Enter Uber-agent Suzie Townsend's Query Contest!

You all remember a few weeks ago when my truly fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend, offered up a query or first chapter critique here as part of my two year signing anniversary with her? Well...she's doing it again! This time the contest is on her blog and it's to celebrate her move to the house of fabulocity that is Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation! This coming Tuesday, November 1st, everyone who queries Suzie between 9 and 10 am (EDT) will get a query critique! You can find complete details on how to enter here. Mark your calendars and spend you weekend sharpening your query! You DON'T want to miss this amazing opportunity!

Win a Query or First Chapter Critique by the Incomparable Suzie Townsend

Here it is, the contest I promised you!

Last month, I celebrated my two year anniversary with my truly fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend. (Original artwork by Realm Lovejoy.) She recently announced her move to the house of fabulousity that is Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation. And now she has graciously offered up either a query or first chapter critique (of the winner's choosing) for one of you luck readers! Squee!

So, here's the deal. As was the case in my contests, the critique is transferable, but unlike my contests, you'll need to submit your query or first chapter within 30 days of being notified of your win. Suzie is a very busy lady, after all. =)

To enter, all you have to do is fill out the form below by noon PDT on Friday 10/14. You can enter for yourself or for a friend. And if you spread the word by Tweeting or Facebooking a link to this contest, you get extra entries! The winner will be chosen by the randomizer after noon on Friday.

In case you didn't see, Friday will explode with contest winners. My contest for a Last Rite galley and an iPod Shuffle with the PD trilogy playlist and my other contest for signed copies of Cassie Clare's City of Glass and my Original Sin also end Friday at noon, so enter them all!

Good luck!!

Little things that make my day...

You've all been along for the ride with my revisions of The Novel Formerly Known as Hellbent. I finally sent it off Sunday night to my truly fabulous agent, Suzie, and my amazing critique partner, Andrea. So, after all my agonizing and melting down, which you all witnessed here and here, to get this Tweet this morning from Suzie made my day. Also, I should mention that Tweet came somewhere around 3:30 am her time.

For those without Twitter accts: RT @sztownsend81 OMG. @lisadez is amazing A-MAZING! I'm swooning over the third books in the PERSONAL DEMONS series which I just finished reading. PHENOMENAL

Just thought I'd share =)

What would I do without Suzie?

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my truly fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend? No? Well, I do.

I posted a few weeks ago on the art of critiquing. It’s sooo important for any writer to have someone they trust read their work and give them feedback. But, I also think it’s really important for an author to have an industry professional in their corner. I know how lucky I am to have found Suzie.

Each individual agent has their own style. Some are much more hands on: critiquing, revising, editing with their authors before the manuscripts go to editors. Others leave that process up to the editors. My seriously cool editor, Melissa, has no idea that I’m totally clueless because Suzie makes my manuscripts work before they ever get to her. Then Melissa has even more great suggestions on how to make the manuscript even better, so by the time they get turned into books and in your hands, I have everyone totally fooled into thinking I know what I’m doing.

So, The Novel Formerly Known as Hellbent that I was all giddy about? After looking over Suzie’s notes, not so much anymore. But I’m getting giddy again with the revisions I’m working on for her. Whether you believe in luck or fate, thank something for me that I found Suzie!

Off to revise some more!

Did I mention I love my agent?

More on finding the perfect agent later this week. Maybe even tomorrow. Maybe.

Happy Anniversary, Suzie!!

A few weeks ago, I posted on how clicking the send button on my query to my truly fabulous agent changed my life. Today is the official one-year anniversary of my signing with the rockstar, Suzie Townsend.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that less than a year later we’d have Personal Demons on the shelves. (and I’m sure neither did she) But she’s the Suzinator: kicking publishing butt and taking names. She’s also an editorial genius. When I went back to check dates (yes, I've saved every email) and looked at some of her notes, I realized that everything she asked me to revise before we went on submission (and I thought I did) were the same things that the editors that gave us revision notes asked for even more of. She's always available (we think she's a vampire cuz she never sleeps) and is cheerleader extraordinaire.

So this is for Suzie. Imagine it's Red Velvet. =)

Thanks for all your hard work, Suzie! You totally rock!

You never know what little thing might change your life

It's September first! Time for my September Debut Contest! But...uh...well.... It will be up tomorrow! Promise! I'm working on something to make it extra FUN, so it will be worth the wait!

Thanks for checking in yesterday to catch the scorching-hot Luc trailer! All day, while Vania was editing and I was stalking my inbox, I was thinking about what a whirlwind the last year has been.

And then it occurred to me that it's been almost exactly a year.

Sunday marked exactly one year since I sent the query for Personal Demons to my truly fabulous agent, The Suzinator. It wasn't the first query I sent. Actually, it was the ninteenth. I was hopeful, of course, when I hit the send button, but, being a total newbee to all things publishing, I had no idea what that little click of the mouse would set in motion.

Suzie was truly fabulous even then. She read my query and got back to me within 24 hours with a request for the full manuscript. Everything from there happened in a blur.

So, I've been waxing nostalgic and went back to read my blog during that time and found this. It's my blog post from exactly one year ago today. I thought it was funny to go back and read, so I'll share it with you. Here goes:

My Muse is nuts...
So, I got home from my business trip to Austin on Monday and found out that our family reunion was moved to my house. Today!

It turned out to be fun, and I think everyone had a good time. Now back to writing.

I have three works in progress, and I know I should be working on the other two, but the one that’s really speaking to me (I mean that literally. My characters won’t shut up.) is a sequel to Personal Demons—which I have out on submission with agents. I’m trying really hard to redirect my muse, but he’s not hearing any of it. Problem is, even if my muse isn’t, I’m smart enough to know that spending time and energy on a sequel of a book that hasn’t sold is a waste of time. I’m thinking about writing it anyway—just to shut him up—and leaving it in first draft while I work on the others. By the time I finish those, maybe Personal Demons will have found a home with a really cool agent and editor. Who knows?

Along those lines, I’m still getting requests for manuscripts, so I have lots of really amazing people reading my work, and it’s very exciting and a little scary, but in a really good way. I’m staying optimistic. I will get a call from one of them. Soon. Maybe now… *stares at the phone*

Okay…maybe not right now…but soon.

So, what do you think? Should I bash my muse unconscious with a baseball bat and move on to a new manuscript, or just do the sequel and get it out of the way so my muse will be happy and move on to other projects with me? Truth is, I’m pretty sure I can’t write without him. After all, my job is really just dictation. So he may get his way in the end whether I like it or not.

Update 9/1/10: I was able to resist the urge to write the PD sequel while I waited on agents, but I couldn't hold off forever, and I did write it in November when we were on submission to editors. I couldn't help myself. And I've never finished those other WIPs, though one of those has been whispering in my ear recently. =)

What were you doing one year ago?

I'm a fraud--maybe

Thanks for all your input on choosing a project. The throwing them into a window fan suggestion was entertaining. Thanks GhostFolk (aka: Randy ) ;p

In the end, I decided to seek professional advice from my truly fabulous agent, who I trust implicitly.

While I pondered my problem (and your creative solutions) over the weekend, it occurred to me what the real source of all my angst was. Most of you who write can probably relate to this.

I wrote a book. I sent it to agents. Some really amazing agents wanted to represent THAT book. And my truly fabulous agent sold THAT book to my seriously cool editor, who loved THAT book.

THAT book.-->

I kind of felt like the all the stars had aligned and lightning struck, and my PowerBall numbers hit, and pigs flew, all at the same time with THAT book. It was like winning the lottery times ten. Like I got soooo super lucky and wrote something decent that got in front of the right people at the right time.

THAT book.

But the problem was, THAT book sold in a three-book deal. So I was supposed to be able to do THAT again. But I really wasn’t sure how I did it the first time. What was I going to do when everyone figured out how lucky I got with THAT book and that I, in fact, had no writing talent?

When I handed Original Sin (Personal Demons, book 2) off to my truly fabulous agent earlier this year, I was totally stressing, because she was going to know that I was a total fraud. And I was sure she was going to ask me who really wrote Personal Demons. (She was nice enough not to ask, but I’m sure she’s still wondering.) She helped me clean up Original Sin before I sent it off to my seriously cool editor last week, who DIDN’T HATE IT! *throws virtual confetti* I know she’s going to have a lengthy editorial letter for me, and I welcome it. She’s amazing at helping me make my book into the one I thought I wrote.

And, I’m starting to think that maybe I’m not a total fraud. Maybe…

But choosing a new project is hard for all those same reasons. I have three really cool stories that are dying to be told. That’s, like, nine characters in my head all talking at the same time (and that doesn’t even count Frannie, Luc and Gabe who are all still in there too). But I’m a little worried that, no matter what I write, if I can’t figure out how to make lightning hit and pigs fly again, it won’t matter. It’s a little bit nerve wracking.

Live, from New York...

Have I mentioned lately that the uber-fabulous Suzie Townsend rocks? Well, she does. And so does the uber-cool Melissa Frain. I spent yesterday in the city that never sleeps with my agent and editor. They both supplied me with reading material (YAY! BOOKS!) and Melissa brought me up to speed on all things Tor. I got to meet all the amazing people there and at FinePrint Literary Management and, yes, they are as awesome as they seem.

I’ll never forget the rush of sending requested manuscripts out to agents when I was agent shopping. I remember thinking that, even if no one wanted to represent it and it never sold, at least someone else will have met the characters that I love so much. I have to say, it was a little wild talking to a whole bunch of people who had read my book. And in one of those really fun “small world” experiences, it turned out that the lovely Patty Garcia, Director of Publicity at Tor, has a brother-in-law who grew up in the same tiny town in California that I currently live in. Go figure.

I knew it was going to be a great visit when New York City treated me to a flurry on Tuesday night while I was wandering and people watching. It snowed all night and left a dusting of white in the morning. Just enough so that I got my snow experience without being nasty. (though there’s supposed to be a storm tomorrow night, so “nasty” may still be in my New York experience)

And I’m headed to the Mid-Manhattan Library (the largest of the NY public libraries) tonight for a presentation called: "Spotlight: A Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' Novels," with John Granger. The description of this event is as follows:

"Why do millions of readers love these Young Adult Vampire Romances?" By looking at the "Twilight" novels' surface artistry, their implicit morality, their archetypal allegory -- a kind of Mormon Pilgrim's Progress -- as well as their hermetic meaning " the question is answered. There's a lot more here than meets the eye; this don't-miss-it event is both for Twi-Hards and for serious readers wanting to learn how to read popular literature with appreciation.

I couldn’t miss it! I wonder if Stephenie Meyers knows all that stuff is in her books. =)

I’m here until Sunday, so I’m sure I’ll find even more fun things to do. I’ll fill you in as they happen!

February 2010 debut book give-away! And New York City!!!

Yay!! It's the first of February! You've been waiting patiently and, finally, here it is, my February debut give-away!!!

A reminder of the contest and the rules:

Each month I’ll post my top four debuts of that month. (on or around the first) All you have to do to enter is comment on that post before noon pacific time on the last Friday of the month. One winner will be chosen each month using the randomizer and I’ll post the winner on the last Friday of the month. The winner will then be allowed to choose one title off my picks list OR a signed ARC or copy of PERSONAL DEMONS (when I get them)! Yay!

In addition to commenting (for which you get one point) you can earn extra points each month as follows:

Old follower: +3 points
New follower: +2 points
Link to my contest post on your blog or twitter: +1 points
Dedicated post with link to my contest on your webpage/blog: +3 points
Add me to your blogroll: +2 points

Also on your entry, please remember to tell me how to find you (email address).

And remember, there will be no rollover points. Points start new every month.

My February debut picks are as follows:

The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Dirty Little Secrets by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker

So to enter, all you have to do is comment below before noon on Friday 26th! Good luck!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane before the crack of dawn tomorrow. NYC here I come!!! I'm looking so forward to "meeting" my truly fabulous agent and my seriously cool editor!!! I also have to say that I'm extremely proud to be affiliated with the publishing house that stood up to Amazon. I'm gonna stop by John Sargent's office and give him a high-five. Cuz he's just sitting around waiting for his authors to, you know, come hang out with him. =)

Ode to 2009

All I can say about 2009 is WOW! Especially when you consider my New Year’s Revelation. (I don’t do resolutions. I don’t have the self-discipline to follow through.)

2009 started with a partial manuscript request from the first agent I ever queried on my first real novel. That scared the snot out of me, in truth, cuz only after I got the request did I realized it wasn’t nearly good enough. It was the first valuable lesson of the year and of my writing career—a rookie mistake that a lot of authors make.

But it was a harbinger of things to come. If you read my last post, you know the whirlwind of events after that. Personal Demons was conceived in February and sold in December. If I had bothered to set goals for 2009, I would have exceeded them and then some.

It makes setting goals for 2010 tricky, cuz nothing can measure up to this year.

Except—well…there’s the thing about my book maybe being published in 2010. That’s pretty cool… So, I guess my goals should include something about not giving my fabulous agent and my awesome editor ulcers. Working with Melissa and Tor is going to be great—everything that goes into getting a debut in shape to go out into the world. I’m really looking forward to diving in.

There’s also the thing about a three-book deal. So it seems another goal should be getting book two, Original Sin, in shape. (First draft is done.) So, that’s going to be fun.

Plus, there’s all the networking. Getting to know readers and other writers out there in YA land. Yay!

Okay, so even though it’s a tall order, maybe 2010 will be better than 2009. We’ll see. I’m just thrilled to have proven my New Year’s Revelation wrong!

All the people who made my 2009 a resounding success deserve a shout out. You've heard from me privately, so here the public THANKS!!!

Nathan Bransford for all his invaluable info, without which I never would have found an agent in the first place.

Jen Laughran, whose encouraging feedback spurred me to make Personal Demons the best it could be.

Eric Elfman, Graeme Stone, Marty Allen and Stephanie Sneddon (my Big Sur group) who gave me the confidence to write this book with no apologies.

Andrea Cremer, my crit partner extraordinaire, who was the first of us to prove my New Year’s Revelation wrong when her debut, Nightshade, sold in August.

Stephanie Howard for keeping me on track.

Suzie Townsend, my truly fabulous agent, for believing in me and my work, and knowing just what my mss needed to be even better.

Melissa Frain, my seriously awesome editor, for having faith enough to take me on for three books.

And most of all, my family:
My husband, who kept us all from starving to death months ago.
My daughters, who have been my inspiration from the beginning.

And thanks to all of you who take the time to visit me here! I love hearing from you all! What are your goals for 2010, and what can I do to help?

Ho, ho, ho and a book deal for you!!!

I must have been EXTRA good this year, cuz Santa made a special trip today and gave me what I really wanted.

It was nearly impossible for me to bite my tongue during (Unofficial) Official Agent Appreciation Day because I wanted to shout from the rooftop exactly how amazing my agent, Suzie Townsend, was. But, alas, it wasn’t official yet, so I couldn’t. I’ve always known she’s a rock star, and now I have proof.

*drum roll*

I’m beyond thrilled to announce that Suzie has sold my young adult debut novel, Personal Demons, at auction to Tor/Macmillan in a three book deal.

My shiny new editor, Melissa, still loves me because she’s only known me for one day. Also—she’s never met Suzie in person, which has worked out for the best cuz, if she had, she undoubtedly would have noticed Suzie’s bald spots, which would have prompted the question “What happened?” to which Suzie would have had to cross her fingers and reply “Alopecia. Runs in my family,” or risk losing our book deal. (Suzie is lovely, really, and her hair will grow back, I think, once I become a less frustrating client.) ;)

But I digress.

So, I’m blessed that my book (actually my three books!) has found a home with an awesome editor. I’m so looking forward to the next months/years getting to know Melissa and working with her to make my books the best they can be. I can never properly express my gratitude for her belief in me and my work.

All right. For those inquiring minds that want to know, here’s my story. If you really don’t care, stop reading now because, though the timeline is relatively short, I’m a writer which means, by definition, the story is going to be long.

First, let me say, I’ve read a LOT of author blogs about their road to publication. Many of them talk about their lifelong aspiration to write—how they knew they were destined to be a writer at age 5 when they started scribbling captions in their coloring books or writing plays for their friends and family.

That was SOOOO not me.

Not only did I never even consider writing a book—I hated to read them. I devoured Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in 7th grade and read a hand full of Stephen King books in high school, but other than that I was able to fake my way through four years of high school English without ever reading a single book. I was well out of college with a Masters and a Doctorate (for which I rarely cracked a textbook) before I took any interest in reading at all.

So, along comes my daughter, who’s an avid reader. I was thrilled that she took an interest in reading. And, being the diligent parent I am, I felt it was my responsibility to know what she was reading. I started browsing her books and found that I really enjoyed a lot of the YA novels she was accumulating. Then, in some unexplainable stroke of insanity, (maybe some kind of aneurysm?) I decided last July (2008) to do something special for her 14th birthday. I sat down and wrote her a 120K word YA thriller that I finished in October, in time for her birthday. I thought I was done—but my Muse had other ideas. I’d caught the bug.

Orlando is my Muse, in case anyone cares. Here's him looking particularly Musey...

I started my second novel (a realistic contemporary YA) in October and queried in January. I’d done a lot of blog reading and got that the road to getting published was nearly impossible. My true belief was that I didn’t have a prayer. So I was shocked out of my socks when five agents requested manuscripts. I got a lot of positive feedback, but no offers. Still, I was one step closer, and realized I must know how to write a query if I was getting requests. So all I needed was a really great book.

On February 2nd, 2009 I was listening to Saving Abel (one of my favorite new bands) and reading a bio where they said they got their name from a biblical quote: “there was no saving Abel.” That got me thinking about Cain and Abel, and I was mulling over ideas for a book when a name popped into my head. I thought to myself, Lucifer Cain, what a fun name for a demon. That was the beginning of Luc and Personal Demons. Even though his name was inspired by Saving Abel, his theme—the song that totally shaped his character and the story from his perspective—is Savin’ Me by Nickelback. Frannie, whose story this really is, was inspired in the same way by the song You Found Me by The Fray.

I don’t have any logical way of explaining how I felt as I was working on Personal Demons except to say I knew this was going to be “the one.” I typed away like a crazy person, trying desperately to keep up with my Muse, and I just felt like I was “in the zone.” (The “typing like a crazy person” was a challenge, as I worked full time and my husband didn’t know I was writing until I signed with my agent in September.)

A few weeks later I went to the San Francisco Writers Conference, where I met some great people and heard about the Big Sur Writers Workshop. That workshop was in March. I had to send a writing sample to be critiqued right away, and all I had completed (that I was willing to show anyone) was the realistic contemporary YA manuscript that was out with agents, but I figured that ship had already sailed. So even though I was only eight thousand words into my first draft of Personal Demons, I decided to take a risk and send it.

The critique groups and agents there were awesome and I got some VERY encouraging feedback as well as a request for the full manuscript when it was finished, so I got serious and finished it. I sent 18 queries in June and July and got a lot of manuscript requests really quickly. (I'd share my query letter, but there are spoilers—things I thought necessary to capture agents' interest and show them my book was different than the multitude of YA paranormal books already out there.) But then everything seemed to stall. I tweaked the manuscript while I waited on agents, but didn’t want to mess with it too much.

In August I was on a business trip to Sydney and was surfing the web when I found a blog interview with a new agent at FinePrint Lit—Suzie Townsend. (Thanks Realm Lovejoy.) I sent my e-query to this new agent and one other agent at 10am on 8/29/09. That was a Saturday. I figured if she was fast, I might expect to hear from her sometime the following week. So I nearly fell off my chair when an email came at 11:30am THAT SAME DAY requesting my manuscript. Less than two hours after my query, my full manuscript was in her hands.

I already had eleven other manuscripts out, some since the middle of June, so I figured I was in for a wait. But another email came just over two weeks later in which she told me she was having some second readers take a look. Coincidentally, I had received a call from another agent that same day offering representation, so I emailed Suzie back to tell her and she sped up the process on her end, calling to offer representation two days later. I received two other offers and sat down with my options.

I ended up choosing Suzie for a multitude of reasons, the biggest of which was her sheer enthusiasm for my novel for no other reason than she loved it. All the agents said they loved it, but they all had personal stories of how the themes of the novel related to their lives. That was nice, and it made me feel really good that my story touched someone, but in truth, I wanted the person representing my novel to just flat out love the writing and the story—no heartstrings attached. That was Suzie.

Suzie had some excellent revision requests, which I worked on for about two weeks, and four weeks after signing with her, we went on submission. Seven weeks after submissions went out Melissa phoned with an offer. Mad scramble—auction—and then my new and totally amazing editor. Whew…

Two months after the original submission, deal done and my novel has an awesome new home. Ten months from concept to sale. I’m truly blessed.

Now for revisions...

There aren't words...

On this, (Unofficial) Official Agent Appreciation Day, I wanted to put together something to express how truly amazing my agent, Suzie Townsend, is. But there just aren’t words—so I made some up. ;)

Suzie is:
S: a Sensible and Savvy Superstar, Sacrificing her Sanity for her schizo clients. ;)

U: Undeniably the Ultimate Ultra-Uberagent.

Z: Zen, in the Zone with Zest and Zealousness.

I: Incredibly Intelligent.

E: Extraordinarily Enthusiastic, Energetic, Eager, Excited and Encouraging.

In other words, everything a client could ever want in an agent.

Thanks Suzie!!!!

Win a copy of Peace, Love and Baby Ducks

FREE BOOKS! The most powerful two words in the English Language.

All right, maybe I'm a little excitable when it comes to books, but you should check out Suzie Townsend's blog for a free copy of Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle.

Seriously! Check it out!

What would I do without Suzie?

I can’t even begin to describe how awesome my agent, Suzie Townsend, is. As I mentioned in a post last week, I was struggling to write a synopsis for the sequels to Personal Demons. Finally, I slapped the basic story arc for the rest of the series down and, in a bit of a frustrated tantrum, emailed it to her, imploring her to do something with it.

She turned it into something beautiful.

I read the “series concept statement” she put together, and now I’m absolutely dying to read my books!

Suzie made the point that when a writer is so involved with the work, it’s hard to be clear and succinct in a synopsis.

So, what tricks to you use to write a good synopsis?

YA query trends--what's hot and what's not

My awesome agent, Suzie Townsend, did a guest blog on query trends in YA. Very insightfull and informative if you are a YA writer. You can check it out here.