A Giveaway, to Celebrate!!

Enter below to win some great things you can add to your writer’s toolbox. For more info on those favorites, click here.

*Winners have been chosen and contacted.  Thank you for entering!!

I love the writing communities I’ve become a part of.  The support, encouragement, and information writers offer each other is amazing.  To say thank you and to celebrate my recent agent news, I’m doing a giveaway of a few of my favorite things as a writer.  (My agent story here!)

And stay tuned, because a giveaway for my favorite “favorite thing” is coming next!

To enter, you’ll be asked to link to another writer who helped you on your path in some way.  My shout outs go to . . .

Ann Marie Walker, who is always bringing writers and readers together in some way.  Her fun contests, friendly personality, and passion for writing made me instantly gravitate toward her.  And when I found out how awesome her book sounds, I was hooked!  It’s about the 80s and celebrity crushes- when can I read it?!  Head over to her blog at http://annmariewalker.blogspot.com/ 
and follow her on twitter @AnnMarie_Walker!

Kat Brauer is a YA writer who organizes a big auction every year to help give people clean water.  It’s an amazing campaign with critiques by agents and authors and Kat offers her services with her fabulous Kat Crits.  I know they’re fabulous because she critiqued my WIP!  She’s spunky and fun and always encouraging.  Find her blog at http://katbrauer.com/, contribute to Crits for Water at http://critsforwater.katbrauer.com/, and follow her on twitter @katbrauer!

Want to join the fun?  Here’s how . . .

1. Become a follower at www.writeforapples.com.

AND

2. Leave a comment below with a link to another writer’s blog, twitter handle, or website.  It can be anyone who has inspired you, become a new writing friend, or even made you laugh when you needed it.  If you’d like, briefly tell us why you picked him/her. 

In the same comment, in order of preference, copy and paste anything in the list below that you’d love to win:

Scrivener for Mac
Scrivener for PC
Query Tracker premium 1 year membership
Emotion Thesaurus
Kat Crit of 5,000 words (donation goes to Crits for Water!)

Leave your e-mail or twitter handle if you don't have a blogger ID. Bloggers- you must have a public profile and listed e-mail for me to find you.

****Bonus entries!***** (For current subscribers too.)

Leave a separate comment for each entry, including each time you tweet.  I’ll only be keeping track of what’s in the comments.

*Sign up for the I Write for Apples feed or e-mail feed. (Over to the left.)

*Follow on twitter @writeforapples

*Tweet about this giveaway- You can add an extra entry every time you tweet it!  Use the hashtag #WritersWin in your tweet. 
Please leave your twitter handle in the comment.

Open to everyone!
Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, July 5, 2012.

*Products were donated by Scrivener.

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A Few of My Favorite Things . . .

Want to win one?  Stay tuned for details!

Scrivener

I just started using Scrivener and it has already saved me from the many files and folders that tend to form when I’m working on a project.  Everything is easily accessible, whenever I need it, from one screen.

From their website, “Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft.”

Kat Crit for Crits for Water

I donated to the campaign in 2011 and her critiques were always thorough, helpful, and spot on. Plus, she’s super quirky and I love it. :) I’ll donate again and you might just get a Kat Crit of 5,000 words.

From Kat, “Any genre is okay! Though I specialize in YA and romance.”

Query Tracker Premium Membership for 1 Year

Query Tracker is so helpful for researching agents, keeping track of the query process, and connecting with other writers.  A premium membership gives you additional features and helps support a great site!

The Emotion Thesaurus

I loved using the The Emotion Thesaurus on the website and now that the book is out, it’s even better.  It’s super easy to hop around from one entry to another and it’s full of great ideas!

From their website, “The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression is a writer’s best friend, helping to navigate the difficult terrain of showing character emotion. Through an easy-to-use list format, this brainstorming tool explores seventy-five emotions and provides a large selection of body language, internal sensations, actions and thoughts associated with each.”

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I Have an Agent!! Did I Just Say That?

I can’t believe I am actually posting my very own 
“How I Got My Agent” story!  Here goes . . .

Shortly after I started writing Locker 43, I joined Query Tracker and started a list of agents.  I broke them down by what they represented and then added notes after scouring for interests like “magical” and “quirky.”  Don’t be fooled, I am not always so organized- which is why I started the list so early and added as I went along.

In March, when my manuscript was finally finished and polished, I started submitting.  About a week later, I had a full request, which turned into an R&R the next day.  The notes helped me get the manuscript in even better shape and I'm so grateful for the agent’s feedback.  Over the next couple of months, a handful of partials, fulls, and plenty of rejections came and went.

At the end of May, I had a not-so-fun couple of weeks with a pass on the R&R, some brutal feedback, and contests with a lack of helpful comments.  Even with fulls still out, that feeling of doubt was starting to surface. 

The first Monday of June, I received a request for a full, which was a complete surprise since it had been quite a while since I sent the query.  I may have done a happy dance.  :)

I sent it off to the mysterious Land of Requests where the other fulls were hanging out and I was determined to wait for feedback before sending out any more queries.  I know this is crazy talk, but I didn’t mind the waiting.  It meant I still got to be hopeful, and I could live with that for a bit.  (That does not mean I didn’t check e-mail frequently and panic at the sight of “RE: QUERY- Locker 43” in the subject line.)

Then it happened.  It happened.  A week later, while I was out on the deck working on my laptop,

Ok, so this isn’t my deck, but I’m taking some creative liberty here.

that little box that tells me I have an e-mail popped up in the lower right of my screen, with only the following showing, “Dear Deanna, I enjoyed Locker 43, and . . .”

And.  Not but.  Not unfortunately.  Oh boy, this could go either way, I thought to myself. 

I clicked it open and there it was. “Would you be available for a chat . . .” 

THE Call was great.  I loved her thoughts on the book and her enthusiasm for it. The ideas in the story that were really important to me, were the same ones she pointed out.  I was insanely excited, yet completely at ease at the same time.

The next week was so much more than I expected.  After I sent out the standard “Offer of representation” emails, there were more requests for fulls, and then more offers.  Fantastic offers. 

For this super important decision, I let the analytic side of me take over for a bit to find out all the details.  Then, after all the research, emails, calls with agents, and chats with friends, I stopped and listened to the wise Yoda. 

“Already know you that which you need.”

“Use your feelings, Obi-Wan, and find him you will.”

I am thrilled to announce that I am now represented by the fabulous Kerry Sparks of the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency!!!!!!!

That’s me. That’s the contract!

I’ve been waiting to use these exclamation points, so please forgive me for going a bit overboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has supported me, given me encouragement, and become a new writing friend.  I am so excited for the journey. 

Stats for those who crave them . . .

Queries Sent- 45
Requests- 12 (5 partials, 8 fulls-1 partial to full)
Rejections- 29
No Response- 13
Offers- 3

Photo credits: Illustration by Jef Bettens and photo by Ifi Dafni

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Inspiring Stories- Getting Their Agents

I love when Twitter is abuzz with tweets announcing writers getting their agents. It’s so exciting to see someone from the trenches reach that fabulous goal of opening THE email and getting THE call. 
This list began because I love hearing these stories and I keep it going so there’s a whole lot of inspiration in one place. Whenever you need it.  :)

Stay positive and let these stories inspire you to keep going! When I started collecting this list, I had no idea I’d soon be putting mine on it!

I know there are so many more, so please share if you have a link to one- maybe even your own!


How they got their agents . . . (Click the name for the story!)


Recently posted stories . . .

Laurel Amberdine  
Jackie Yeager 
Stephanie Faris
Rachel Horwitz 
Rachel Bateman

Lots more . . .

Ann Bedichek
Rachel Allen
Cindy Thomas -and her query stats here
Stephanie Diaz
Jennifer Malone
Heidi Schulz
Kelsey Macke
Gail Nall
Stephanie Scott
Elaine Vickers
Holly VanDyne
Me. :)
Lori Goldstein
Jayme Woods
Karma Brown
Marieke Nijkamp
Veronica Bartles
Ami Allen-Vath
Erin Petti
Sarah Ahiers
Abby Cooper
Rachel Simon
Keely Hutton
Christie Murillo

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