Debut Author Heather McCorkle!!!

We are so honored and proud to be the first of many blogs who will help a fabulous debut author launch her blog tour and contest this month: our very own Heather McCorkle. Whoo Hoo!!!! I wanted balloons and champagne and, especially, noisemakers, but Heather is a dignified author, with an excellent plan. So here we go, into the Tour of Secrets for The Secret of Spruce Knoll. (We'll get to the noisemakers later, never fear.) First, a bit about the book:

Following the death of her parents, Eren Donovan moves to Spruce Knoll to live with her aunt. Little does Eren know the entire town of Spruce Knoll is filled with "channelers"—a magical group of people who immigrated to the small Colorado town when they were driven out of their own lands.


Channelers are tied to the fate of the world. As the world slowly dies, so do they—and they alone have the power to stop the destruction of Earth. Now, Eren learns she not only lives among them, but she is one. When she meets local boy Aiden, his charm convinces her that being a channeler may not be all bad.

Wow, Heather. I, of course, am one of the privileged few who've seen parts of this wonderful book. I love this story. And I understand that the tour encompasses a number of blogs, all of which will run the contest, with great prizes, that's outlined below. On each blog you will answer one question about one of your very own secrets! So, knowing how you loooove secrets, here's your question from CSC:  What is your secret obsession? 

HM: Oh, that's a fun one to start off the tour with! My secret obsession would have to be traveling. I LOVE it, almost as much as writing and reading. Something about going to new places and meeting new people is so exciting for me. I've been to several states in the US, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Canada, and Japan. Here's a picture of one of my favorite places in the world: Hawaii! I must admit, I love it there so much in part because it's where I first met the Critique Sisters.

Awww, shucks. I know I speak for Karlene as well as myself when I say, right back atcha. That was one great workshop. Nice picture of you, btw. But before we get too goopy, lets talk about the fabulous contest you're running in conjunction with your blog tour. Can you tell us about it?

HM: Absolutely. Here are the rules for the giveaway:

Heather's young adult urban fantasy, The Secret Of Spruce Knoll, is releasing this month! To celebrate its birthday she's doing a blog tour and contest followed by a live chat on YA Bound  August 30th with a separate giveaway. The blog tour and contest begins today and ends August 31st. Here's what you can win:

1st place: 

*$50 gift certificate to B&N (or the Book Depository if you're over seas). 

*Autographed copy of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll 

*Special swag bag

2nd place: 

*Swag bag filled with:

*Autographed copy of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll 

*Spoiled by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

*Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan 

*Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick 

*A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young 

3rd place: 

*Autographed copy of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll 

*Swag bag

You can earn extra points, but if you don’t want to, you don't have to. You can just be a follower of Heather's Odyssey and leave a comment saying you'd like to enter to win. But if you want extra points/entries here's how you can get them:

+1 for being a follower of Heather's Odyssey and commenting (+1 for each blog participating in the giveaway that you follow and comment on. Winners must follow Heather's Odyssey but aren't required to follow each blog participating, you just get more points if you do!).

+2 for adding The Secret Of Spruce Knoll to your To-Read shelf on Goodreads or Shelfari.
+3 for tweeting or posting on Facebook about the giveway.
+4 for Blogging about The Secret Of Spruce Knoll giveaway.
+5 for placing a link on the sidebar of your blog about the giveaway.

For the stops along the blog tour where you can earn extra entries click on Heather's News/Events page. Don't forget to list in your comment what (if anything) you are doing for extra points. You're welcome to come back at the end of the blog tour and leave your comment then if you'd like so you can hit all the stops and rack up the points.

This is amazing, Heather. Thank you so much for sharing your debut with us. May you get tons of participants in your wonderful contest and launch, and even more readers of The Secret of Spruce Knoll. They will be so happy they got the book. Wishing you the very best of luck. You deserve it!

~Linda

The Dreaded Query Letter

If you're like me you'd almost rather have a root canal than write a query letter. I have a little secret for you though. It doesn't have to be painful. Think of this post as your Novocain. Query letters are so much harder because they aren't writing so much as they are selling. A query letter is more akin to a sales pitch than a novel. But there are a few keys to making them easier.

Try to write your query letter in your character's voice. Not from their point of view, but with the flavor that is particular to them. This will make it feel less like you're talking about yourself and more like they're talking about their own story. I've found this helps a lot because it's the talking about myself part that I don’t like. However, when it comes time for the bio paragraph you need to switch to your own voice.

A good standard to follow for a query letter is this: Some kind of personal greeting saying why you chose to query this particular agent (their interests, blog, clients, whatever drew you to them), a logline or one sentence pitch (though this isn't necessary), one to two short paragraphs that cover the basics of your novel, a paragraph about yourself (include publishing credits, awards, writing organizations you belong to, author mentors), then a closing sentence. At the end don't forget to include your email address and phone number.
Tips:

*Be confident and polite, not apologetic or pleading.
*Never query for a rough draft, only a thoroughly revised novel.
*Revise your query letter as much as you revised your novel.
*Do your research and choose agents carefully.
*Don't 'blanket' query a standard letter to every agent.
*Take your time on each submission.
*Keep track of the queries you send out.
*Read guidelines thoroughly and follow them.

This month the wonderfully peeps at WriteOnCon are hosting three fantastic opportunities for you to have your query letter critiqued by an agent. YA Fantasy Guide is also doing a contest where the winner will receive a query letter critique from agent Tamar Rydzinski. My friend Shelley Watters is doing a one line pitch contest where the winner receives an entire manuscript request from agent Suzie Townsend! Check back here next week when I'll be posting my query letter for my new novel so my Sisters, and you, can critique it. Now get clicking on those contests!

Carolina's Agent Signing Mega Giveaway

A friend of the Critique Sisters~and a wonderful lady~Carolina Valdez Miller just signed with agent Vickie Motter! If you don't know who Carolina is yet click on her name to find out. She is one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to know and she's been working long and hard on accomplishing her goals. When someone like her achieves something so great it is cause for celebration! The fact that agents are still looking, still falling in love with books, and still signing clients means the industry is still going strong. That's something we all need to celebrate because you never who could be next, it could be you!

This is one mega party peeps. Carolina wants to give back and pay it forward~because she is fabulous like that~and we wanted to help her. That means some great giveaways for you! Here are the prizes you can enter to win:

*From Heather's Odyssey winner's choice of
 Writers Digest Guide To Query Letters  or The Fire In Fiction by Donald Maass.

*From Critique Sisters Corner winner's choice of
 2011 Guide To Literary Agents  or Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass 

*From Carolina's blog there will be 5 different winners:

  #1 A 1st page critique from agent Vickie Motter of the Andrea Hurst Literary Agency

  #2 A Kindle (must follow all blogs in the giveaway to qualify)

  #3 Signed copy of Escaping into the Open: the Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg

  #4 Signed Hardback of Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

  #5 Signed Hardback of Passing Strange by Daniel Waters

*From J. Koyanagi (You will need to subscribe or follow her RSS feed)

  One winner will win: WRITING DOWN THE BONES, by Natalie Goldberg or HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL, by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman or GIVE 'EM WHAT THEY WANT: THE RIGHT WAY TO PITCH YOUR NOVEL TO EDITORS AND AGENTS, by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook

*From Simon Larter One winner will win all three:
Stephen King's ON WRITING, Ray Bradbury's ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING, and Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD

*From LK Gardner-Griffie (In lieu of a follow, you will need to LIKE her Fan page) TBA

*From Denise Grover Swank:

ANGELFIRE by Courtney Allison Moulton, ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins, HEX HALL by Rachel Hawkins, DEMONGLASS by Rachel Hawkins

*From Sara McClung:

Winner 1: A signed copy of THE DARK DIVINE Winner 2: A signed copy of RAISED BY WOLVES Winner 3: WRITE GREAT FICTION: PLOT & STRUCTURE

*From Lola Sharp SECRET

*From Elizabeth Davis A $25 Amazon gift card

*From Tracey Neithercott A Hardcover of Across the Universe

*From Kristen Yard: 

A Signed copy of PERSONAL DEMONS by Lisa Desrochers

*From Christine Fonseca (You will need to subscribe to her blog):

 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids: The Ultimate Guide Or A partial Critique

*From Jonathon Arntson A $15 Barnes and Noble gift card

The rules: You must be a follower to enter (new and old followers are welcome!) and leave a comment on the post you wish to enter to win. See each blog for more information on prizes and rules. The contests close on April 1st and winners will be announced by April 4th. Hurry, click on each of the links and leave a comment! Best of luck!

The Clearing Contest

Today is a two part post that includes a contest to give away The Clearing by Anne Riley! I'm really excited to be giving away a copy of this book because I've been with Anne through her journey to publication for a while now. She is an amazing, dedicated lady who just won't give up and she inspires me every day. Here is a bit about The Clearing:

Natalie Watson doesn’t believe the reports about the way her parents died. In fact, she’s not sure she believes in much of anything these days. But after moving from her home in Georgia to her aunt’s boarding school in Maine, solving the mystery of her parents’ deaths is just one of several things on her mind. When she’s not fending off attacks from the popular kids or taking refuge in the pages of a novel, she ponders the rumors circulating about a certain boy in her math class… a boy with fiery red hair who never speaks to anyone.

Despite suspicions that he may have murdered his sister a year earlier, Natalie finds it impossible to stay away from Liam Abernathy – especially when he confesses to knowing something about her parents. Soon she’s following him into the forest, where things happen she doesn’t understand… things that shouldn’t be possible….

Aren't you dying to get your hands on this?! Here's what you need to do: Be a follower of the Critique Sisters Corner and leave a comment letting us know you'd like to win a copy. Using Random.org we will do a drawing on March 30th and the winner will be announced on March 31st. Best of luck everyone! To learn more about Anne you can click on her name and if you just can't wait to order The Clearing you can click on the title.

First Line Contest

Hi everyone,

Doing a second post in the same day because came across a fabulous contest. Check it out on Brenda Drake's blog: http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com/2011/01/blogfest-contest-with-prizes-from-agent.html?showComment=1296072757571#c4089240962108017595

It's simple and straightforward and has great prizes, including an agent critique. You have to post your first line on your own blog, and list your info and url in the form Brenda provides in her post.

The idea is to post your entry today or tomorrow, get feedback from your readers, then revise (if you want to) and submit the first line to the contest on Wednesday this week.

Here's my entry:

Name:   Linda Gray
Title:    And When I Die
Genre:  Suspense


Three days after we settled in London, a shadow I thought I'd seen moving behind me as I explored the city fleshed itself out in the form of a dark suit that breezed past my left elbow.

Revision:  A shadow I'd seen flicker behind me as I explored London fleshed itself out on the third day, in the form of a dark suit that breezed past my left elbow.


Revision 2:  A shadow breezed past my left elbow in the form of a dark suit.  The way it moved was familiar, blood-chilling—I'd seen it flicker behind me for three days as I explored London.

Would love your comments, thanks!

Linda