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.

A New Query/A New Hope

I know, I know, long time, no blog. What can I say? It's 2020. But one of the many things I've been working on this year is an MG contemporary that I'm rather in love with and that I intend to query. ("Oh, no!" you're probably thinking if you've been around the blog for any length of time. "What happened with you and Brent?" Nothing really, and therein lay the problem. I think we both knew it was time to move on.) As such, I'd love to get your feedback on the first query I've written in almost five years. First draft below!

Dear [Insert Agent Here]:

Twelve-year-old Ingrid Adler really doesn’t like her aunt. She’s a know-it-all, she’s rude, and worst of all, she left the faith. Then Ingrid’s mom passes away, and her aunt nobly volunteers to help her dad take care of her. She’d much rather have her mom.

She avoids her helpful aunt by reading her mom’s diaries. They’re spontaneous and fun, everything her aunt is not. They also reveal a handful of her mom’s last wishes--to help Ingrid know her birth mom and to ride a roller coaster.

Ingrid dislikes roller coasters as much as she hates her aunt, but she also wants to be as courageous as her mom. When her aunt reads the diaries, she doesn’t give Ingrid a chance to weigh in on her crazy scheme, just organizes a massive cross-country road trip on the fly. With her grieving dad in tow, Ingrid grudgingly sets out to ride the baddest roller coasters between here and the Atlantic. But will this roller coaster road trip help her find her birth mom, too?

[TITLE] is an #ownvoices MG contemporary complete at 50,000 words. My previous agent and I parted on amicable terms several months ago, before I finished the first draft. Neither he nor any editors have read this manuscript, and it will be available to submit immediately.

Like Ingrid, I was placed for adoption as an infant and raised in a mixed-race home that was genuine and nurturing. I’ve also recently begun my search for my biological family. Though I’ve identified my birth dad, who was the younger son of a Filipino immigrant and a native Hawaiian, I still haven’t found my birth mom--but I haven’t given up.

I’m also the author of THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING, a Junior Library Guild selection, and THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN, among other MG novels.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

A few other notes: I've included my previous books, including publishers and release dates, in my signature block, which is why I haven't put them in the paragraph above. I just thought this looked less cluttered, but feel free to disagree! Also, while I'm looking for feedback on anything and everything, I'm especially not sold on the last line of the summary. Lastly, if you have any ideas for the title, please, please, please lay them on me. My best two ideas so far are HOW NOT TO FIND YOUR BIRTH MOM and THE SECRETS ROLLER COASTERS KEEP, but I'm not sold on those, either.

All right, then, have at it!

An Open Letter to My Birth Mom

Dear Birth Mom,

You don't know me. We met exactly once, on the day that I was born, but by then, you'd been in labor for, like, forty-eight hours, so you must have been exhausted. (I'm so sorry about that.) I hope they let you hold me for at least a little while, but they probably didn't. I'm sorry about that, too.

I should probably back up. Last year, I spit into a tube as part of the audition process for a reality TV show. I didn't make the show because my sister and her husband decided to have a baby (which is a whole other blog post), but I DID get the results from that tube I spit into. And guess what?! They found my birth dad.

He died twenty years ago.

In a car accident, sadly. I learned this from his other kids. I know you knew that he had kids, but did you know that one was only six years younger than you were? I guess he lied about his age. Is that why you didn't get married? I used to think it was because he wasn't a member of your church, but as it turns out, he was. Now I'm not sure what to think. Maybe you broke up with him before you found out about me, or maybe he broke up with you BECAUSE he found out about me. (I really hope that isn't it.) Hopefully, I'll get to ask.

As you've probably surmised, my spit couldn't pinpoint you. I'm quite certain it's because you were placed for adoption, too. But here's the most amazing thing--since my spit is half your spit, it found YOUR birth mom and dad.

   

Unfortunately, they're dead, too.

Are you noticing a theme? My head keeps reminding me that our genes weren't built to last, but my heart keeps holding on. I really need to tell you thanks for letting me derail your life. For giving me life, period. And for giving me two parents who went to the moon and back to help me become who I am. But you were adopted, too, so maybe you already know. Still, I'd love to say the words and meet you face to face. Again.

Until then, I won't give up. I'll chase every lead I have. It might take a little longer thanks to this lovely pandemic, but I'm strong-willed. I'm persistent. And I'm going to find you (in the friendliest possible way). 

Your birth daughter,

Krista

EARTH TO DAD’s Cover Three Ways

EARTH TO DAD was my first book to sell in more than one territory, and what added to my delight was that each publisher developed their own unique cover. I thought it would be fun to take a look at these covers and and discuss what each one adds to EARTH TO DAD’s world.

The American cover was the first one to take shape, and I fell instantly in love with Jen Bricking’s interpretation of the two central characters and the overall world. Both Jameson and Astra look exactly as I pictured them, and their environment is harsh but, thanks to the rising sun, ultimately hopeful. (I realize this image could just as easily reflect a setting sun, but I’ve always envisioned it as a sunrise, not a sunset. Now I wonder which Ms. Bricking intended to represent...) I also love the star-swept sky, the saturated color palette, and the striking title treatment. They really make the book stand out.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first opened the file that contained the Chinese cover, as EARTH TO DAD was my first book to sell in another territory. Well, suffice it to say I was completely blown away. It was so completely different--and so completely unexpected--but I loved it just as much. The bright reds and oranges are exceptionally eye-catching and definitely create a sense of the red planet's importance. Jameson is super cute, but the focus on his dad also feels appropriate. Interesting side note: because the phrase "Earth to Dad" doesn't translate well into other languages, the Chinese publisher renamed the book MY DAD LIVES ON MARS.

The Korean rights sold on the heels of the simplified Chinese rights, but while the Chinese version was released last year, the South Korean version wasn't slated to come out until sometime this March. (Thanks to the coronavirus, I won't be at all surprised if it hasn't come out yet.) This is the long way of saying the South Korean cover was only finalized a few months ago, so I'm thrilled to share it here. While the American and Chinese covers relied on saturated colors, the South Korean version makes great use of pastels to convey a sense of the story's gentleness. Though the book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, the story is much more about Jameson and Astra's burgeoning friendship and how much they come to care for and look after each other. This cover also does a great job of portraying Base Ripley, where Jameson and Astra live, and you've got to love the South Korean title: HELLO, DAD! THIS IS EARTH.

Well, there you have it, EARTH TO DAD's cover three ways. Which one do you like best? And if you've read the book, which one do you think best represents the story?

Please Join Me in a Worldwide Day of Fasting and Prayer

Update: President Nelson invited us to fast again this Friday, April 10. Christians around the world will be observing Good Friday, but people of all religious backgrounds--or no religious background at all--are invited to participate and ask God for relief from this global pandemic.

 

Tomorrow, I'll be participating in a worldwide day of fasting and prayer to bring needed relief from the effects of the novel coronavirus. Because I've experienced the blessings of fasting and prayer in my own life, I wanted to invite you to participate and experience those blessings, too.

How do I fast and pray?

To fast, you purposely refrain from eating and drinking for a set period of time. I plan to fast for approximately twenty-four hours, so after eating dinner tonight, I won't eat again until dinner tomorrow.

But fasting is so much more than just not eating. To have the best fasting experience, consider combining it with prayer. When I begin my fast, I'll ask God to please moderate the effects of this new coronavirus, to strengthen the immune systems of those who've been infected and those who are working tirelessly to help them, and to relieve the suffering of those whose lives have been upended by this pandemic. I'll renew this prayer several times throughout the day, and then, just before I eat, I'll close my fast by thanking God for this opportunity and by asking him one more time to bless those around the world who've been negatively impacted by the coronavirus.

I'll also donate the value of the meals I didn't eat--and probably even more--to a charity that's working to assist doctors, nurses, and hospitals and/or relieve the physical, mental, or economic suffering brought on by this pandemic.

So to sum up, here's what you do:

1. Stop eating and drinking for a set period of time, usually twenty-four hours.
2. Pray to whichever deity you revere for needed relief from this pandemic.
3. Donate the value of the meals you didn't eat--or even more, if you're able to--to a charity like the American Red Cross, No Kid Hungry, or your local food bank.

What if I can't fast for a medical reason?

There are several subsets of people who shouldn't fast for medical reasons. For instance, pregnant women and people with certain chronic illnesses shouldn't go without food or drink for any length of time. But everyone can participate in the spirit of a fast by praying and donating to a worthy cause.

What if I don't make it the full twenty-four hours?

That's totally okay! The first time I tried to fast, I turned into such a blubbering mess that I had to go home and eat lunch. Fasting isn't easy; things worth doing rarely are. So even if you don't make it the full twenty-four hours, you can still say you fasted. God will still honor your effort.

Is fasting painful?

Yes, especially if you've never done it before. You ARE going to feel hungry. Your stomach IS going to growl. But these sensations only serve to remind you that you're fasting, that you're sacrificing something to benefit your fellow humans and to plead for God's help.

I didn't see this blog post until after the fact--can I still fast?

Absolutely! You can fast and pray on any day for any reason. God never takes a break:)

Who came up with this idea?

I'm not completely sure, but I'm going to say God. In fact, fasting is an element of many of the world's religions. I especially love what Isaiah had to say about fasting in Isaiah 58:

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

"Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.

"Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

"And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

Aren't those amazing blessings?!

If you choose not to fast, I completely understand. But if you do decide to try it, thank you, thank you, and good luck. I hope you have a unique and inspiring experience.