• Agent Observations

    Before You Hit Send v.5

    This morning I’m listening to sound of silence as all the kiddos in the house, mine and my niece, are still asleep after my brother took them to the pool for five hours yesterday. It’s wonderful. Today, I’m going to address a more in depth look at what defines Magical Realism. I’ve noticed a vast amount of agents and editors asking for Magical Realism. I’m one of them. But when I started thinking about it, I became confused. My initial thought was Magical Realism is like Practical Magic or the Craft or Harry Potter. Boy was I wrong. And I wonder if it’s a label we’ve tagged to these books, but…

  • Conferences

    Only in New Orleans

    On the iPod this morning : Rumor Has It by Adele So as I recover from a fantastic time at Romantic Times Convention in NOLA, I thought I’d post some things learned in the Big Easy. Thoughts and ideas gained from those top of the industry. And just some crazy things that can only happen in New Orleans.   1.) It is very possible to spend more money on food than alcohol in New Orleans. 2.) Trying Absinthe sounds like more fun than actually drinking the milky, greenish liquor. 3.) The line at Starbucks was ungodly long and the tiny complimentary coffee in the hotel was only enough to lift…

  • Updates

    Update

    Just a brief update before I head down to the Big Easy for the Romantic Times Conference. I will be taking pitches on Thursday from 11-12, so sign up if you haven’t already. As of Saturday I was still reading through queries from March 6. I am also reading through requested material both from several pitch contests and those requested from the Querybox. Have a fantastic Mother’s Day! And if you’re going to New Orleans this week, I hope to see you there!  

  • Agent Observations

    Before You Hit Send v.4

    I’m working to the soundtrack of munchkins coloring in the background. Today, I am going to address a few issues I am seeing in the Inbox: Genre and Target Age. While the internet has a plethora of sources that discuss genre, I still see dozens of queries with the genre or the targeted age mislabeled. Genre is more of a bookstore label. It’s what easily lets the reader, bookseller, the editor identify how to categorize your story, how to sell it, how to help you find similar stories that are of the same taste. YA is technically a genre of children’s literature, but with the success of Young Adult in…

  • Updates

    Updates And All

    What’s on the iPod : Happy by Pharrell Williams – Love that song. Just a brief update. I am working through March 3 queries. I still have Fulls from the end of last year. I should be getting through those this week. And to give you an idea of what I’m seeing: YA that “s not really YA – 3 queries in the last week. Rejections. I don’t represent adult, except for Adult Historical Romance. Calling you manuscript YA tells me that you don’t know your genre. Sorry YA Fantasy: almost all the queries I’ve received have been fantasy. Several have been more High Fantasy but the premise wasn’t unique. It felt…

  • Agent Observations

    Before You Hit Send v.3

    What’s on iTunes: I Don’t Want To Be by Gavin Degraw As I work through some queries (I love that I have thirty million tabs open on Internet Explorer), I thought I would post in the continuing series Before You Hit Send. Today I’m going to talk about 3rd Person POV. There’s a lot of dialogue out in cyberspace between what is more acceptable, what is published more, what works better for what genre. Today I’m focusing on Young Adult. I have read my fair share of 1st Person POV in YA. The idea is that 1st person works best for YA because of the immediacy it creates that lends…

  • Uncategorized

    With Awesome News Come Some Boundaries

    On the iPod this morning : Happy by Pharrell Williams On Saturday March 1, I officially opened to queries, celebrating my status as Junior Agent for the Corvisiero Literary Agency. I’m still soooooo excited! This news was shared by Writer’s Digest and the Guide to Literary Agents – HERE – if you haven’t read Chuck Sambuchino’s website it is full of awesomeness. I highly recommended following his posts. The announcement was shared over Twitter and Facebook. I am ever grateful for the retweets and reposts. But as I enter a new avenue within publishing, I now have to set some boundaries I never did as an author. I’ve had a Twitter…

  • Creating Characters

    The Kick-Ass Heroine vs. The Meek, Yet Strong Protector Heroine

    (Originally posted to Blogger on 2/1/2013) It’s only fair, after devoting 3 posts to the Hero, that the ladies should get some equal posting time. When I mention kick-ass heroine, I imagine most envision this…..    Or this…..    I think of this….. So what qualities make up the K-A Heroine? 1.) They don’t need no stinkin’ man, at least they’ve started out thinking that. They’re quite capable of stealing Death Star plans and smuggling them off their ship under attack. Or infiltrating an evil spy organization at the same time working as a double agent to help the CIA. Or surviving the jungle, or a televised death match, or demon…

  • Agent Observations

    Before You Hit Send

    (Originally posted on Blogger 7/8/2013) While I’ve been dwindling with ideas for my Steampunk posts, I thought about a new post series. I’ve been very busy the last month with the extraordinary opportunity to serve as an Agency Intern for the Corvisiero Literary Agency. Right now this means primarily looking over queries and filing them. But I see so many common mistakes and thought I would share those sorts of things so you guys in the trenches (and trust me as a querying author, I’m right there in the trenches with you) can make your query stand out. Today’s topic is Word Count. There are dozens upon hundreds of websites that…

  • Steampunk Saturday

    Steampunk Saturday, vol. 7

    (Originally posted 4/13/2013) As I scarf down a few cinnamon rolls, a few meaning the Pilsbury-in-a-can size, and take a break from catching up on my fave TV show Nashville, I realized it’s been two months since I posted. So I’ve thrown in the soundtrack to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and I’m posting about the Victorian lady’s wardrobe today. During the Victorian Era, the female fashion and figure changed dramatically from the 1860s to the final years of the century. Many people associate the look of the 1860s as the hoop skirts with layers of crinoline and petticoats, tight corsets and ringlets of curls framing faces. I think instantly of…