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Saturday, March 5, 2011
Show me the voice! . . . contest with agent Natalie Fischer
Today's coffee is Starbuck's Americano with nonfat steamed milk, which is fabulous, since I haven't had creamer or milk in my coffee for like six weeks. I'm totally excited right now! Well, not just because of the coffee, but also because I'm announcing my next blog contest.
I'm humbled and honored to announce that the amazing Natalie Fischer, who is now agenting at The Bradford Literary Agency, has agreed to be the judge for my upcoming contest
Show Me The Voice Blogfest Contest. Natalie has a wonderful blog, Adventures in Agentland go here to check it out. She posts some excellent advice for writers and some fun contests like a horrendously hilarious query contest, which I entered and failed miserably at creating a bad query. Thinking about it now, maybe that's a good thing -- failing at an awful query not losing, that is?
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| Natalie Fischer |
Natalie is busy making the transition from her prior agency to The Bradford Literary Agency, so I was thrilled when she agreed to give up some of her time to judge this contest. She's just that kind and wonderful and has great hair. Thanks, Natalie!
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| We you! |
So here's how we're doing it: Sign up on the linky below. On March 20 and 21, post the first 250 words of your finished manuscript (any genre) on your blog to get critiques from your followers and then hop around to the other participants' sites and give critiques. Polish those 250 words and email them to me at *** with CONTEST in the subject line by 12:00AM (EST) on March 22 (This is my birthday, so while you all are scrambling around to get your entry in, I'll be eating a hot Molten Chocolate Cake at Chili's--all diets are off! Woot!).
Format your entries like this example:
Format your entries like this example:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Brenda Drake
Title: Library Jumpers
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
I swallowed my breath mint the moment some hot guy across the reading room busted me staring at him. I completely froze, blinking, unable to pull my eyes away from him. He totally stood out in the conservative atmosphere of the library with his messy brown hair and tight leather gear. His intense gaze held me for several seconds before I shot my eyes at Afton. Submerged in a book on the Salem witch trials--a strand of her dark hair-weave all twisted around her finger--she hadn't even noticed him. A gust of air came from his direction and rustled the pages of her book. I swung my eyes back to him. He was gone.
I swallowed my breath mint the moment some hot guy across the reading room busted me staring at him. I completely froze, blinking, unable to pull my eyes away from him. He totally stood out in the conservative atmosphere of the library with his messy brown hair and tight leather gear. His intense gaze held me for several seconds before I shot my eyes at Afton. Submerged in a book on the Salem witch trials--a strand of her dark hair-weave all twisted around her finger--she hadn't even noticed him. A gust of air came from his direction and rustled the pages of her book. I swung my eyes back to him. He was gone.
"What the . . .?" I blurted and stood to get a better view of the large reading room. The biography on Samuel Adams slipped from my hand and clunked onto the table.
"Shhh, Gia." Afton glared over her book at me. "Hello? We're in a library."
We weren't in just any library. We were in the Boston Athenaeum, an exclusive library with a pricey annual fee. Afton's father got her a membership at the start of summer. It's a good thing her ticket in allows tag-alongs, since my pop would never splurge like that, not when the public library is free.
"What's wrong?" Afton asked.
My eyes flicked around the reading room searching for the guy. In the core of the room, a collection of antique furniture and sculptures surrounded large walnut tables with leather chairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My example is 253 words because I didn't want to cut it off in the middle of a sentence. So if your 250 words ends in the middle of one, please go to the end of the sentence.
All entries submitted before the cut off time will be considered. The first round will be judged by a chosen panel of your peers (agented and unagented). We'll pick the best 20 entries and post them on my blog by March 24. The 20 entries we pick will be judged by Natalie. The winners will be announced on or before Monday, March 28.
Bet you're wondering what prizes Natalie is offering, right? Well, here they are:
1st place - a critique of the first 20 pages
2nd place - a critique of the first 10 pages
3rd place - a query critique
Don't forget to SHOW ME THE VOICE!
What are you waiting for? Sign up now for the SHOW ME THE VOICE BLOGFEST CONTEST!
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111 comments:
This sounds fabulous! I have signed up :D
You're so awesome for setting these contests up. Looking forward to this one ^_^
Sounds terrific - thanks to you and Natalie for the opportunity!
What a terrific idea. Signed up.
Thanks for the contest! So excited! :)
This is exciting! Thanks for another great contest!
Wow, I'm excited. Thanks for hosting this contest -- I love the opportunity we have to go around and look at other people's blogs.
Great contest!
What a great idea! I'm posting this on my sidebar. How fun!
Well, I like the sound of your first 250 words! Is it serious or just a piece you made up as an example?
I'm totally in!
I am SO in! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH, BRENDA!!!!!
Michael
You have the best contests! I'm in!
Happy Bday, girl. We'll all be thinking about you. Thanks for another great fun contest.
I'm in. Are we going to have to crit them all? That could be a little much if there's 60+ entries.
Thanks all for signing up and for the b-day wishes!
Rachel, that is my opening for my project I'm querying right now.
Stina, you don't have to critique all the entries, just as many as you like. Also, you'll probably get as many critiques as you give out. By posting on your blogs, your regular followers will probably give you critiques as well. It's just a way to get feed back on your opening hook and then we're all winners!
Sounds like a lot of fun! Happy Birthday!
Woohoo, first blog fest and it's an awesome one. Excited! And happy birthday again )o)
Wonderful contest/blogfest! Thanks, Brenda and Natalie.
I'm not finished but what a wonderful contest/blogfest! I linked it on my blog, I hope many participate!
Great idea. I'm scheduling my post now!
I love your blogfests. They are a great way to get feedback and find new blogs to follow (not to mention gain new followers for my blog as well).
Happy bday to you and thanks to Natalie for the prizes!
Cyndi
Ahhh these blogfests are total awesomesauce! Thanks for hosting & . . . wait for it . . . waiiiittt for iiittt . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH! :)
What a great idea for a contest!
thanks for this contest- it's a real motivator!
Another great contest.
bethfred.com
Yet another great contest. We all shout out ... thanks :)
Wow, this sounds like a blast! Can't wait. Thanks for hosting the contest...
Great contest! I just put your link on my blog! I hope it gets you more contestants ;)
<3333
Great contest! I just put your link on my blog! I hope it gets you more participants ;)
<3333
Alright, guess I will have to wait until the 20th--my son will be 13 on that day, hmmmmm Wonder if any luck comes with that. Fun fun, thanks for the contest. :)
I forgot to wish YOU a happy birthday, too. I will share this blog-- there a present for you.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's entries and comments, thanks for coordinating all this!
What a clever and creative contest! Thank you!
Thanks so much for posting this!
This looks like a great contest - I can't wait to participate!
What a fun contest! You are beyond awesome for putting this together. And happy birthday month!
Yay! I'm number 42. Good number :-)
Awesome! I stumbled across your site, and love that you're always thinking of fun contests.
This sounds great! I've been interested in querying Natalie, but her agenting situation has prohibited it. Thanks for this :)
Another great contest! Thank you, Brenda.
Awwww, shucks guys, you're welcome and thanks. I <3 my fellow writers. You're all amazing! :D
Happy, happy birthday! What a great contest!
You ... are smokin' hot awesomeness!
Your linky widget won't let me sign in. A window comes up and says nutty stuff.
I'll try later. This is a great idea.
One of the most original contests I've seen in a while! Thanks for doing this!! :) Looks fun!
Another cool contest? You're too good to us! I've already got my entry ready on my blog and I can't wait! Thanks and an early Happy Birthday to you, Brenda!
What a great opportunity! Thanks!
I added this to my blogfest tab-
Great idea. I hope it'll bring you plenty of followers.
Awesome contest - plus you now have a new follower!
Tanya Reimer sent me your way and wow!! Thanks for hosting an awesome contest. What a great opportunity! Happy new follower here ~ :)
Question, and if this doesn't get answered, no biggie.
Can we enter more than one manuscript? I'm assuming no, but I figured I'd ask, just to be sure...
Awesome idea! I just popped by her blog the other day! Glad you got her, she seems awesome!
This sounds like a great contest and I'm really looking forward to it! Embarrassingly, because of my technical ineptitude I accidentally entered 3 times, #57-59. Can you delete two of those? I can't seem to fix my mistake. Sorry!
I'm excited about reading everyone's first 250!
I'm so happy to see so many signing up and I can't wait to see your entries!
A. Grey - Only one entry per person - so pick your best and go with it. :D
Love your contests! This sounds like a fun one - thanks so much for running them!
Great contest. Off to polish my first 250 words
Sounds awesome! Thanks for hosting!
What a terrific idea. Now to choose between A or B. YIkes and double yikes! Thank you for doing this!
This looks like an awesome contest! And you've gained yourself another new follower :)
Another great contest, Brenda! Thanks for introducing us to Natalie. :-)
Fab, fun contest! Thanks for setting it up!
Sounds like fun! I'll give it a try! Thanks to you and Natalie for getting this up and running.
All signed up and ready to go. One question-do you want the posts to arrive at 12:00am on the 22 or before the day of the 22 ends-so by 11:59pm? Thanks!
Nicole, you can send your entry anytime up until the contest closes on March 22 at midnight. Thanks for signing up everyone - I can't wait to check out all your entries!
Brenda, thanks for hosting such a great contest!
So awesome of Natalie to agree to do this. :)
Great idea, Brenda! Thanks for making this possible!
Looks cool and perfect timing. I'm planning on launching my new and improved site on the 21st. :)
thanks
Ooops! I forgot to leave a comment last time! good thing i was so excited I came back. This is such a good idea, even without the extra bonus of an agent!
Uh oh! My link appears, but when I refresh the page, it disappears! Please help me get on this list!
Margo, you're on the list. Good luck! :D
I have so much fun with these things, I don't even care that I don't win! Count me in.
Well, ok, I DO care, you have such fabulous prizes...
Wow this would be a fun thing. I have had some fantastic advice on my pooch-smooching query mess, How EVER I wanna know how I failed to find the terrible query contest!
Finally something I am sure to win and I Missed it! sniff, sniff ----hehehe --- come on 3rd place!
Hey thanks for the fun idea and good luck to eveyone!
Oh, excellent contest! I am prepping to query and feedback on page one will definitely help!!!
I'm in, sounds awesome!
Ok....I'm in....but scared poopless....but that's ok...I still have my dad's chili recipe handy! ;) Thanks for posting this & Happy Birthday! My daughter's birthday is March 17th...so I too have a bit of a good feeling for this month!
Laura Bradford currently has my partial. I still want to do the blogfest (in case I can improve the beginning), but should I skip on sending you the edited version for the contest, Brenda, since Natalie is currently Laura's assistant?
Just linked up. Thanks so much for this. :)
All kinds of awesome. I can't wait!
Just linked! This is great!
Sure! I'll sign up! Now I just have to remember...
This is awesome. I'm signing up!
Thanks for this wonderful opportunity! Can't wait to read everyone's first 250 words!
Apologies, I attached the wrong link to my position #68. Here I am (#95), and am still excited about the contest!
Thanks for signing up guys!
Stina - you definitely can enter the blogfest part of it, just don't email me your entry. Getting critiques is invaluable - Can't wait to read yours!
Diane - I've fixed your entry you are now #94. Thanks for the heads up!
Good luck everyone! :D
Natalie is such an awesome agent, so glad you were able to get her to help you with this contest!
Not sure how you can take me off the linky, but please do. I'm number 86. I won't be able to participate after all. Sorry!
This is awesome! Thanks for the contest!
Hugely impressed by your know-how --and following!
Just at the right time a teacher will appear!
Jan Morrison
Oh wow, this is awesome, thanks so much for doing this!
Thanks for the opportunity!
Better late than never as they say.
Denise<3
What a great opportunity, and a lot of fun for us, too. (I've tried hitting 'enter' on the linky three times but nothing happens. I'll keep trying, but please excuse and remove any duplicates if it suddenly accepts them all.)
Many thanks.
Sweet! Another chance to be critiqued! (And this is why some of my friends think I'm weird.) Thanks for the contest.
Wonderful blogfest and we're thrilled to be a part of it:)
thanks for all your hard work setting this up. i wish i could comment on every entry but many of them don't have their comments set up to accept from just name/url. but i have been reading them all and a lot of them are really interesting.
This is fantastic Brenda, thank you!
This is such a great opportunity, thank you.
This is an awesome blogfest and contest - thanks so much for putting it together!
Totally cool! I'm in :)
I signed up! Thanks for putting this together...
This is my first YA. I just linked up and would love feedback.
Fun contest - so many offerings to read! Thanks to Claire for the link =)
Fun! Gosh, other people's excerpts are making me feel bad already! :D
This is gonna be fun. Thanks so much for hosting this! :D
Love this idea! Thanks so much for hosting this.
You rock. So does Natalie for agreeing to do this in the midst of moving.
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