Writer Wednesday – Candi Wall and Agent/Editor Shop

As y’all know, I am now an agented author. (cue applause) But that’s pretty recent, and I sure know what it feels like to be out there in query hell. Which is why I love my friend Candi Wall so much — she didn’t just endure the torture that is the submission process, she set out to find a way to make it better.

So today I’m turning my little blog over to Candi to explain what Agent Shop and Editor Shop are all about:

As if the question ‘Wanna pitch to an agent or editor’ isn’t enough.

Hello! A huge thanks to all my wonderful hosts as I run all over cyberspace talking about Agent/Editor Shop at the Musetracks blog.
In this crazy world of easy access to information, it’s also easy to miss huge opportunities, or forget! Because I get so many comments that writers either forgot, or didn’t know Musetracks did pitch sessions, I asked a bunch of fellow writers, bloggers and readers to help me spread the word.
For those of you who don’t me, I’m Candi Wall, one of the authors who co-contribute to the Musetracks blog. Jennifer Bray-Weber, Marie-Claude Bourque, and Stacey Purcell are my super smart co-contributors and goodness knows where I’d be without them!
I’ve been hosting acquiring Agents at Musetracks for almost two years, and only recently, we decided to add editors as our guest. We’ve been lucky to have agents like Melissa Jeglinski, Jessica Alvarez, Mollie Glick, Becky Vinter, Kevan Lyon, Scott Eagan, Lois Winston, Jill Marsal, Michelle Grajkowski, Kimberley Cameron, Emmanuella Alspaugh (now Morgan), Laura Bradford, Jenny Bent, Sara Crowe, Weronika Janczuk and Stan Soper.
Our guest editors thus far have been Rhonda Penders w/ The Wild Rose Press, Jennifer Miller w/ Samhain Publishing, Debby Gilbert w/ Soul Mate Publishing, Beth Walker w/ Secret Cravings Publishing, and the editors at Books To Go Now have booked three dates in the future!
What we offer is a ‘Pitch Day’. I only take 30 pitches, and only the first thirty VIABLE pitches that come in on pitch day will be seen by the agent or editor. And I will warn you, I’m a stickler for following guidelines. If you don’t include exactly what is in the rules… I delete without prejudice. And I delete quite a few. (And yes, I receive plenty of hate mail.)
You can find us here:
Musetracks and there is a sidebar with Agent/Editor Shop dates and attending professionals
You can find the rules for pitching here:
Musetracks Agent/Editor Shop rules Please read them carefully!
I’ve also created a Yahoo group so writers can sign up to receive Agent/Editor Shop updates. I only send messages with agent/editor attendance updates, reminders of pitch dates, and any information about the contests we run on pitch day. Usually a giveaway or a chance to comment for the Top Pitch Slot. You can request to join here:
Editor/Agent Shop Newsletter Group
Easy as pie! We welcome every stage of writer and at Musetracks, we strive to help other writers, the way we were all helped when we first started out, and the way we are supported today.
Hope to see you all at a pitch day, and if not, feel free to pass the word along to others.
Happy reading and writing!
~Candi

A little about Candi:

Candi Wall is an author of contemporary romance, and YA.
Her début novel PRIMITIVE NIGHTS released from Samhain in Jan 2013, and STAY, the first in the Changing Tides series releases from Samhain on Aug 6th 2013.
She’s a mother of four (21,17,12,9), a rescuer of six (4 dogs & 2 cats), proud auntie of too many to count, a soon-to-be grandmother and great-auntie, a retired Cub Scout leader of 16 years, an avid animal lover/protector and ex-animal control officer. Oh yeah, and wife.
You can find her here:
http://www.candiwallbooks.com
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Musetracks

Friday Foto:Save the Blue Angels!

Thursday Thought

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein

Monday Muse: Coloring for Grownups

When I was a kid, I loved coloring books and crayons. There was nothing more wonderful than opening a new 64-count box of Crayolas — all those colors, so much prettiness to be made! Reading was always my favorite pastime, but if I wasn’t reading, I was coloring and drawing with my crayons.

When I got older, though, I didn’t do that much. There’s something not quite grown-up about craving a box of crayons, and there is always something more important to do than coloring. When I visit an office supply store, I drop by the pen and marker aisle to admire the Sharpies display, and every once in a while I will buy an assortment. But I never end up doing much with them beyond multicolor editing of my latest writing project.

Which is why I fell in love with Colourlovers. It is a website that brings out the colorful creativity in grownups who are much too busy and important to waste time with a coloring book. You can find it at http://www.colourlovers.com, but be careful — it can turn into a serious time suck it you let it!

Colourlovers gives you access to thousands of pattern templates and color palettes by its members, and you can design your own if you are so inclined. But what I enjoy most is simply taking a pretty pattern and playing with colors until I make something pretty. With just a few clicks, you can change the colors over and over and see how a tiny change can alter the feeling of a pattern completely. I like to play with patterns and colors to find one that reflects the characters and emotions I am writing into my current project, and I look at them to help me get into my characters’ mindsets when it is time to write. The seamless patterns you color can be also be used as computer wallpaper or printed out to use in real-time projects.

The pattern above is one I colored from a template by Colourlover member Weirdy; I named it “Romance” because I think it looks sweet and traditional, much like my beloved Regency Romances. The pattern below, from a template by Eonscintilla reminded me of Dracula and his elegant, deadly brides, so I called it Vampirella.

If you like coloring (and wasting time online), check out Colourlovers! And look me up there – I’m “Romancemama.”

Friday Foto: Springtime Down South

My Momma loved the Japanese Magnolia we had in our side yard.

Exactly What Hemingway Said

The first draft of anything is shit.
― Ernest Hemingway

(It’s good to know that Papa would say my WIP is exactly what it should be at this point.)

Virtual Hot Tub: Did I Mention Tom Hiddleston?

Oh, my dears, it can come as no surprise to you that I am completely enamoured of the mischievous bad boy of Marvel, the adorable Loki as played by Tom Hiddleston. And as I’ve told you, I have a running list of attractive gentlemen who would be welcomed into my “virtual hot tub.”

So this week, we get to combine two of my favorite things: attractive men in bathtubs and Loki, God of Mischief. Ladies, for your enjoyment, I present to you a hot tub full of Hiddleston!

Southern Weekend: Tombstone Twitch

I had a wonderful weekend, my dears. Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, one of those just-about-perfect April days we get here on the Emerald Coast (aka God’s Country, The Western Gate to the Sunshine State, Where Thousands Live the Way Millions Wish They Could) – sunny with a few puffy little cumulus clouds, 78 degrees, with a mild seabreeze off the bay. Heaven, I lives there. And I got to spend this glorious day doing one of the most cherished activities for well-raised Southern girls: hanging out in a cemetery, talking about dead people. Dear God, how I love it!!!

You have to understand, here in the South, we love cemeteries. Give me a good graveyard, especially one where I am related to some of the deceased (or at least know relatives of said deceased), and I am in hog heaven. I am obsessed with history and geneology, and nothing makes me happier than figuring out how and why long-dead people behaved the way they did. The fabulous Southern writer Florence King gave this craving for history and desire to spend our spare time gently wiping lichen off granite monuments a name: Tombstone Twitch. Yes, I actually get physical symptoms — rapid pulse, quickened breaths — when entering a good historical cemetery.

Saturday was “Get the Spirit Day” at Pensacola’s oldest cemetery, St. Michael’s. This lovely, eight-acre green space in downtown Pensacola is older than the United States itself, having been a burial ground since the mid-eighteenth century. It was officially designated as a cemetery by the King of Spain in 1807, though that was only a recognition that it was, in fact, the burial ground for the Spanish Colony at Pensacola.The oldest surviving markers at St. Michael’s date from the early eighteen hundreds. Unusually for a cemetery in the Deep South, St. Michael’s is not segregated; members of all races sleep peacefully together through the years.

I was one of the volunteers who told stories about the dear departed, and it was wonderful to see how many people came out to enjoy the beautiful day and learn about our town’s history. From 10 am to 2 pm, there was a steady stream of people wandering through St. Michael’s, and I told the story of Captain Joseph P. Fish, Scandinavian Sea Captain, over and over. Other volunteers were relating stories about Spanish Grandees, Irish adventurers, Scottish traders, African craftsmen, and German physicians. The ‘population’ (so to speak) of St. Michael’s Cemetery tells the story of America’s immigrant experience — all these people, from every corner of the globe, now united in death as Americans.

History is vital to our children’s education; if we don’t know where we came from, how will we know where we are headed? I’m glad that my Southern girl upbringing taught me to cherish the memories of the past and the resting places of our departed predecessors. Besides, St. Michael’s is one of the prettiest, most peaceful places in town. I love it.

Friday Foto: Southern Fast Food

How many weight watcher points you reckon that is?

No Guilt! (Well, Maybe a Little ….)

Okay, I admit defeat. I started the year off with the best of intentions. I didn’t make any of those stupid “I’m going to lose 50 pounds, learn French, and completely organize my house” resolutions. I just said I would write my wordcount goal daily and blog three times a week.

Alas, even with such minimal expectations of myself, I have come up short. I will say (patting self on back) that I have met my wordcount goal about ninety percent of the time so far this year. But the blogging…..

Just a quick glance over the past few weeks will reveal my failure. Nope, I don’t blog three times in one week — one time in three weeks would come closer to being accurate. But I’ve decided not to beat myself up over it.

See, I now consider myself an author. I have a published novel, an agent who is submitting my two completed (and one partial) books to publishers, and I being successful in meeting my productivity goals there. I am also a lawyer with a pretty darn responsible job in a local governmental agency, and I get my work done there, no questions asked.

I have two daughters, one in college and one in high school, and I’ve been married for 29 years. I volunteer with the local historical society and we are active in our church.

In other words, people, I am doing my share. I would love to be a Constant Blogger, but if it comes to the choice between keeping up with my fiction-writing goals and typing up a couple of hundred random words for a blog, right now I think my time is best spent telling my stories.

So I’m going to stop feeling so darn guilty about the blog. I love making my opinions known, and I’m glad some of you are enjoying it. I’m certainly not saying that I’m giving it up. But I just don’t have the energy to feel guilty about it.

So that said, I really will try to post more often in the future! I hate not doing what I said I would!!!