Thursday, December 13, 2012

Writing Wednesday: Slighty Belated (Good-ish) News

I missed Writing Wednesday because we had company last night, and Thursday is quickly getting away from me! But I'm very happy to say that I was chosen by two mentors as alternates in Pitch Wars, which isn't exactly winning, but is still pretty cool. I didn't even realize one of the mentors had chosen me as an alternate because I didn't pitch to her (we could pick three of the 31 mentors to send our query and first 5 pages to), but then I realized my name was listed twice!

It's a little disappointing to know I got soooo close to being chosen, but I'm so grateful to have made it this far. And the lovely Brenda Drake, who organized the contest, is even setting up a little side contest for the alternates, so the agents will get to look at our stuff too if they want. Considering I haven't tested out the query for this book on too many people yet, I'm amazed it stood out from over 2,000 entries. Now I'm excited to polish my manuscript over the next month before the agent round. Here's the query for REINVENTING DOROTHY WEIL in case you're curious:

16-year-old Dorothy Weil knows there’s something worse than being seen as a loser: not being seen at all. Her social anxiety makes it nearly impossible to make friends, and even her parents barely seem to register her existence. Everyone’s so focused on her father’s career as a renowned anthropology professor they don’t even bother to ask her opinion when he decides to take a six-month sabbatical in London. But when Dorothy’s therapist suggests that she use the opportunity to reinvent herself, something inside of Dorothy clicks.
 
In London, Dorothy introduces herself as Kenzie, the name of the most popular girl in school back home. And somehow, pretending to be Kenzie allows Dorothy to become the person she’s always wanted to be: popular, funny, outgoing. Then Dorothy’s father decides to tutor a freshman at the university, Jonathon North, and it’s as if he can see right through Kenzie’s shiny exterior to the dull girl underneath. Even worse, Dorothy finds herself caring what Jonathon thinks of her. When Dorothy’s father discovers his daughter is caught in the middle of a violent protest, he sends Jonathon to rescue her. But when the tables turn and Dorothy ends up saving Jonathon, she unintentionally exposes her true self in the process.
 
As Dorothy’s feelings for Jonathon grow, it becomes more and more difficult to keep up her charade as Kenzie. Now she must choose between the good opinion of everyone she’s worked so hard to fool and the one opinion that really matters: her own.

Thanks so much to Monica and Cupid for picking me to be on your team! I can't wait to read all the awesome entries in the agent round!




3 comments:

Ink in the Book said...


Congrats to you! I think it's still pretty awesome that someone picked you who didn't even receive your "application." This means somebody loved it enough to show to to other people and say, "What do you think?"

Best wishes!!!

Anonymous said...

I agree int Ink-- congratulations. Seems like you stood out! And that was a great pitch.

ExpatEliz said...

A great pitch & I'm so glad it got recognized. Now what exactly does being an alternate entail?