Querying by the Numbers

Lots of folks have been discussing querying trends on Twitter, so I thought it might be time for another deep dive into my querying statistics. As some of you may know, I decided to query my most recent manuscript, an MG contemporary called SECRETS ROLLER COASTERS KEEP, not because my previous agent suddenly became a bad agent but because he no longer felt like the right agent for me. I was lucky enough to sign with Jennifer Herrington of Harvey Klinger Literary Agency back in April of this year, so that's where these numbers come from.

I'll forgo all the disclaimers I felt compelled to share last time, but you should take these facts and figures for precisely what they are: one writer's statistics querying one manuscript. If your numbers don't look like mine, that is no reason to fret. Every journey is unique, and every manuscript is, too.

I ended up submitting 77 queries over the course of three and a half months. You might think that's kind of high, and the truth is, it kind of is. But I've been around the block, so once I know my query's working, I commit and go all out. Here's how those replies broke down:

Partial requests: 6 (7.8%)

Full requests: 13 (16.9%)

Rejections: 45 (58.4%)

Non-responses: 13 (16.9%)

Offers: 3

(It's worth noting that I had at least twice as many non-responses until I received my first offer. It's also worth noting that some of these 13 non-responses eventually turned into responses, but only AFTER I'd accepted Jenn's offer of representation, so I didn't go back and change those outcomes in my notes.)

Query Response Times (Rejections) depicts the frequency of response times (how many agents responded in zero days, how many agents responded in one day, and so on) for the 45 agents who rejected my query:

If these response times surprise you, you should know I make a point of querying agents who respond to almost every query and/or who respond quickly. Though I do confirm that they represent my category, I pay way closer attention to the response rates and times reported on QueryTracker than to their #mswl. It's especially important to query fast-responding agents when you're getting your feet wet, as you need to figure out how well your query is performing, but I also feel like agents who treat querying writers well will also treat their clients well.

Now for the positive replies. Query Response Times (Requests) depicts the frequency of response times for the 18 agents who requested a partial or full:

The shape is generally the same, though it spikes several days later. Good news takes longer than bad news, at least in my experience, and these numbers bear that out. You may also want to know that the three query responses that eventually turned into offers are embedded in this graph at 1, 2, and 62 days to response.

Here's how the quartiles break down for both rejections and requests. For the uninitiated, the median is the data point in the very middle of the set; 50% are below it while 50% are above. Likewise, the quartile Q1 is exactly halfway between the minimum and median while the quartile Q3 is exactly halfway between the median and maximum.

What exactly does this mean? Look at the Combined column first. The median is 17 days, which means that 50% of the agents who responded to my query did so within 17 days. Now look at the Rejections column. Since Q3 is 39, we can say 75% of the agents who rejected my query did so within 39 days. I like looking at quartiles and especially the median because measures like the average are more influenced by outliers. Case in point: the Combined average is 23.8 days because that maximum response time is so much higher than the others.

Perhaps you'd also like to know what my response times looked like on partial and full requests. Sadly, the next graph doesn't differentiate between them--you can blame my laziness--but I hope you'll find it helpful.

Somewhat surprisingly, the shape of this graph mimics the shape of the first two, which suggests that many agents respond to partials and fulls in about the same amount of time that they respond to queries. I should also let you know that one agent took 102 days to reject my full, but since I'd already accepted Jenn's offer of representation by that point, I didn't include it here. As for where my offers fall, they're embedded in this graph at 3, 33, and 94 days to response. (The 3-day response was to a partial, so the amount of time it took the agent to review my full isn't reflected in this graph.)

Here's how the quartiles break down (and this time, I did log partials and fulls separately):

As you might expect, it generally takes agents longer to respond to fulls than partials. Also, my numbers are skewed because I received an offer roughly three and a half months after sending my first query, which forced the others to respond and created an artificial upper bound. (My query response times are probably also a little skewed for the same reason.)

I think that's it from me! Have you queried this year, too, and if so, what would you add?

#PitchMe Results and Wrap-up

#PitchMe pitches racked up 66 likes last week from the members of our agent panel (and one pitch scored an extra like from an outside agent, too)! Here's a breakdown of the action: 

#1 PB: THIS BOOK NEEDS A PASSWORD Jennifer Herrington, Elizabeth Bewley

#2 PB: HAND-ME-DOWN BOOTS Tara Gonzalez, Analieze Cervantes, Jennifer Herrington

#3 PB: SLIME TIME Jennifer Herrington

#4 PB: FINDING FADO Joyce Sweeney, Jennifer Herrington

#5 PB: GUS THE MAGNIFICENT Jennifer Herrington

#6 PB: LIGHTS OUT FOR LUDWIG Jennifer Herrington

#7 PB: STORYBOOK SAFETY INSPECTOR Pam Pho

#8 MG: IF ELEPHANTS COULD TALK Jen Nadol, Pam Pho, Tara Gonzalez, Stefanie Molina, Elizabeth Bewley

#9 MG: BEAST SCOUTS OF THE WANDERING REACH Aida Z. Lilly

#10 MG: THE INFLUENCER Jen Nadol, Jennifer Herrington, Shari Maurer, Katherine Wessbecher

#11 MG: CUTTLEPUNK Jennifer Herrington, Tara Gonzalez

#12 MG: THE SISTERHOOD OF ALOBIBI Joyce Sweeney, Jennifer Herrington, Tara Gonzalez, Lindsay Auld, Shari Maurer, Analieze Cervantes, Katherine Wessbecher

#13 MG: THE GRAVEDIGGER Tara Gonzalez

#14 MG: BLACKBIRD Jennifer Herrington, Tara Gonzalez, Lindsay Auld, Stefanie Molina

#15 MG: EVIE AND THE BOY FROM THE SEA Jennifer Herrington, Aida Z. Lilly, Analieze Cervantes

#16 YA: BLOWN AWAY Aida Z. Lilly, Tara Gonzalez, Elizabeth Bewley

#17 YA: GEEK MYTHOLOGY Pam Pho, Tara Gonzalez, Aida Z. Lilly

#18 YA: THE DEATH MOTHER Aida Z. Lilly

#21 YA: THE SOLSTICE STONE Aida Z. Lilly, Stefanie Molina, Analieze Cervantes, Katherine Wessbecher, Elizabeth Bewley

#22 YA: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD Analieze Cervantes

#24 YA: FAUNA OF MIRRORS Pam Pho, Stefanie Molina, Analieze Cervantes, Katherine Wessbecher

#25 A: SELF-CHECKOUT Analieze Cervantes

#27 A: THE COYOTE PRINCIPLE Jen Nadol, Katherine Wessbecher

#28 A: OLYMPIC ENEMIES Jennifer Herrington, Elizabeth Bewley

#29 A: SECRET SISTER Aida Z. Lilly, Elizabeth Bewley (plus Melissa Danaczko)

#30 A: BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO SEXTING Jen Nadol, Aida Z. Lilly, Stefanie Molina, Elizabeth Bewley

In addition, one of our PBs came to the agent round with an offer on the table, and one of our adult finalists, WITCHCRAFT & WHISKEY, had to bow out of the agent round because it received an offer. (Luckily, we had an alternate waiting in the wings!)

Also, I just want to say that, if you didn't get a like--or even if you didn't get picked as a finalist--I still believe in you, and I hope you believe in you, too. The only trait every published author has in common is persistence, so keep bashing your head against that brick wall until it comes crumbling down.

Last but certainly not least, THANK YOU. Whether you were an agent, an entrant, or a finalist, I couldn't have done this without you. And I REALLY couldn't have done this without PB partner-in-crime Tara Shiroff. Thank you for your insights and your boundless optimism.

Until next year!

#PitchMe Finalists

Without any ado, here are the #PitchMe finalists* in no particular order:

PB

C.S.'s FINDING FADO

J.F.S.'s SLIME TIME

C.D.'s THIS BOOK NEEDS A PASSWORD

J.W.'s GUS, THE MAGNIFICENT

M.R.'s LIGHTS OUT FOR LUDWIG

K.L's BOOK LAND SAFETY INSPECTOR

A.L.'s HAND-ME-DOWN BOOTS

MG

T.G.'s BEAST SCOUTS OF THE WANDERING REACH (fantasy)

P.Z.'s THE SISTERHOOD OF ALOBIBI (mystery)

R.R.'s IF ELEPHANTS COULD TALK (contemporary novel-in-verse)

D.P.'s GOOD VIBRATIONS (contemporary)

D.A.'s EVIE AND THE BOY FROM THE SEA (fantasy)

A.V.'s CUTTLEPUNK (contemporary fantasy)

G.P.'s THE GRAVEDIGGER (horror)

K.B.'s BLACKBIRD (contemporary)

YA

E.M.W.'s GEEK MYTHOLOGY (contemporary fantasy)

K.C.'s FAUNA OF MIRRORS (fantasy)

J.C.T's POST-MORTEM DEPRESSION (paranormal)

C.B.'s DARK CORNERS, BRIGHT SPACES (contemporary romance)

S.R.K's THE SOLSTICE STONE (contemporary/historical)

K.C.'s ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (speculative)

J.S.C.'s BLOWN AWAY (contemporary)

A.H.'s THE DEATH MOTHER (magical realism)

E.C.'s THE FREE CITY (techno-thriller)

Adult

A.R.'s BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO SEXTING (romantic comedy)

N.S.'s THE COYOTE PRINCIPLE (literary mystery)

M.W.'s SECRET SIS (domestic thriller)

J.T.F.'s DRAGONS OF WIND AND LEAVES (fantasy)

H.R.'s WITCHCRAFT & WHISKEY (historical fantasy)

S.S.'s SELF-CHECKOUT (contemporary romance)

Congratulations, finalists! I really can't wait to dig in and help you make these awesome projects just a little awesomer.

If your submission wasn't chosen, thank you so much for submitting, and please, please, please don't give up. I took notes on every entry and wrote down something positive about every single one (and usually a suggestion, too). If you don't find an agent between now and October 21 and would like to hear my thoughts on your pitch, query, and first page, you're more than welcome to respond to your original submission with a request for that feedback. I only ask that you hold off until Thursday, October 21, the day AFTER the agent round, so I can spend these next few weeks reviewing the finalists' work.

*You probably noticed that I picked a few more MGs and YAs than PBs and adults. This is simply a reflection of what the agents who agreed to participate in #PitchMe are looking for right now. Of the 12 agents who signed up, 7 are looking for PB, 12 are looking for MG, 11 are looking for YA, and 5 are looking for adult.

Thoughts on #PitchMe Submissions

 I've now read all 251--or all 249, as there were several duplicates--of your amazing #PitchMe entries. *collapses on sofa* And my goodness, you guys didn't make it easy on me! Of the 249 submissions, I probably flagged at least a third and maybe up to half of them to consider for our spots. As I narrow down the list, here's a little food for thought:

Overall Impressions

• If you have a connection to your plot or characters--say, if you and your MC are both retired detectives or Chinese Americans--make that connection very clear. Many writers did this well, but several queries made me wonder why this writer was the one telling this story through this lens. Don't ever make an agent guess!
• Most queries ended with the Query Shark-approved "Thank you for your time and consideration," but many also added something along the lines of "I look forward to hearing from you." In an era when more agents are using auto-responders and simultaneously adopting a no-response-means-no policy, this line may come across as vaguely passive-aggressive. Just something to keep in mind.
• FANTASY was, by far, the most represented genre across every category. That's not an awful thing, per se--I happen to love fantasy--but because of the volume, submissions within this genre had to work even harder to stand out. Several things that caught my eye: a fascinating world, an uncommon superpower, an especially high concept, or a unique genre mashup.
• POST-APOCALYPTIC SETTINGS, especially in YA and adult, sort of caught me by surprise. At first, they struck me as fresh, but as I encountered more and more, they became strikes against their projects instead of points for them.
• Another plot device I bumped into more than once was THE ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS TROPE, and not only in romance. Some of my favorite entries happened to use this plot device, and I know tropes are tropes in part because they're evergreen. But if you're going for unique, especially if you're writing romance, you might want to use another.
• I also encountered lots of WITCHES across the novel categories and quite a few SECRET SOCIETIES in YA and adult.
• Fairy tale retellings, or retellings of the classics, weren't nearly as abundant in MG or YA as they probably would have been a handful of years ago, which I think is a good thing and lines up with market trends. Conversely, in PB, I encountered quite a few FAIRY TALE AND/OR NURSERY RHYME REFERENCES. Unless you approach these stories in an unexpected way (and to be honest, several did), I fear they might not stand out. 
• Finally, I couldn't help but notice several uses of free cities--like the Free City of Detroit, a futuristic city-state. I was surprised to see this concept used by more than one writer, and now that Free Guy has come out, it might show up even more.

PB Notes

• Per my tweet last week, there were 58 submissions within this category.
• I have four young kids, including a three-year-old, so I've read quite a few PBs. When the text of a PB flows, even if it's not in VERSE, it's a delight to read out loud. And when it doesn't flow? It's not. You would think a verse would help, but unless it was consistent and the syllables lined up, I thought the verse fell kind of flat. In fact, in many instances, I thought the verse did a disservice to an otherwise great plot.

And now in Tara's words: "I would say that we were blown away by the entries and really looked for something that stood out to us because we know that's what will stand out to an agent...whether it made us laugh, cry or was just completely unique. Stories that were well-written perhaps did not ultimately get selected as winners if they were too didactic or did not have a completely unique element. Agents want to be able to brand you (your books are funny, sweet, lyrical, family-driven, own voices, etc.), so if they ask you to submit additional picture books, they are going to expect that your additional submissions are similar in tone/theme. I would hold off on querying (we had several submissions where people said they had one great idea and no other books) until you have 3-5 fully polished manuscripts in case (and when!) an agent asks you for more work.

"Some of the PBs had a lot of introduction and didn't get right into the action, which meant that the start was a little slow. Some of them did not have much dialogue throughout the story, and that would make a child potentially less interested. Some of them were much too long for a PB (we had a few that said they were over 800 words), and so really knowing that agents are looking to make offers on books that are approximately 500 words would be helpful for some writers. Some indicated in the query that they had a surprise, twisty ending, but since we only allowed a sample of the story we didn't see that awesome ending and that was unfortunate."

MG Notes

• Per my tweet last week, there were 34 submissions within this category.
• BULLYING was an extremely common theme among the MG submissions, so if that's your only hook, you might want to add another.

YA Notes

• There were 74 submissions within this category, which is one less than I reported last week, as there was a duplicate.
• SIRENS seemed to be the paranormal soupe du jour among the YA entries. I came across VAMPIRES, too, but they weren't as prominent, perhaps because their vampirism didn't play as large a role in how their stories rolled out.  

Adult Notes

• There were 83 submissions within this category, which is one less than I reported last week, as there was a duplicate.
• Of all the categories, this one was the most varied. I'm not sure why that would be, but I thought I'd point it out!
• One question I kept asking as I read these entries was, "Does this love story work in a #metoo-mindful world?" Sadly, in some cases, the answer was simply no.

Lastly, I wanted to say something about the nature of this contest and the issues it creates. Because I want to give the agents a unique and balanced list, I put these projects head to head far more often than I'd like. Do I pick this thriller or that one, and which of these fantasies with a shapeshifting raccoon do I think is very best? An agent can request them all, but I'm a lot more limited, so if you don't make it in, please know that I saw positives in every one of these entries and won't be able to include a lot of really awesome work.

Until next week!

Now Accepting #PitchMe Submissions

UPDATE: And that's a wrap! We received 251 submissions in the first hour, so the submission window is now closed. Keep an eye on this space--and on my Twitter feed--for more #PitchMe tidbits!

Welcome to #PitchMe! To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

PB fiction* (all genres)
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
Adult fiction (all genres, including commercial, literary, and/or upmarket but excluding erotica)

*Since I admittedly know less about writing and pitching PBs, I’ve asked PB author and two-time #TacoPitch winner Tara Shiroff to help me help you!

1. All submissions must be sent to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com and include A TWITTER PITCH, A QUERY, AND THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. (PB author-illustrators are also encouraged to share links to their online portfolios.) You must also paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

2. Please submit ONLY ONE PROJECT. If you submit multiple projects, I'll only consider the first.

3. It would also really help if you INCLUDE YOUR CATEGORY--PB, MG, YA, OR ADULT--SOMEWHERE IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE, but it's not a requirement.

4. The submission window opens on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00 a.m. EDT and closes at 12:00 noon EDT or when we reach 150 entries, WHICHEVER HAPPENS LAST. If we haven’t reached 150 entries by September 14 at 11:00 a.m. EDT, the submission window will close then.

5. Once you send me your submission, I’ll send you a confirmation e-mail with a summary of these rules.

6. Lastly, because there's so much need in so many places around the world, I PLEDGE TO DONATE $1 FOR EVERY SUBMISSION RECEIVED, which I'll split evenly between Haitian, Afghan, and Hurricane Ida relief efforts.

For more information, including a timeline of events and a list of participating agents, check out this post. We can't wait to read your work!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About #PitchMe

After taking a long break from "The Writer's Voice," I'm back with another multi-agent query contest--this time on Twitter! If you take what I loved most about "The Writer's Voice"--mentoring great writers at wherever they happen to be on their publishing journey--and mash it up with a pitch fest, then you've basically got #PitchMe. Are you interested? Read on!

Here’s the timeline:

September 8: The submission window opens

September 22: Selected submissions announced

September 22-October 19: Mentoring takes place

October 20: Revised Twitter pitches posted; agents like their favorites

Submissions

To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

PB fiction* (all genres)

MG fiction (all genres)

YA fiction (all genres)

Adult fiction (all genres, including commercial, literary, and/or upmarket but excluding erotica)

*Since I admittedly know less about writing and pitching PBs, I’ve asked PB author and two-time #TacoPitch winner Tara Shiroff to help me help you!

1. All submissions must be sent to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com and include A TWITTER PITCH, A QUERY, AND THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. (PB author-illustrators are also encouraged to share links to their online portfolios.) You must also paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

2. Please submit ONLY ONE PROJECT. If you submit multiple projects, I'll only consider the first.

3. It would also really help if you INCLUDE YOUR CATEGORY--PB, MG, YA, OR ADULT--SOMEWHERE IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE, but it's not a requirement. 

4. The submission window opens on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00 a.m. EDT and closes at 12:00 noon EDT or when we reach 150 entries, WHICHEVER HAPPENS LAST. If we haven’t reached 150 entries by September 14 at 11:00 a.m. EDT, the submission window will close then.

5. Once you send me your submission, I’ll send you a confirmation e-mail with a summary of these rules.

6. Lastly, because there's so much need in so many places around the world, I PLEDGE TO DONATE $1 FOR EVERY SUBMISSION RECEIVED, which I'll split evenly between Haitian, Afghan, and Hurricane Ida relief efforts. 

Selections

I'll select 6 entries within each major category--PB, MG, YA, and adult--and up to 6 wildcards. I may pick 6 adults or 3 YAs and 3 MGs or just a single PB; it depends on what I know the agents are looking for and which submissions seem strongest.

Once I've finalized my picks--with Tara’s help, of course--I'll e-mail the winning writers and announce the winning titles here and/or on my Twitter feed on Wednesday, September 22. Then the real work will begin!

Mentoring

For the next roughly 4 weeks, the winning writers will revise their pitches, queries, and first pages with my and Tara’s help. You won’t be obligated to incorporate our thoughts, and the feedback we provide on your queries and first pages won’t actually be featured in the agent round itself. We just want to help you make your pitches, queries, and first pages the very best that they can be.

Liking

On Wednesday, October 20, I'll post the revised pitches ON MY TWITTER FEED for the agents to review. Here are the awesome agents who’ll be liking your pitches:

Aida Z. Lilly of KT Literary

Analieze Cervantes of Harvey Klinger Literary Agency

Elizabeth Bewley of Sterling Lord Literistic

Jen Nadol of The Unter Agency

Jennifer Herrington of Harvey Klinger Literary Agency

Joyce Sweeney of The Seymour Agency

Katherine Wessbecher of Bradford Literary Agency

Lindsay Auld of Writers House

Pam Pho of D4EO Literary Agency

Shari Maurer of Stringer Literary Agency

Stefanie Molina of Ladderbird Literary Agency

Tara Gonzalez of Erin Murphy Literary Agency

Each like will count as a partial or full request based on the agents’ preferences. Agents will be able to review and like your pitches for a full 24 hours, at which point you’ll be allowed to submit your materials to all the agents who requested them. These likes represent serious interest in your project, so PLEASE DON’T ACCEPT AN OFFER OF REPRESENTATION BEFORE GIVING THE #PITCHME AGENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A COMPETING OFFER.

So get those pitches polished up and plan to e-mail them to me--with your queries and first pages--on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00 a.m. EDT. We can’t wait to read your work!

Have a question? Ask below!

Q&A with Victor Pineiro, MG Author of TIME VILLAINS

Absolutely thrilled to welcome author Victor Piñeiro, whose MG debut, TIME VILLAINS, came out earlier this month. Victor's wide-ranging career has taken lots of twists and turns, but I love how writing books was always Victor's number one. Read on for how all that turned out! 

KV: TIME VILLAINS sounds like a fun fantasy adventure. How did you first come up with the idea?

VP: Fifteen years ago my brother and I stumbled on a magical forest. We took a wrong turn while exploring Western France and ended up in Paimpont, Merlin’s enchanted woods. It was sunset, we raced around the ancient trees hoping we’d stumble on the legendary Fountain of Eternal Youth, and at some point realized we had to find our way back to our car before dark. The whole experience was so mystical and thrilling that it stayed with me. Over a decade later I had the seed to a story: a magical table that summons anyone from history or fiction to dinner, once you answered the question, “If you could invite any three people to dinner, who would they be?” But why would a table be magical in the first place? The idea tossed and turned in my head for ages before I remembered the enchanted forest. Then I got overwhelmingly excited to create a series around it, casting all of my favorite fictional and historical characters.

KV: Which three guests would YOU invite to a magical dinner party? Why?

VP: My list changes day to day but usually it’s two historical figures and one very out-there fictional character. I’m a huge poetry fiend so probably Walt Whitman, and maybe Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico’s greatest poet). For the fictional character I’d probably go with Galadriel, Gandalf or Aslan--might as well bring in someone magical to really spice things up!

KV: Career-wise, you've been involved in everything from public school teaching to filmmaking and multimedia content development. How did you end up writing novels?

VP: It’s funny, being a published author has been the dream and goal since I was a kid, so it’s just taken me quite awhile to get there! In my teens and twenties I couldn’t silence my inner critic long enough to write novels, so I turned to poetry and screenplays, writing and producing documentaries for a spell. From there I became the voice of Skittles, YouTube, Google and other brands on social media, which really helped me hone my skills when it came to voice. I finally coaxed a book out in 2017 after writing daily on my (long) commute for three years. It was a very unconventional first book--the only kind I could coax out on my first try--so I shelved it and started working on TIME VILLAINS. It’s funny how circuitous the path to achieving our goals can be, and how that’s usually a blessing in disguise.

KV: How is publishing a novel similar to making a film, and how is it different?

VP: I think a story is a story is a story. Finding and developing a documentary’s story as it comes together isn’t all that different from doing the same with a novel. The process is surprisingly similar, and even more so with a screenplay. The real difference is in the rhythm of collaboration. With a film, even tiny indie productions, you’re all in constant contact and collaboration. The director is driving it, but they’re checking in with everyone all the time, or showing newly edited scenes daily, etc. With a novel (at least in my experience) you’re on your own for long stretches of time before you send drafts to your editor, agent or readers.

KV: We met through DiverseVoices, Inc.'s inaugural DVdebut program, which paired debut novelists from diverse backgrounds with mentor novelists from similar backgrounds. How has your Puerto Rican heritage influenced your art in general and TIME VILLAINS in particular?

VP: Just the other day I fell in love with the term nepantla, an Aztec word that means in-betweenness--the liminal space between worlds. It’s been adopted by Chicano culture to describe the discomfort they feel trying to walk the tightrope between the world of the colonizer and the colonized.

That’s the tension I love to explore with my characters. It’s my experience as a first generation, light-skinned Puerto Rican, who moved to the US as a child. It’s the experience so many of my friends and family had existing in two cultures laid awkwardly on top of each other.

Whether I’m writing a children’s book about a magical school or a YA book about enduring anxiety, the characters will always be negotiating a life in two worlds. The protagonists will often feel strange that the language they’re most fluent in isn’t their first, that a big chunk of their identity is hidden from even their closest friends, that they’re not deep enough in their native culture to understand the humor.

KV: What other writing projects do you have in the pipeline?

VP: I’m three drafts into my next book and it couldn’t be more different than Time Villains. It’s a YA novel that deals with mental health (mostly crippling social anxiety) and explores being Latinx in an American high school. There’s some light sci-fi/fantasy elements because I love using them to propel the story.

KV: Any last words of advice or encouragement you'd like to share with us?

VP: Absolutely! There are a few misconceptions that would’ve had me writing novels decades ago, so I take any chance I can get to relay them to other aspiring/young writers.

The most important one (for me at least)--an hour a day can be enough. I always thought I needed to quit my job and write eight hours a day to finish a novel, which held me back for years. Then I read a Murakami interview where he said he completed his first novel by writing an hour a day after work. In that moment I felt like the universe gave me permission to write mine. And whether I got a half hour or an hour a day, I’ve written three novels at that pace and am working on the fourth.

Ah, what great advice, Victor. Writers are people who write, whether it's a little or a lot. No one ever has to wait to start putting their thoughts down.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

Book Recommendation and ARC Giveaway on Twitter: YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED by Michelle I. Mason

Michelle and I have been writing friends for a long, long time, so when her manuscript landed an agent, then a book deal, within a matter of weeks, I couldn't have been more thrilled. The fact that her manuscript sold to my editor at Bloomsbury was just the icing on the cake and a fun coincidence--until it occurred to me that I could probably beg an ARC of YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED off our mutual editor.

Which, of course, was what I did:)

YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED has a hugely commercial premise: seventeen-year-old Jenny gets on a plane in New York City in 1995 and gets off again in St. Louis--in 2020. Her parents are now senior citizens, her formerly younger brother is now old enough to be her dad, and her best friend and boyfriend are now married. To each other. What's more, something's going on with the flight's investigation, and as a budding reporter, Jenny can't help but dive in.

I couldn't put this book down. Knowing what was coming, I could NOT leave Jenny hanging until she'd also figured out what the heck was going on, and then I wanted to keep reading because her life was so messed up and I felt supremely bad. Also, because her new best friend, the seventeen-year-old son of the aforementioned best friend and boyfriend, was supremely sweet, and though I could see it coming from 30,000 feet away, their awkward relationship was still fun to watch unfold.

I've already preordered my copy of YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, so with Michelle's permission and a signed bookmark to boot, I'm super excited to pass my ARC along. The giveaway will be on Twitter, so head over there to enter. I wish you all kinds of luck!

How I Found My Birth Mom

This is a Very Long Story, one I haven't blogged about because I genuinely thought it would make a better book. I still plan to write that book, but after trying--and failing--to get a single chapter down, I decided it might help to write a single blog post first.

Almost two years ago now, I convinced my little sister to audition for a genealogy-based reality TV show with me. Very long first half of this Very Long Story short, we didn't make the final cut, but we did spit in the tubes, so we ultimately gained access to the research they'd begun. They turned over that research almost a year ago exactly--and their research was spot-on. It identified my birth dad and a host of half siblings. But as I mentioned in this post, it couldn't pinpoint my birth mom, since she was adopted, too. At first, I was kind of bummed, but then I was kind of glad. The thought of solving this last mystery on my own made me happy.

My saliva HAD pinpointed the two probable families my birth mom descended from, the Monroes and the Carpentiers. That is, one of her birth parents was likely one of six siblings in this specific Monroe family while the other was likely one of four or five siblings in this clan of Carpentiers. Sadly, two of the Monroes and three of the Carpentiers had already passed away, but if I could reach the others, maybe they would have more clues.

I started scouring the internet for contact information for the still-living siblings. I found three or four phone numbers for each sibling on average, but as you might expect, very few of them still worked. When I was able to track down one of the Carpentier daughters, I literally did a jig. But her mind wasn't all there, so though she mentioned that her sister HAD placed a baby for adoption, I discounted what she'd said.

Fast forward a few months. After speaking to more siblings and poring over my matches, I was able to determine with a high degree of confidence that my birth mom's birth parents were Theodore William Monroe Jr. and Gayle Mae Carpentier. The problem was that both were dead, so they couldn't shed more light on exactly when or where my birth mom had been born. I could make educated guesses based, but without a date or place, I'd kind of reached a dead end.

I kept digging, though, kept fighting. I barked up some other trees. And somewhere along the way, I found out about Utah's voluntary adoption registry. Governed by the health department, the adoption registry matches adult adoptees with biological relatives if both parties come to them. But did you notice how I said that the adoption registry is governed by the health department? They were kind of swamped last year, so you could no longer walk in and fill out an application. You could mail one to their office IF it had been notarized.

This was back in the late spring. The formal lockdown had expired, but my county was under a blanket stay-at-home directive, and I just didn't feel good about violating that (even if I thought my reason was, you know, better than most). I let my application sit. And sit and sit and sit some more. Then, when October rolled around, a still, small voice whispered, "It's time." I strapped on my snuggest mask, went and found a notary, and sent off that application.

According to the website, it could take up to six weeks to hear your application's status. I thought I could handle that; I'm a writer, after all. Two weeks came and went, then six, and then two full months had passed. I decided to check in. A few days later, they informed me that they'd had to send away for the records on my case but that I should hear more soon. That Friday, I got an e-mail.

They'd managed to make a match.

I almost couldn't believe it. I also couldn't stop grinning. After running around and screaming for, like, an hour, I texted the number they'd sent.

It was my birth mom's. I'd found her.

Since that splenderific day, my birth mom and I have FaceTimed for three hours at a stretch on more than one occasion. We also got a chance to meet when she and her fiancé came for a previously scheduled ski trip.

This picture was taken safely. Please wear a mask in AT&T's stores.

The fact that my birth mom was also placed for adoption was, at least initially, one of my biggest stumbling blocks. Now that I've (finally!) found her, though, I've come to think of it instead as one of my biggest blessings. She knows exactly how I feel because she was adopted, too, and she knows how much I'll always love my adoptive family because she was adopted, too. But I hope she also knows how grateful I am for HER. I would NOT be where I am without her genes and her decisions. She gave me a fantastic start.