A weekend of writing and riding

Wow, I don't think it could have been possible to stuff more into this past weekend. The third weekend in April has always been about choice in the past because two events are scheduled at the same time - the annual Pikes Peak Writer's Conference and my first endurance event of the season.

This year, the Kenlyn endurance ride was scheduled for Sunday instead of Saturday, so I was able to attend Thurs-Sat at the writing conference (sadly missed the award banquet and keynote speaker Libba Bray :-( and Sunday sessions.)

I attended great sessions on query writing, first page impacts, author panels, world building, writing for boys and much more. I pitched to Barry Goldblatt who passed on some cold honest truths - in his experience. I'm not daunted, my current book with a working title of MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER will be right for someone and some boy out there will read it, enjoy it, and just maybe, think reading is a cool thing to do. I met another great agent that just might be the one and learned about a publisher that could be perfect for my book. If only they didn't only accept un-agented submissions once a year. In December. Patience is not a virtue in my world!

And after all this cerebral fun, hubby and I loaded up our horses which haven't had nearly enough conditioning in this bizarre spring weather, drove to Denver and rode 50 miles through some very interesting urban settings. Ok, not quite 50 miles riding. Our poor bodies (also sadly lacking in the spring riding conditioning department) demanded that we get off and lead a few times. Just to save our horses from our sad riding posture as much as to stretch some muscles. The horses did great and we completed in 3rd and 4th place.

On a sort of separate note, but still related to both experiences: events of the last couple weeks have left me feeling jaded and saddened about the condition of the world. I truly felt there was no hope for children to have the kind of childhood I enjoyed. But seeing all the wonderful books being written that will bring comfort, hope, challenge, and salvation to future readers reminds me not everything has changed. And during our endurance ride, we ran into many youngsters out walking, biking and exploring that were so thrilled to see our horses. The world is still exciting and fun. We all have to work to keep it that way to make sure our children have options to choose between escaping into the wonderful world in a book or experiencing nature. Or finding ways to include both.

My friend and critique partner, Eliza Tilton, will have her first book published in May 2013. It's a YA Fantasy titled Broken Forest, and her very talented husband did the cover art.

To kick this release off, YA Romantics is hosting a CYOA Blog Hop set in the Broken Forest world. One of the scenes will be hosted here, but look for a post with the starting point and enjoy creating your own adventure set in this imaginative world.

Pitch Madness

No posts for three months and now two in one day! I also entered Brenda Drakes Pitch Madness. To follow, check out #PitchMadness on twitter. She has an amazing line up of support and agents who will eventually see the best entries.

Here's my 35 word pitch and 250 word first page:

Title: MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER
Genre: Middlegrade Sci-fi/Adventure
Word Count:42k

Pitch: Dedicated to all things science fiction, eleven-year-old Mike tests superpower infused alien candies in hopes of escaping bullies. He ends up in a remote control versus laser battle to save his friends—and worst enemy.

Excerpt:

Mike crept toward the swings, one eye on Brutus, the keeper of The List of Kids to Be Pounded After School. Brutus and his two cohorts leaped and hollered on the basketball court, absorbed in the bloodiest game of basketball ever. So far, they focused on bruising themselves instead of their usual targets at Grover Cleveland Middle School. Mike peeked through the monkey bars. Still safe.

The List wasn’t a physical list, of course. It lived in the head of Nathan Simms, the biggest kid in sixth grade. Failing to call Nathan by his self-chosen nickname of Brutus guaranteed an entry on The List. Even the teachers found it easier to call him Brutus.

Mike didn’t know how he’d landed a permanent entry on The List. He wasn’t ugly, poor or stupid. Brutus didn’t say a word when Jordan—the most popular sixth grader, with skin the same coffee-color as Mike’s—spewed milk from his nose. Instead of calling Jordan booger-breath, Brutus tagged Mike with a humongous, drippy spitwad.

No one picked on Mike’s best friend Carlos either. But then Carlos was always picked first for team sports and had two older brothers. Big older brothers.

Dashing from the monkey bars to the merry-go-round, Mike stubbed his toe on a bump and nearly face-planted in the gravel. He scrambled to his feet and tried to walk casually. His eyes flicked back and forth from the uneven ground to Brutus snatching the basketball from his second-in-command Cole. Cole retaliated by elbowing his buddy in the chest.

My 2011 NaNoWriMo project is done!

It's been a while since I posted. Back in January, I thought we were about 10 days from closing on an awesome property we found in Cedar City Utah. Great house, next to BLM, a basement apartment for my mom. We'd need to do some fencing and build a barn, but it was perfect for us because it is so close to a lot of the endurance rides we want to do.

But, the property was off the grid. And after swearing that was no problem, the bank suddenly said, oh, you mean there's no electricity? Well, we can't loan on that.

We flailed around with a couple more banks, even tried one that would let us finance running electricity for a mile to the place, but that failed as well.

Since then we've been living out of boxes since we'd packed everything but the essentials. And we have to move since we've sold our current property. Luckily the buyers are able to be flexible.

A CP and friend of mine, Eliza Tilton, soon to be published with the project that we first met over, challenged me to finish a book I'd started for the 2011 NaNoWriMo. She figured we could finish our WIP's in time for WriteOnCon in March.

I was 20k in, expecting it to end around 40k. So I knew it was possible. I averaged 1000 wpd most weekdays and got it finished on Feb 28.

Throughout Feb, Eliza and my in person CP read the pages and I felt it was a pretty clean ms. So I decided to submit to a couple contests and get more feedback.

I entered the Operation Awesome Secret Agent. The secret agent is Tricia Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency and I won! She wants to see the full!!!! I'd checked out this agency in the past because Ami-Joan Paquette read a few chapters of my currently shelved YA Fantasy. This is very exciting because not only do I think they're a great agency, but they don't accept unsolicited queries. Awesome opportunity!

I still haven't moved (but getting closer - we found a 62 acre property in Colorado with a log home that needs lots of work, cuz yeah, I need more projects!)

What's the right/write solution?

I just finished working with a young horse that had issues being ridden away from home. She was a pleasure to work with, good mind and really very brave. Her issues weren't separation anxiety or even leaving the comfort of home. It was more that it gets boring doing the same thing over and over. A smart horse starts thinking that if they have to do it over and over, they must be doing something wrong and starts looking for alternatives.

All it really took was changing her bridle to something that wouldn't encourage her to rear, good timing to keep her pointed the right way and to keep things interesting and rewarding (yummy, dry weeds) out on the trail.

Every horse needs a different approach. If a trainer says they have a sure-fire recipe or that they won't let a horse advance until they are perfect at something else, s/he isn't really listening to the horse.

Just like giving the same cue to 100 writers--they will all come up with a completely different story, all valid, all interesting. Everyone has a different approach to writing, editing and marketing. None right or wrong, except for the individual. We must all keep our minds open to find what works for us.

Check out below or on my sidebar for an amazing givewaway of over 50 YA books by Beth Revis.

Here's my contribution what I love about YA.

I'm thankful that YA books exist as a category, giving those who are passionate about reading AND writing about wonderful, strong characters a medium for thinking and feeling. When I grew up, YA books weren't called YA, but they were the books I read over and over. I'm way past my teenage years now, but I still love YA. I love tapping into the me I was then - and the me I still am.

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So excited - I'll be on pins and needles til December 12! I submitted my entry to three awesome potential coaches for PitchWars. Here's hoping I get picked. Either way, I'm thrilled that my Fantasy story Elemental Fire is complete and I'll get some feedback and am on my way to querying.