bestseller lists and commit  to at least ten-hours-a-week for a minimum of six months. She’s had this posted for a few days already, so hurry if you want to be considered. For complete details, go here.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction