My first time!

You won't believe what I did yesterday! I had a meeting with an agent to pitch Dangerous Flames. First off, I leave everything till the last minute. As my critique partner worried endlessly for the past month or two while writing her pitch, I didn't. However, yesterday morning I agonized over my pitch and memorized it all in one morning. I kept reminding myself that that lady could make my career and it terrified me.

You should probably know that when I panic, my mind goes blank so I prepared for that with my pitch scribbled over six note cards (it wasn't long... I just write big!) in case I forgot what I was going to say.

The agent had come in to Phoenix and had pitching sessions set up for the entire day. My turn had finally come and I can't even describe how scared I was as I went up to her room. I didn't want to have any expectations on what she'd be like and certainly ended up being really nice. That did nothing to calm my nerves though. I started with my one line pitch and then two lines into the longer part of the pitch, she started writing on a card. It threw me off and you guessed it... my mind went when blank. I was still on my first note card so I glanced down quickly to get back on track but didn't want to shuffle through the cards and waste any of my ten minutes so I ended up making up the rest.

I figured I'd blown my chance. Then she handed me her card and told me to send her the first three chapters! Was it worth it? Heck yeah but I really don't know if I could do another pitch session.

I'd love to hear what you have to say! Leave me a comment or question.

Talk to you soon,
Wendy Ely

Blah!

Right now our family is fighting the flu. I pitched my children's book to an agent this week. This book is for middle school age kids.

Here's the pitch and what the agent said:

Tusk

Two Ice Age kids are orphaned and left to survive alone in the wild after their parents are killed in a bear attack. Tusk and his sister, Flint, discover ancient cave paintings with a secret warning and how to survive the deadly meteor. Tusk is a natural born leader and believes only he can warn others and lead the clans to the land bridge and the new world. Flint has secrets of her own and a plan to unite with the animal kingdom and save them all from extinction.

AGENT - I'm just not in love with the pre-historical fiction ideas. They're not right for me. Thanks though!

So...I'll pitch elsewhere and look elsewhere. I have another young adult novel as well...a fantasy for middle school kids. I actually sold that book but had to pull it from publication due to "creative differences" with my editor.

Hmm...I'm thinking maybe I should stick to writing adult fiction? But what if I can do both? I'm always reaching for more.

Ah well...I'm going to go have some more chicken soup and ponder my future before I suffer the same fate as the poor sad snowman. I think I'll go outside and talk him out of it. Maybe I'll go write a hot love scene instead.

What's going on in your little neck of the woods?

~Hugs!
Alisha