SUCCESS STORY and CONTEST Announcemnet!

I’m am THRILLED to announce that #TeamMonicaFTW has had two success stories now!! One indirect success story, and the FIRST OFFICIAL SUCCESS STORY from The Writer’s Voice contest!!

Valerie Cole has signed with my awesome agent, Lauren MacLeod, and now we’re agency sisters!! How AMAZING is that? You can read the entry that grabbed Lauren’s attention here.

In Valerie’s own words:

First, I have to thank the coaches—Mónica, Krista, Brenda, and Cupid. The Writers Voice was a BIG event. I cannot even imagine how much work this must have been for them, and if it weren’t for their dedication to us, the writers, I wouldn’t be writing this post.

When The Writers Voice was first announced, I thought I would sign up, submit my work, meet some other writers, and get a little feedback. I never in a million years thought I would tweet chicken pictures, find a new friend in my coach, Mónica, or end up signing with an agent!

The week that the judges picked their teams, I joked with Brenda Drake on TheWritersVoice hashtag that I needed to do something to grab Mónica’s attention. Since Mónica owns 11 hens, Brenda advised me to find a picture of a chicken with a bow around its neck, and send it to her. I rummaged through Google Images, found one, and tweeted it to Mónica. Shortly after, she picked me for her team—although she swears that the chicken picture did not influence her decision at all. 

Coaching week flew by, Mónica and I went through two rounds of revisions. On Monday morning of the big reveal, I anxiously waited to see if I would get a vote (or request) from one of the eight participating agents. At 9AM, Marcy Kate tweeted, “Hear that silence? It's the sound of 44 writers holding their breath”—and that’s exactly what it felt like! A few minutes later, Lauren MacLeod from The Strothman Agency voted for me, and I couldn’t breathe or focus all day. Seriously, I’m pretty sure my boss wanted to strangle me!

I couldn’t wait to send my manuscript, and I was ready to settle in for a long wait, but then Wednesday, Lauren emailed, “THUMP made my heart skip a beat! I've finished it and I thought it was fantastic and I'd love to speak with you about it.”I went into total shock, and had to try to keep it together at work, but I was bouncing off the walls all day.

When we talked the next day, I was really nervous, but Lauren was so nice! We talked about my project, books, and about how an agent/client relationship works. She made excellent editorial suggestions, and I couldn’t wait to work with her.

Thank you so much, Mónica. You are an amazing coach and writer—I cannot believe this happened and now we share an agent! I owe you a million more chicken pictures!

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And I am thrilled to have you as my sister, Valerie! Thanks so much for participating in our contest!!

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Okay, now about the other contest.

 

We had many participants of The Writer's Voice ask what was wrong with their pitch and why it didn't make it into the contest. There are so many reasons why an entry might not have been chosen. Tastes are subjective. There were 200 entries and we each could only pick ten. There were many I wanted, but had to pass on—maybe the writing was awesome, but the premise was too quiet, or maybe the premise was great but the writing not so much, OR maybe the premise AND the writing were great but I thought I wasn’t the right coach for that entry. So for us, it came down to knowing if we could make a difference. 

Anyway, the awesome Brenda Drake came up with an idea to have her CP and one of her besties, Erica M. Chapman, who's an agent intern for Louise Fury with L. Perkins Agency tell thirty lucky writers when she stopped reading their pitches or which ones would make it out of the slush pile. 

Not enough? Her besties, Shelley Watters and Monica B.W. (YEAH!! That’s ME!! =D) and Brenda are giving away critiques as prizes. Plus you never know, if Erica likes any of the entries enough, she just might recommend them to Louise Fury.

How it's going down ... 

Enter in the Rafflecopter below. You can earn many entries. On June 9th Random.org will select 30 lucky winners to participate in the Super Intern Contest. This is not for the faint of heart, so don't sign up unless you can handle the honesty. We will post the 30 winners along with instructions on June 10th, so check back then to see if you won. You must be ready to email Brenda your pitches immediately. Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway