Contest Alert! Win Books & Coffee! (Ended)

Why am I doing a contest you might ask. I have my reasons, most of them good.

The most important reason behind my contest is this. Publishing houses are next on my to-do list and I would love to have a generous following of people who when the big day comes and my book hits the shelves, they are lined up outside the bookstore to buy it. Isn’t that every writer’s dream? That and I love the idea of more people participating on my blog, giving me feedback and just being a part of this journey of mine.

I also want to inspire others. So, part of this contest revolves around you and YOUR writing. This is an honour system contest, though I will check out the blogs that do a posting. I trust all of you to keep me updated on your entries by making a comment on my Contest blog post and then I will put all the entries in a big barrel, spin it around and draw out some lucky winners!

Here’s how you get entries into the contest:

If you’re a current follower of my blog-5 entries

New blog followers-3entries

Current Twitter followers-5 entries

New Twitter followers- 3 entries

Every RT or Tweet about the contest-2 entries (be sure to put @queryaddict so I can
keep track)

Blog about this contest or blog about Wringing Out Words-10 entries. Here you could get 20 entries if you do two separate blogs!

List Wringing out Words on your blog roll- 4 entries

For every thousand words you write during the week of the contest (on your honour) I will give you 2 entries into the contest. Motivation, motivation, motivation!

There will be multiple winners as I’ve seen on other contests; it’s hard to award just one grand prize!(If you already have the book listed you can choose another of your liking)

The grand Prize will be something that no true lover of books, whether it be writing or reading can do without. Coffee. Or, because of the postal system, a Starbucks Gift Certificate along with a copy of book one of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, Guilty Pleasures.

Second place is two books from Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld Series, Bitten and Stolen.

Third Place is the first book in Jacqueline Carey’s series, Kushiel’s Dart.

A guest blog will be offered to places 4-6 on my blog, Wringing out Words. And if there are more than 6 people who enter this contest, I may find prizes for places 7-10. Thanks for checking it out and good luck!

Contest will run from August 30th- September 6th closing at midnight.

*Creative contest Idea stolen with permission from CA Marshall.*

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

Keep your eyes peeled folks, in the next few days I'm going to start the first ever, week long, Shannon's Friend Seeking Contest!

This may stem from the fact that as I child I had very few friends (a distinct possibility but not one I'm willing to give much thought to at the moment) or the fact that September 7th is the day that my agent, Carolyn Swayze, will be submitting my ms to PUBLISHERS! Very exciting and very contest worthy.

The contest will be designed to bring new followers to my blog and Twitter account. I want to be able to reach as many people as possible through my blog, Twitter and website. I expect that the new followers, and you who have been with me since the beginning, will all stick around long enough to buy my first book. In fact, part of being a follower of my blog or Twitter account requires the you must line up outside your local bookstore, at a minimum of the day before my book will be released. Really, it's in the fine print. ;p

And for you sceptics, THERE WILL BE PRIZES! I will have multiple prizes, because when can there be just one winner? Not on my shift! It doesn't matter where you live, Canada, USA or over seas, I will send the prizes to you where ever the winners are.

Shannon's Friend Seeking Contest will start as soon as I reach 500 followers on Twitter and as of this post I'm 9 people away. The details, prizes and start time to be announced when that magic number is reached.

The First Deadline

My first deadline with my wonderful agent is the beginning of September to have my synopsis and first three chapters of my sequel to The Chronicles of Sin:Gluttony finished and handed sent to her.

I've never had this kind of a deadine with my creative writing before. Articles, yes, in my head don't have to really keep them deadlines, yes. But real, honest to goodness, someone is depending on me to keep my butt going with my writing deadline? Nope, this is the first. I think the panic was good. It motivated me more than anything else could have. No bribery, teasers or torture could have made me type any faster or more frequently.

I think my plot is solid for book # 2. The likelihood is that it will change and evolve as I edit and add depth to the scenes and characters. I say this, because I feel like I need a disclaimer for what I hand in to my agent.

"This is good, but it'll be better in a month when I've had more time to tweak it."

I'm sure she knows that, but I still want to impress her. I still want her to think she's found a gem and not a rough dirty rock that got polished up for one weekend conference.

It's all in the hands of the Internet gods now, as I just emailed my agent the synopsis and first three chapters of book # 2. At the very least, she should be impressed with the fact that I beat my first deadline by two weeks. I hope.

My Conference Faux Pas X 3

Oh, this is a bit of a teaser. You can laugh at me all you want, but you will have to go to Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe blog. The reason?

I'm going a guest blog! Wow, like a real grown up writer or something. It's my most embarrassing moments from the Seattle conference, so be sure to enjoy it.

Many thanks to Jeff for the opportunity, he has a really good blog and I appreciate the chance to expose myself and my style to his followers. Get your mind out of the gutter.

So be sure to check it out, maybe even considering following Jeff's blog if you aren't already as he has some great writing on there!

Word Count

I know I've past posted about how word count isn't all that, its about moving forward with your WIP. I still believe that, but today I had an amazing word count, one that blew my mind. I had a writers retreat single day with my writing group. We rented a conference room at a local hotel and started writing this morning by 9Am. It is now 9PM as I write this and I have knocked out an impressive (for me) 11, 090 words!

I'm sure that there are a lot of authors who do that and more each day, but it is a personal best for me. But now I have to stop typing as every other word I'm spelling incorrectly. Thanks to all my twitter friends who cheered me on, gave me support through the day and just generally made it that much easier to reach my goal! Hugs to you all!

Agents who Rep Fantasy 2

Okay, here is the second list. As with the last one, I have checked all these agents out on Preditors & Editors. I have met Laura, Joe and Laurie at the PNWA Conference in Seattle and all of them were very nice. Of the three I liked Laurie the best, she had a great sense of humour and was very easy to talk to. Not that the other two weren’t nice, but if I’m picking favourites based on my brief chats, it would have to be Laurie. I will be doing a blog later on about my agent, Carolyn Swayze, but I want to get some current info as to what exactly she is looking for so I can give you the best leg up. Good luck querying and I will add to this list in a few weeks time.

Jim McCarthy-Dystel & Goderich Literary Management-response time is 6-8 weeks, Query, brief synopsis and first Chapter in the body of the email, jmccarthy@dystel.com

Laura Rennert-Andrea Brown Literary Agnecy Incorporated- lauraqueries@gmail.com Query in the title of the email, query and first ten pages in the body of the email, no attachments. Wants to know if this is a multiple submission and also if you get offered representation from any other agents.

Joe Monti-Barry Goldblatt Literary --snail mail only* No adult fantasy, just YA. 6-8 week response time Barry Goldblatt Literary LLC
320 7th Avenue #266
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Laurie McLean-Larsen Pomada Literary Agents - laurie@agentsavant.com - query +10 pages and 1-2 page synopsis, no attachments.

Jessica Faust- Bookends LLC- Accepting queries after September 7th 2010, Query only to jfaust@bookends-inc.com 2-4 weeks response time.

Joshua A. Bilmes- JABberwocky Literary Agency- *snail mail only*closed to submissions after July 31st but a good agency and worth keeping an eye on for later.
JABberwocky Literary Agency
PO Box 4558
Sunnyside, NY 11104-0558

Alexandra Machinist-The Linda Chester literary Agency- (pop culture/romance) Query letter that includes a comprehensive synopsis, biography, listing of writing and life credentials. submissions@lindachester.com 4 week response time.

Agents who Rep Fantasy

I've seen a few blogs done that are lists of agents for certain genre's and thought that maybe I would do the same. After all, the time I put into creating a viable list of agents representing urban fantasy is time that I could save others.

This list is of agents who at the time of this blog are accepting submissions, represent adult fantasy among other genre's and who I've also checked out on Preditors and Editors.

So in no particular order :

Sarah Heller --Helen Heller Agency--Query and short synopsis only to sarah@helenhelleragency.com They rep Kelly Armstong, no response means no.

Jenifer DuVall --The Schiavone Literary Agency--Query only to jendu77@aol.com

Jodi Reamer--Writers House--email her assistant @ ashane@writershouse.com with a query letter and first 10 pages--Jodi reps Stephanie Meyer

Lucienne Diver or Nephele Tempest--The Knight Agency--1 page Query only to the submissions coordinator Melissa Jeglinski @ submissions@knightagency.net 4-8 weeks response time.

Diana Fox--Fox Literary--query letter and first 5 pages in body of email to submissions@foxliterary.com

Roseanne Wells--Marianne Strong Literary Agency--Query only to queries@stronglit.com --8 week wait time

Kate Schafer Testerman--Kt Literary-- Query + 2-3 pages of ms to queries@ktliterary.com replies within 2 weeks

Meredith Bernstein--Meredith Bernstein Literary Agency *snail mail a query only* with a SASE
2095 Broadway Suite 505
NY, New York, 10023

Hope these help and as I find more I will be sure to put them up. It can take hours to do all the research on good agents and if I can make a small dent in this for others than I'm super happy to do so!

Finding A Writing Groove

Last week was a whirlwind, cementing my business relationship with Carolyn (the agent), working my fingertips to the bone trying to knock out a decent word count every day, ignoring my husband's pleas for real food and perhaps some clean clothes and pretty much just immersing myself in the writing world.

This week it was back to reality. I've worked my day job everyday from 8am-8pm at a minimum, yesterday I wasn't home till almost 9. I've barely managed to get 3k words written this week and I was managing nearly twice that daily last week. Am I upset? No, not really. I don't have the luxury of NOT working my day job. I have to manage both, I need them both.

Hubby though, he's having to step up to the plate whether he likes it or not. He's had to make dinner twice (which really means he's brought in Chinese and KFC) he's had to do all the barn chores AND feed the dogs on his own. But best of all, he's not complaining! He even cleaned the bathroom without being asked.

I'm pretty much rambling now. I'm exhausted, full of KFC and wishing I had just a little more energy to work on the WIP. But I'm not too worried, tomorrow is another day with more opportunities to write whether it be at home, in between appointments, or while hubby is folding laundry. It all comes down to finding my groove, writing at every possible chance I can get and praying it's enough. Lord, I hope it's enough!

And the agent is. . .

Okay, the larger than life lady has sung a ballad and I finally feel its safe to say I HAVE AN AGENT! Her name is Carolyn Swayze with Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency. I met her at the PNWA Conference in Seattle and I'm super excited to be working with her.

Carolyn and I had a wonderful chat today, went through the next few steps to get to publication and she really took her time with me, not even rushing for the phones I could hear ringing in the background!

My #1 job for the next month is to get my draft of book #2 near completion if not completed. I have to put together a synopsis for book #2 and would be helpful if I had a synopsis for book #3. Then in September, we (as in Carolyn) will be submitting to the editors that I met at the conference in Seattle who were very interested in it. At first I thought that September was a ways off, then realized we are already a week into August.

Crap. I have a lot of writing to do, but I couldn't be more excited! Thanks to all of you out there who've supported and loved me, despite myself! Could not be here without all of you :D You might think I'm thanking you guys every other blog, but its important to me for you to know what an impact you have all had on my writing journey.

With that, I have to get back at it.

Missing Marbles

This post is exactly why I say nothing until some fat lady (or I guess it could be a guy) sings. I may be freaking out for no reason, but after waiting all day yesterday, not sleeping last night, and waking up sick to my stomach, I realized I am freaking out, reason or not.

I hate waiting, and that's what this is about. Its taken me six years to get to this point where someone in the business has seen value in my work and now I just want things to GO! Waiting in any amount seems to be stressing me out. I can handle small amounts, even large amounts if I know where the end of the waiting will come. But this waiting with no end in sight? Not good, not good for me at all.

The silver lining in this crapstorm of waiting? I'm not really able to eat with my stomach in knots and those extra few pounds are slowly coming off, all on their own. So while I may lose my marbles in the process, the upside is I'll gain a better waistline.

To be honest, I'd rather be a little chubby and keep my marbles intact. Ah well, so is life. Now, enough whining and back to writing. If nothing else, I'll use the angst as motivation.