Category: pitch pick

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 19th Pitch

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HINT For Beth’s Birthday Hunt Clue #7

A  .-

B  -…

C  -.-.

… google Mr. Morse for the rest 🙂

I know.  The holidays are approaching.  There are decorations to hang, guest rooms to freshen, meals to plan, travel arrangements to make, gifts to buy, the mall to survive, and your mother-in-law to avoid.  It can be a bit stressful.  Which is why you guys are totally going to love me.  I have solved ALL your shopping dilemmas.  Seriously!  I have the answer to everything.  Ready?

Your Shopping Dilemmas Solved!

Take your time.  I’ll wait while you read it.  It’s so funny, and so TRUE! When you’re done, be sure to tell me which is your favorite (and I apologize to Beth who saw this on my Face Book page yesterday – it was too fun not to share here, too!)

Then, when you’re done with that list, buy books.  See?  I’ve just done all your shopping for you!  You can thank me by sending large quantities of chocolate anything to Blueberry Hill 🙂

Now that you can breathe a sigh of relief because I’ve done your shopping, it’s time to reveal the winner of the November Pitch Pick!  Who will it be?  Yikes!  The anticipation is just killing me!

This month’s race was the closest one yet.  The contestants were neck and neck.  First one looked like the winner, then another pulled ahead.  Very exciting!

So exciting that perhaps we should calm ourselves down by discussing my mother-in-law’s bunions…

Tee hee…

(I wouldn’t really subject anyone to that!)

The winner of the November Pitch Pick, whose Pitch is flying through cyberspace to Erin Molta as we speak, is none other than the amazing  DEE!!!  Congratulations, Dee!  I hope Erin will have lots of helpful things to say!

Now then.  It’s time for everybody’s favorite show, Would You Read It!  Today’s participant is the lovely Christie from Write Wild.  (BTW, for all you picture book writers, Christie’s blog is terrific!)  Christie, come on down!

Working Title:  Draggin’ My Tail
Age/Genre: PB
The Pitch:  Orville the dragon loves to fly, but when he quits breathing fire, his wings fail him.  Orville has to figure out how to get his fire back so he can lift off again.

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?
If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Christie improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However, I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)
Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above.  SIDE NOTE:  Would You Read It is booked only through January, so there are lots of openings ahead.  Please send pitches and spread the word to your writerly friends 🙂
Christie is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!
Please join us Friday for Perfect Picture Books, and I hope everyone is hard at work on their Holiday Contest entries!  Congratulations again to Dee, and don’t forget to let us know which of those gifts is your favorite 🙂

Who Will It Be? – Pitch Pick #4!

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Good Morning Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend in which you did not get trampled by angry mobs stampeding through their holiday shopping at the mall or run over by those same angry mobs vying for parking spaces 🙂

In case you’re wondering what I did, I had a very exciting weekend.  I got to babysit for my granddaughter (oops, sorry – I’m physically unable to resist one tiny photo :))

… and I confess I was forced to go to the mall (a truly hair-raising experience – really, what happens to people?) but not because of holiday shopping.  No.  It was much more serious.  We had to get basketball shoes.  And not just ANY basketball shoes, the RIGHT basketball shoes.  Because when you are on the court, playing hard, racing up and down against the other team, it is certainly not all about function.  It is about fashion!  I am happy to report that in spite of grave risk to life and limb, out mission was successful!

I also spent WAY too much time on our holiday card.  I don’t know about you folks, but somewhere along the line I got sucked into these holiday cards filled with family pictures and produced by a company whose name starts with S but I am not plugging anyone 🙂  So this is what I do every year:  I sort through the family photos.  Usually I have virtually no decent ones and that is a huge challenge.  This year I had so many good ones I had the opposite challenge – 2 graduations and a new baby in the family will do that to you 🙂  Anyway, once I get the photos, I spend about 3 solid days messing around with card design until I’m completely cross-eyed.  Then I usually end up choosing the first card I made.  Do not say I could save a lot of time by just doing one and pressing order.  Really.  Do not say it.

So that was my exciting weekend.  I know.  It may take me days to recover 🙂

So now, on to today’s excitement!  The November Pitch Pick!  One lucky Would You Read It participant from November is going to get her pitch read by the fabulous Erin Molta.  So let’s get right to it!

First, our pitch refresher:

#1 Christie

Working Title:  The Tooth Fairy Star
Age/Genre: Picture Book
The Pitch:  Tiffany Faye loves being the tooth fairy, but when all the other fairies complain about her terrible dancing, she has to find a way to dance without being clumsy or else give up her job as the tooth fairy.
#2  Dee
Title:  Hating Ric
Age/Genre:  YA Verse
The Pitch:  On the day of his brother, Jason’s funeral, 17 year-old Ric’s anger explodes, and he races Jason’s car through the streets, crashing and badly injuring jogger, Kate.  Ric is sent to a juvenile justice centre, where survivor guilt and grief set him on a reckless destruction course. Help comes through his music and from an unexpected source in Kate who is struggling to put her own life back together.
#3  Halli
Working Title:  SIMBIOTE
Age/Genre:  YA Sci-Fi
The Pitch:  Kal is a donor in the illegal bulb trade.  He donates his own symbiotic bulbs to the humans on the multi-million dollar black market.  Their addictions can cost them a pretty penny, but what does it cost Kal?  What does he suffer every year at harvest time?  When he gets caught he realizes the risks he has put upon himself, his potential girlfriend and his family are far worse than he ever imagined.

#4  Ashley
Working Title:  Prelude To An Apocalypse
Age/Genre:  YA Literature
The Pitch:  Jack wakes up in the hospital to find a mysterious man offering to take her in, to teach her everything she needs to know about being a Wizard, but something deep inside tells her she can’t trust him.
Please place your vote now!  Poll will be open until Tuesday December 6 at 11:59PM EST so I can announce the winner on Wednesday!

<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/5730407/”>Pitch Pick #4</a>
Have a great Monday 🙂  And P.S. I hope everyone is hard at work on their Holiday Contest entries (please scroll down that link for the rules) so they’ll be all ready before the mad holiday rush – you wouldn’t want to miss your chance at a great prize! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Balloons Over Broadway

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Good Morning, Everyone 🙂

Today’s Perfect Picture Book is one I would have chosen myself anyway, but it comes to us courtesy of talented author/illustrator Lisa Thiesing who wanted to participate but doesn’t have a blog to post on.  If anyone else out there is in a similar position, please feel free to email me your Perfect Picture Book and I’ll post it and credit you as I am doing here for Lisa!  (You can use the handy Email Me button on the right hand side of the blog.)

It’s especially timely as Penny, the winner of our Thanksgiving Contest, chose Balloons Over Broadway as her prize!  So without further ado:

Balloons Over Broadway
Written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Houghton Mifflin Books For Children, November, 2011, Non-Fiction Biography/History
Suitable For: ages 4-8
Themes/Topics:  art, puppeteering, pursuing a dream
Opening and brief synopsis:  “From the time he was a little boy, Tony Sarg loved to figure out how to make things move.  He once said he became a marionette man when he was only six years old.”  Melissa Sweet tells the true story of Tony Sarg, inventor of the huge balloons that are the trademark and centerpiece of the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade in New York City.
Links to resources:  this story is perfect for a curriculum section that covers art, history, biography, or Thanksgiving, or just as a good story for children interested in where things come from and how they work.  Balloons Over Broadway Activity Kit.  (Please be patient – the activity kit loads slowly because of all the art but it’s well worth the wait!)  There is also a spread of interesting and helpful back matter at the end of the book to expand your lesson.

Why I like this book: this book is interesting, entertaining and educational.  Tony Sarg is an inspiration because he had little or no formal art education and yet he went on to pursue his dreams and become world-renowned for his work.  One of his apprentices, Bil Baird, created the “Lonely Goatherd” marionettes for The Sound Of Music, and one of Bil Baird’s apprentices was Jim Henson who invented The Muppets!
For more books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books!

I can’t wait to read everyone else’s Perfect Picture Books for this Friday!  Don’t forget to place your link in the list below so everyone can find you easily!

Have a great weekend, everyone!  November Pitch Pick coming Monday!  And I hope you’ll all find a few minutes to work on your Holiday Contest entries (please scroll down that link for contest description and rules.)  A great prize could be yours 🙂

P.S.  I almost forgot!  The randomly selected winner of the November Perfect Picture Book contributor draw is Stacy!  Congratulations, Stacy!  You will receive your choice of a $10 Amazon gift card or a signed copy of Airplane Flight: A Lift-The-Flap-Adventure by yours truly 🙂

Who Will It Be? – Pitch Pick #3!… Plus Some Extras

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Sorry for the mess my blog has been this week.  You may blame Mother Nature and her very clever idea that we should have 2 feet of snow for Halloween 🙂  Talk about trick vs. treat!  I’m still playing catch-up, so today’s post will be a bit of a smorgasbord – not that I haven’t done that before 🙂

Included in today’s awesomeness will be Fun Foto, Warm Fuzzies #2, and the October Pitch Pick.

I know.

That’s a lot to pack into a Friday.  But after all, it IS Friday, so the weekend is coming and I know you are all full of happiness and enthusiasm about that, so hopefully you will feel generous with your energy and wade on through so we can get back on track next week!  Anyone who is in a hurry should feel free to skip to the part that’s most relevant to them… no hard feelings… (although I did get up at the crack of dawn and slave over all the parts… )  (oops, did I say that?!)  I promise, I’ll try to be brief.  For me 🙂

(This is the part where no one will point out that if I was technologically able in ANY way I would have long since figured out how to schedule posts ahead and then if my power went out it wouldn’t matter and I would never have gotten behind in the first place.  Thank you all for not mentioning that :))

So.  Fun Foto.  Technically, we’re not doing it this week because we didn’t get it together we knew you were too busy!  But I hate to skip it altogether, so here is my themeless Fun-not-really-a-Foto just for kicks:

Isn’t it sweet?  Write a story about this!
(courtesy weheartit)

Anyone else who wants to put up a themeless foto, friendly for kids ages 0-12, feel free to post your link in the comments.  And for one of the best photos I’ve seen in a long time, check out Cynthia’s blog, Random Thoughts, from yesterday.  Is that a great photo or what?! 🙂

Onto Warm Fuzzies Week #2:

This week’s task: post a picture or piece of music that describes your WIP.  Then in the comments, people are supposed to guess what your WIP is about 🙂

Here’s my picture for that:

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Any guesses? Remember, I write picture books 🙂

And finally (we’re moving right along, aren’t we? I’m being so brief!) it’s time for Pitch Pick #3!!!  One lucky participant is going to get her pitch read by the epitome of awesome editors, Erin Molta!!!  To refresh your memory, the October contestants are listed below.

#1 Carla

Working Title:  Witches Don’t Dance
Age/Genre: Picture Book
The Pitch:  What happens when witches dance?  Little Linda knows it can get messy, but she also thinks it might just be the witches’ only chance to save their Halloween Party.
#2  Christie
Working Title: Gleek
Age/Genre: MG Contemporary
The Pitch:  A math whiz but not great at reading and writing, eleven-year-old Art Schaeffer unknowingly stumbles upon the school bully’s rule-breaking science fair project and must find a way to expose him before the judges make their final decisions.
#3  Tracy
Working Title:  Pizza’s Band
Age/Genre:  Early Reader
The Pitch:  Pizza, JuiceBox and Cake are best friends. Cereal arrives with his brand new guitar they head to the garage for band practice. But when Bratwurst interrupts, will Pizza be brave enough to protect his friends from this bully?

#4  Kim
Working Title:  Henry Hears You
Age/Genre:  YA
The Pitch:  13-year-old boy finds his voice as the new advice columnist for the school newspaper only to discover that some problems don’t have easy solutions when he gets a letter from a kid threatening to kill himself if the gay bashing doesn’t stop.
On your mark… Get set… VOTE!!!!!

<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/5640800/”>Pitch Pick #3</a>
In the interest of trying to get back on track, the poll will close on Sunday, November 6 at 11:59 PM EST so that I can announce the winner in Monday’s post, so please get your votes in as soon as you can because I love announcing winners.  I will also post the finalists for the Halloweensie Contest for you to vote on Monday, so we will have another winner next week.  Yippee-ay-oh-ky-yay!  Is next week going to be fun or what?

Thank you all for your patience this week.  Hopefully next week will be a little less crazy!  Oh, and since people have expressed interest, we will be having a Thanksgiving Contest of some sort, so feel free to leave me words that evoke Thanksgiving for you in the comments!

Have a great weekend!!!

Fun Friday Foto Fextravaganza Etc. Etc.

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Whoopee!  It’s Fun Friday!  And today we have Fun Times Five!!!

Fun Times One:  My Foto for the Fun Friday Foto Fextravaganza.  Those of you who have been paying attention will know that this week’s theme is HARVEST.  Here is mine:

courtesy goole images

Quite a haul, don’t you think?  🙂

Anyone who would like to join the fun, please post a 0-12 year-old-friendly photo on your blog, then pop back here and put your link in the comments so we can all visit and enjoy, and possibly be inspired to write a story!  Be sure to check out Fellow Fun Friday Foto Fextravaganzist Catherine’s photo too 🙂
Fun Times Two:  I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you to save the date of October 24th for the More-Fun-Than-You-Can-Stand Choose Your Own Adventure Bloghop.  I’ve read a number of the entries, and it promises to be edge-of-your-seat fun!
Woo-hoo!!!!!
Fun Times Three:  I’m cooking up an idea for Halloween.  Some of you already contributed on my Face Book page yesterday, but for anyone who would like to join in, I need 3 Halloween-related words.  If you have some good ones, please post them in the comments below 🙂
Fun Times Four:  I’m going to have an exciting announcement Monday but you’ll have to wait until Monday.  (I know.  That was just mean, wasn’t it?  Hinting and then making you wait?  I didn’t think I had it in me.  Who knew?)
And finally, as promised, Fun Times Five!!!: the reason you came over here today in the first place!  It’s time for me to tell you who won the September Pitch Pick!
But first, I want to tell you a story my mother-in-law told me about her gall bladder….
Tee-hee.
Actually, my mother-in-law has more gall bladder (and other far worse) stories than you’d ever care to hear, but I’m not really going to make you sit through any of them.
Anybody need a chocolate break?  Should I wait to make the Pitch Pick announcement until you’re back with a fistful of Snickers bars?
No?  You’re ready now?
Well, all right.
The winner of the September Pitch Pick, whose pitch will be sent to the wonderful and only Erin Molta, editor extraordinaire, for helpful hints and thoughtful critique is….
ddddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm rrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllll!!!!!

AIMEE!!!!!

Congratulations, Aimee!  And congratulations to Kimberly, Saul, and Catherine, too – your pitches were all great.  You guys really gave Aimee a run for her money 🙂  Thank you all for being brave enough to put your work out there and good luck with your books!

So now, go have fun with the fotos, put some Halloween words in the comments, and hold you breath until Monday 🙂

Have a great weekend!