Category: Would You Read It

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 52nd Pitch!!!

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Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Would You Read It
Happy Birthday to you!!!

I know!  I can’t believe it either!  Would You Read It is one year old today!  Today makes the 52nd pitch we’ve had the privilege to read – 52 writers whose pitches have benefited from all the thoughtful, helpful comments generated by YOU.  I’m really proud to be part of such a generous effort.  It’s wonderful that this community is so supportive!  Thank you all for participating, and I hope we’ll have lots and lots more pitches to look forward to.  I’m waiting for the first book to be published that was pitched here – won’t that be a day to celebrate?! 🙂

Before we get to today’s pitch, a couple items of business.

First, I want to thank the lovely, vivacious, mistress of counting, everybody’s favorite Cupcake for bestowing the Blog On Fire Award on me.  Cupcake, you are the mostest 🙂

As you all know, I am terrible at awards.  I’m supposed to tell 5 things about myself and pass the award to 5 favorite bloggers.  I’ll try for the 5 about me, but I can’t possibly pick only 5 favorites among you when I love you all 🙂 so anyone who would like the award can consider themselves chosen 🙂

1.  I have fewer dresses than Cupcake (who owns 9) and
2.  I have no tutus at all (gasp! I know! Cupcake has 2!), so clearly I need to rectify that 🙂
3.  I have been in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia in the past month.  That may be a traveling record for me!
4.  I am totally looking forward to The Bourne Legacy even though Matt Damon isn’t in it.  Sigh.
5.  I could have been an Olympic Gymnast… except I’m uncoordinated… and have no talent for gymnastics 🙂  But I really like watching them so that has to count for something 🙂

Alrighty, then.  Onward.

Due to my extensive traveling, I’m just a tad behind on ye olde blog schedule.  I was going to put the July Pitch Pick on today’s post, but the new policy states that pitchers have the chance to revise their pitches before the vote and since I’ve been wandering around the midwest and random New York airports I haven’t emailed them all to get the version they want to use for the pitch pick, so…  not Friday, because that’s Short & Sweets, and not Monday because I have a special post to share that day :)… so I guess it’ll be next Wednesday for that.  If you happen to be one of the July pitchers, please feel free to email me the version you want to use 🙂

So now, at last, it’s time to grab your Something Chocolate (has anyone tried Chocolate Cheerios?  Are they good?) and see what you think of today’s pitch which comes to us from the lovely Patricia who is a pre-published writer of picture books, with a YA fantasy and MG fantasy series rattling around her laptop.  After a meandering journey from Wall Street attorney to not-for-profit fundraiser, with many years volunteering to support arts and education in between, this mother of three mostly-grown children and two young-at-heart pups is now busy banging on the keyboard, trying to write that elusive perfect children’s book.  She loves dogs, travel & the flora and fauna of living life to the full.  Like Two Orange Pups on Facebook to share their Woofs of Wisdom each Wednesday.


And here’s her pitch:

Working Title:  Two Orange Pups And The Ball
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 3-6)
The Pitch:  Two orange pups.  The perfect ball.  Sounds simple, until the picky princess pup turns up her nose at each of her friends’ perfect balls.   Follow the pair and their friends on this madcap quest at they discover that shared experiences, not possessions, matter most.


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 Patricia 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.  There are openings in September, which is not very far away at all at this point, so we could really use some new pitches!!
Patricia is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!
And I am off – yes, on the road again! – but this time to a day care/summer camp visit with Phyllis and Woolliam – first one since school got out in June so I’m feeling a little rusty…!  I hope we’ll have a good day!

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 51st Pitch!

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Good Morning, my friends!  I hope you are all feeling happy and well today, and full of inspiration and creativity!

I, personally, am back in the car with Jo-Jilly with whom I am not on speaking terms because she decided to give me the silent treatment as I approached our nation’s capitol last week.  If you have ever driven in those horrifying belt loops or whatever they call it (especially if, like me, you are not familiar with the area) let me assure you that you do not want to be there without guidance.  Especially at night. In the rain.  When you have been driving for many hours…  So now of course she’s all, “In .2 miles turn right into Pennsylvania.”  Like that’s going to win me back!  But I’ve been up since 4:30 AM and I’m not feeling that forgiving just yet.  Maybe after I stop at Dunkin’ for some coffee (where, by the way, I think I should have a dedicated parking space with my name on it – or maybe Princess Blue Kitty’s – since I spend so much time there lately) maybe if she manages to stay civil about departing from the route I’ll consider letting her back into my good graces then…  We’ll just see…! 🙂

I think negotiating with your GPS should be an Olympic sport.

Meanwhile, we have important things to do here!  It’s time for Something Chocolate (I don’t think there’s any pretending I won’t be having chocolate donuts this morning… I love those little chocolate munchkins :))

O
in case you are wondering, this is my drawing of a chocolate donut since I have no photos!
and Would You Read It!

Today’s pitch comes to us from the very talented Randy, who blogs over at Randy Lindsay – Author In Training.  Any of you who aren’t familiar with his blog should hop over and take a peek.  He has great writing prompts and often posts samples of his work which are inspiring to read.  He is incredibly creative and has a great sense of humor!  He was my “partner” in Kerri Cuevas’s Choose Your Own Adventure last year.  He is also the father of NINE (9)!  Yes.  Really! 🙂

And come to think of it, he may be only the third person of his gender who has been brave enough to stand up for Would You Read It, so let’s give him a round of applause just for that! 🙂  In addition, he freely admits that picture books are not in his usual wheelhouse…

And now, here’s Randy’s pitch:

Working Title: Charlie The Chimney Mouse
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 6-10)
The Pitch: Charlie is looking forward to the holiday season when the unthinkable happens. His human family moves away. He does his best to celebrate the holidays on his own, but discovers that it isn’t the songs, feasts, and parties that make this time of year special . . . it’s the people you share it with. 

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 Randy improve his 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.  There are openings in August, which is not very far away at all at this point, so we could really use some new pitches!!
Randy is looking forward to your thoughts on his pitch!
And I am looking forward to finding Ohio, with or without that Jill.  Honestly, it’s fairly large.  I should be able to spot it! 🙂
Have a wonderful day!

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 50th Pitch! and Straight From The Editor #10

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Grab your Something Chocolate and bring it and your computer out to the hammock so you can relax and enjoy today’s Would You Read It extravaganza (which simply means that, due to trying to stuff in extra posts and features around the edges, I’m lumping June’s Straight From The Editor in with today’s pitch :))

Yes, this is my yard – a little blurry because I tried to enlarge the hammock view.
Anyone who doesn’t have a hammock is invited to use mine – it’s just hanging around doing nothing 🙂

(Apologies to those of you with desktops – they’re a little harder to take out to the hammock – but I’m sure you’re resourceful :))

Anyhoo…  you will recall that the winner of the June pitch pick was Lori with her pitch for These Little Piggies.  Here is the original:

Working Title:  These Little Piggies
Age/Genre: Rhyming Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  In this Mother Goose mash-up, five little piggies are living happily in a shoe until a callous old woman forces her way in and turns their lives head over tails.  The piggies decide to set a trap for the old woman so, the first little piggy goes to market… the second little piggy stays home…  Will they succeed in giving the old coot the boot?

and here are Erin’s comments:

This is very cute! The one thing that worries me is the phrase “set a trap”. Seems too threatening. I think that, at least for the pitch, you should say, “the piggies decide to do something about her”?

You guys are getting good at this!  Erin hasn’t had a whole lot to say the last couple times 🙂

So, onto today’s pitch, which comes to us from the lovely Dana.  Dana is an illustrator/author from Michigan who revels in sketching, painting, and creating new worlds. She is currently working on the illustrations of a PB manuscript that she has also written called “CJ’s Tiger”.  Please visit her Website (which contains a link to her blog!)  (And really, I just have to insert here that her art is SO engaging!  I highly recommend a look!)  And you will be pleased to know that her pitch is for the very book she mentioned she is illustrating!

Working Title:  CJ’s Tiger
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  CJ thinks that it would be a great to have a tiger for a pet (even if his parents don’t agree). So CJ is thrilled when he awakens the next day to find that his cat “Tiger” has transformed into a real tiger! But he soon learns that having a pet tiger is a lot harder than he imagined when the day turns into one big cat-astrophe!

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 Dana 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.  There are openings in August, which is not very far away at all at this point, so we could really use some new pitches!!
Dana is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  Just so y’all know, she is at work and, being a responsible type, can’t respond to comments until later when she’s on her own time, but SHE WILL BE HERE as soon as she can 🙂

Have a great day!  If you see someone looking lost in North Carolina, that will be me 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 49th Pitch!

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Wow!  Do you know what I just realized?  This week’s pitch is #49, which means we’ve been doing Would You Read It for almost a whole entire year!  And week #52 – the WYRI Anniversary – is going to coincide with final week of the Olympics!  I have a feeling this calls for a celebration of some kind… I’m just not sure what 🙂  Feel free to make suggestions!  Especially if they involve chocolate cake 🙂 and open flame 🙂

All we need here is a little photoshopping so it says
BLUEBERRY HILL 2012 🙂

I actually do have a special Would You Read It announcement today.  Remember that poll I took last week?  Well, some late voters changed the picture a bit.  The results indicated that the majority of you were happy either way, but a fairly large group were in favor of change, while only 3 people felt it should definitely stay the same.

So here’s what we’re going to try.  Beginning with July (you know, the month we’re in right now… last time I checked anyway… :)), any pitcher WHO WOULD LIKE TO (it is not in any way, shape, or form required!) may rewrite their pitch before the pitch pick based on the feedback they received from all you generous and helpful readers.  They will just have to get their rewrites in to me before the last day of the month.  Sound good?  I’m game to give it a try if you are.  If we all decide we hate it, we can always go back to the old system 🙂  But a lot of people have asked about it and would like the opportunity to improve, and I’m all for encouraging improvement 🙂

I would also like to take this opportunity to say how much fun I’m having with Summer Short & Sweets!  I’ve been amazed and gratified at how many people have been participating, and everyone is so creative and talented!  It’s such a pleasure to see what you all come up with that I find myself eagerly looking forward to Fridays!  Thank you all for being such great sports 🙂

But now, onward!  It’s time for today’s pitch which comes to us from the lovely Vivian whom I’m sure you all remember from last month’s incredibly informative guest post for the self-publishing mini-series, but just in case you don’t know her, here’s a little info:

Vivian Kirkfield has been involved in the care and education of young children for over 50 years.  From babysitting to teaching kindergarten and Head Start to raising her own three children while operating a home daycare, Vivian’s passion for picture books encouraged her to write her award-winning book, Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking.  She shares her mission to help every young child become a lover of books and reading during her school visits with kindergarteners and her presentations to parent and teacher organizations.  Julie Hedlund’s 12 x 12 Challenge was the catalyst that started her writing picture book stories again…and now she can’t stop!  Many of her stories are based on her experiences as a teacher, mother and grandmother.  The Tomato Turner is a true story about her own family…and she plans several sequels…Confessions of the Tomato Turner and The Tomato Turner Returns.
Vivian’s book/author website:  http://www.positiveparentalparticipation.com

And now, here is her pitch:

Working Title:  The Tomato Turner
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 3-8)
The Pitch:  Stuck in the middle between a brainy older brother and an adorable baby sister, four-year old Peter is determined to do something spectacular that will make everyone proud of him – when he sees the basket of green tomatoes on the kitchen counter, he seizes the opportunity to astonish his family.

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 Vivian 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.  There are openings in August, which is not very far away at all at this point, so we could really use some new pitches!!
Vivian is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!

And before we all go off to our wonderful Wednesdays, I wanted to mention a special upcoming treat!  My friend and fellow author, Tiffany Haber, had her debut picture book release yesterday!!!  Here is her book:

Awesome, no?!  And here’s where the special treat part comes in: Tiffany is coming over to visit with us here on Monday July 23 – that’s in like 5 days! – and along with what I’m sure will be a fabulously entertaining post, she will be giving away a signed copy of this exceptionally fun-looking brand new book!!!  Mine is on order and due to arrive tomorrow.  I can’t wait to read it!

Alrighty.  You’re excused.  Have a lovely day 🙂  Hope to see you Friday for Short & Sweets!

Summer Short & Sweet – Week 2

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Happy Friday, Everyone!

Hurray!!!  It’s time for another Short & Sweet!  But first…

I have returned from The Pine Tree State where I still did not see a moose!  I saw signs – “Moose Crossing”, “Watch for moose in roadway” and just plain

but although pretty much everyone else in the northern hemisphere has seen an actual moose, I still haven’t.  Don’t get me wrong… I do not want to meet one in my car at 60 mph!  I just want to see a real one looking serene in his or her natural surroundings 🙂 preferably alongside a cute baby moose 🙂

Anyway, onto business.  The winner of the June pitch pick, whose pitch will go for a read by editor Erin Molta, is none other than the fabulous Lori with her pitch for These Little Piggies!  Congratulations, Lori!  And congratulations and thanks to all who bravely put forth their pitches – you are all winners in my book just for stepping up to the plate!

In other Would You Read It news, the vote for whether or not to keep the system the way it is was TOTALLY evenly split and indecisive!  So now what?  I don’t know.  I’ll have to think on it.  While I think, nothing will change.  If anyone has thoughts or opinions, please share 🙂

Now then, are you ready?  Let the fun begin!!!!!!!!

Today’s Short & Sweet will work best if you don’t peek 🙂  I’m not sure quite how to accomplish that on a blog post, so let’s go on the honor system – no scrolling down yet!

First, pick a number from 1-10.  Got it?  Write it down.

Now pick a number from 1-10 again and write that down.

Now do it again.

And now one last time.

(BTW, it’s okay of you pick the same number more than once.  If you want to make it really random you can roll a pair of dice and just discard any 11s or 12s you roll, or take an ace-10 out of a deck of cards and randomly choose cards.)

Hopefully you now have 4 numbers between 1 and 10 written down (for example, I have 3, 7, 1, and 5)

Now, use your first number to select from this list:

     Character:

  1. A pirate who likes to sing
  2. A little girl who doesn’t want to practice her violin
  3. A zookeeper with a lost animal
  4. A 5 year old girl with a rainbow umbrella
  5. A homeless child
  6. A boy whose father is a Navy SEAL
  7. A monster who is afraid of thunderstorms
  8. A disobedient robot
  9. A sailor who is far from home
  10. A six year old boy who can’t ride his two-wheeler

Use your second number to select from this list:

     Setting:
  1. a museum
  2. a national park
  3. a playground
  4. a big city
  5. a birthday party
  6. the porch of an old farmhouse
  7. an enchanted forest
  8. a fancy restaurant
  9. the moon
  10. Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Shop

Use your third number to select from this list:

     Time:
  1. first day of school
  2. the Fourth of July
  3. during a thunderstorm
  4. in early autumn
  5. sitting down to breakfast
  6. bath time
  7. the first warm day of spring
  8. during church
  9. a winter evening
  10. after a fight

And use your last number to select from this list:

     Situation/Challenge:
  1. something embarrassing has just happened
  2. someone feels like giving up
  3. someone has to keep a secret
  4. an important decision has to be made
  5. someone has lost something
  6. someone has found something
  7. someone’s pride has been injured
  8. something is where it shouldn’t be
  9. someone has been chosen for something
  10. something has made someone mad

You should now have a randomly selected character, setting, time, and situation/challenge – everything you need to prompt a story!

In the comments below, list the 4 you got and write 50-100 words of whatever story they suggest to you!  Don’t agonize!  Don’t over-think!  We’re all among friends.  Just write!  All we’re doing here is priming the pump.  If all you can squeeze out is 50 rusty words, that’s fine!  You wrote 50 words in the middle of your hectic, busy day!  But maybe, just maybe, 25-50 more will trickle out a little less rusty, and maybe after you’ve written your 50-100 here you’ll find you’ve got a gush of clear water rushing forth and a whole  new story will well up and land on your list of accomplishments for today!

Oh, and if you find it’s too hard to include all 4, it’s okay to just use 1, 2, or 3 of the prompts you picked – the exercise is just to get ideas and words flowing 🙂

Here’s my example in case you don’t quite get it:
The numbers I chose were 3, 7, 1, 5, so I get

Character #3 – a zookeeper with a lost animal
Setting #7 – an enchanted forest
Time #1 – the first day of school
and Situation/Challenge #5 – someone has lost something (which accidentally overlaps with the character description so I’m only going with one lost thing!)
Given these prompts, I might write the following 50-100 words:
George took his job as zookeeper of the enchanted forest very seriously.
At the end of each day he checked that the unicorns had plenty of magic meadow grass.
He made sure the griffin’s nest was comfy and the sphinx had his book of riddles.
He tested the mermaids’ pool – it would never do if it was too cold!
He made sure the dragon had plenty of fresh water in case he set his bed (or anything else!) on fire.
Then he double-checked that all the cages were locked, said, “Good night my friends!”, and went home to his supper.
But on the first school day of the year, with Miss Venus’s class field trip due any minute, George arrived to find that the Loch Ness Monster, had gone missing!
“How can this be?” he moaned, wringing his hands.  “I was so careful!  And Nessie’s cage is still locked!”

(OK.  I’m wordy.  And I got caught up 🙂 149 words.)
See how easy?  Ready, set, WRITE! 🙂  I can’t wait to see what you come up with! 🙂

P.S.  For anyone who’s just finding Summer Short & Sweets, full info is on that link or above in the tab 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 48th Pitch

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Boy is this summer a whirlwind!

Whilst you are munching your Something Chocolate (might I recommend the pain au chocolat this morning?)

and sipping your coffee, I am wandering around in the Pine Tree State, hopefully not hopelessly lost, as we continue our quest for institutions of higher learning.  (The Pine Tree State’s connected to the Green Mountain State, right?…  Or is it connected to the Granite State?…. Or the maybe the Bay State?  Or the hip bone…  You know, I put far too much trust in my GPS.  She could totally take advantage of me if she wanted to!  Her name is Jill, by the way.  After all that wondering what to call her, I discovered on the way to Nantucket she already had a name.  But I digress…)

So anyway, I have a question for y’all today.  And it actually has to do with Would You Read It – can you imagine? An on-topic question?  What is the world coming to? 🙂

What I’m wondering is this:

Are you all happy with the Would You Read It system the way it stands, or do you think people who have pitched should have a chance to enter a new and improved version of their pitch for the pitch pick at the end of the month if they wish?  Poll below.  (You know how I love polls :))  Please opinionate:

Alrighty then!  Now that we’ve addressed that little issue, it’s time for everybody’s favorite Wednesday dilemma, Would You Read It!!!

Today’s pitch comes to us from the amazing Rita whom I’m sure you all remember from her Elephant And Dolphin Pitch last month, and from her wonderful and helpful post on self publishing Meg The Egg.  But in case you somehow missed her bio, Rita says, I have always loved writing letters, plays, stories any thing really since the age of 9. I have 3 kids that have made me stop writing for awhile but now two of them are at university and the youngest is 15. I used to be a dog sitter, an airline hostess and a secretary but now I spend lots of time as storyteller (costumes and strange voices and all) and my most frustrating of jobs: a writer. I write in my basement and I love children, animals and travelling. Teaching children how to read is a parental necessity. My website is www.ritaborg.us

Here’s the pitch!

Working Title:  What’s Wrong With Molly Zwirl
Age/Genre:  Chapter Book (ages 6-9)
The Pitch:  Molly, an immigrant girl from Europe settling in the USA, is just like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead.  She tries so hard to be good but when her grandparents come she just has to be bad.

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 Rita 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.  There are openings in August, which is not very far away at all at this point, so we could really use some new pitches!!
Rita is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!
And I am looking forward to seeing you all on Friday for the next installment of Summer Short & Sweets!
P.S.  If you missed Monday’s post with the Q&A by editor Erin Molta click HERE – you won’t want to miss it!  And if you missed Monday’s post with the June pitch pick click HERE and let your voting voice be heard!  (Those of you who are alert at this hour of the morning may notice that both HEREs lead to the same there, but I’d hate for you to miss anything good :))

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 47th Pitch And Then Some!

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Hola, my friends! and Happy Fourth of July!!!

Thank you all for your patience while I was on vacation!  I missed you all dreadfully!

There is nothing like a week away from your desk to make you realize just how fast you can get utterly and completely behind, but being swamped upon return was totally worth 7 days of sun and sand, wind and waves, frisbee and family dinners and flashlight tag and feeding ducklings off the dock, Madagascar III on the only rainy afternoon and marshmallows roasted over a very sketchy-looking grill 🙂  Sometimes I’m really not sure there’s anywhere on earth as beautiful as Nantucket…

… but then I get home, and it’s so beautiful here too 🙂

… and I have two little friends who are very glad we’re back 🙂  Woof 🙂

And I am glad to see you all again!

Before we get to our pitch today, I want to remind anyone who hasn’t had a chance yet to please take a minute and check out the self-publishing mini-series.  Suzanne McGovern, Vivian Kirkfield, Patrick Milne, and Rita Borg generously shared a wealth of hard-won wisdom about their experiences self-publishing, and even more generously donated books for giveaways which you can still qualify for by commenting before Thursday July 5 at 11:59 PM EDT!

Now then, grab your Something Chocolate and get ready for Would You Read It! 🙂

Today’s pitch comes to us from Carrie.  She says, I worked in educational software publishing for about 10 years, and wrote content (mostly nonfiction) for children as part of my job. It was wonderful and creative but left me little time or energy for my own writing. Like many parents, my real writing journey began when my son was born and I started reading to him. I started trying to write what I was reading to him, mostly picture books and poetry in magazines like Babybug. I committed myself to practicing as much as I could, took some classes, read some books, and started to submit some of my work to magazines. Four years later, my poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Babybug, Ladybug, and High Five magazines. I feel lucky to have found some fabulous critique groups and supportive communities like the 12×12 group that are helping me grow as a writer in so many ways.  Please pop over and visit her website 🙂

Working Title: Friendly Sam, The Ice Cream Man
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  Sam loves dishing out ice cream to his favorite customers at the park each afternoon. But when a rival ice cream truck shows up on ‘his’ corner, Sam must find a way to out-sing, out-scoop, and out-serve the competition to keep his customers — and himself — happy.

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 Carrie 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.  There are openings in August, so you have time to polish 🙂 for a chance for it to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Carrie is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!
And I am looking forward to Friday, the inaugural day of Summer Short & Sweets!!!  Are we going to have fun or what?!  I am SO tempted to show you the gorgeous SS&S badge that the awesomely talented Loni Edwards has made for us… SO TEMPTED!  But I will restrain myself (and by restrain myself I mean will someone please tie my hands behind my back!)
So tune in Friday – same bat time, same bat channel!!! 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 46th Pitch

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Boy are you guys going to be happy today!

Want to know why?

Because today’s post is SHORT!  You will probably think you’re on the wrong blog, it’s so short!

This is for two reasons:  first, I know the last 2 posts were LOONNGG! and I appreciate you reading all the way through them.  There was no real way to shorten them except to do them in halves, and I felt they flowed better in one piece.  Also, I would have had to post every day to fit them all in that way!  Second, you may have noticed I’ve been a little absent.  That’s because I’m technically on vacation with my family 🙂  So there you have it.  Short post 🙂

Today’s pitch comes to us  from Anna who you may remember from April.  Anna has a background in teaching and strives to entertain and teach children about different cultures in her writing.  (I believe this book has been self-published, but Anna is still hoping to strengthen her pitch for marketing purposes.  Very appropriate that it is the pitch that falls in the middle of our self-publishing series! :))

Here is her pitch:

Working Title:  Hug-A-Bug Travels To Europe
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 3-8)
The Pitch:  Fasten your seat belts and prepare for a high-flying trip with Hug-A-Bug to the famous Giza Pyramids. On his visit, he wows the reader with the exploration of hieroglyphics and Egyptian phrases. During his travels, he meets up with someone who needs a hug. Who will he meet this time? 

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 Anna 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.  There are openings in August, so you have time to polish 🙂 for a chance for it to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Anna is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 43rd Pitch, And The May Pitch Pick!

79 Comments

IT’S WEDNESDAY!!!  Grab a chocolate donut and a cup of coffee and pull up your chair 🙂

Here on Blueberry Hill, things have settled down a bit.  The dogs and I are stepping out avec leashes so as to keep the local baby animal population safe,

and my brother is up and hobbling avec crutches… and trying to figure out if he can still run the NYC marathon in November 🙂  (No pictures of him – they might scare you :))

So now that the status quo has been restored, I have time to wonder about important things like whether I should get another bottle of apple shampoo when this one runs out or switch to strawberry for summer, and what’s the weirdest fortune you’ve ever gotten in a fortune cookie?  I asked that on FB yesterday, because we had fortune cookies last Friday and my daughter’s friend got “When the opportunity comes, pick the first one from the right” which reminded me of the time (about 25 years ago :)) when my sister got one that said, “Better an egg today then a hen tomorrow”… but no one shared any, so now I think I’m the only one who reads and remembers my fortunes.  Feel free to remedy that situation in the comments 🙂

But I digress…

Let’s get down to business, shall we? 🙂  It’s time for the May Pitch Pick.  As always, we had great pitches and it’s going to be a tough choice, especially because there were five Wednesdays in May!

To refresh your memory, here they are:

#1  Darshana

Title: Jay’s Big Day
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)
Pitch: Jay’s super-sniffer dashes his dreams of becoming a Police Bird, but his special talent opens up another heroic opportunity.

#2  Rena

Working Title:  Death Of Sleeping Beauty
Age/Genre:  MG Fantasy
The Pitch:  Alivia Fair stumbles upon a seemingly harmless book that is full of gruesome fairy tales. Now the book is missing and strange things begin to happen. She is cursed by a man with a blue beard and finds herself trapped inside an enchanted castle, in which she comes face-to-face with the legendary, Sleeping Beauty. Too bad Alivia is destined to kill her, but with a little help Alivia might be able to stop the DEATH OF SLEEPING BEAUTY.

#3  Jarm

Working Title:  Waiting For An Idea
Age/Genre:  PB (ages 6-11)
The Pitch:  Jerry is waiting for an idea to come.  He walks his dog, swings in his backyard, and even goes inside for milk and cookies. hoping to coax one into his head.  But, alas, it’s not until he opens Aunt Polly’s gift that an idea… well… an avalanche of ideas, spill forth!

#4  Elizabeth

Working Title: Magnificent
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  When the synchronized swimming Savanna Belles lose their watering hole to drought, the troop of elephant calves decide ballet is the perfect way to make them feel magnificent once again. Facing the challenges of trunk-tickling ants, loss of weightlessness, and the scarcity of tutus, can the girls tame the doubtful roars, hisses and cackles of the their wild friends, proving that they really can be magnificent ballerinas? Follow the tutued journey of these silly mammals as they sashay, leap and plié their way into even the wildest of hearts.

#5 Tina

Working Title:  Dewey Bookworm Takes The Stage
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  What if a bookworm doesn’t like books?  Tree leaves taste better than book leaves.  Dewey Bookworm wants to join the circus.  Will other book-eating creatures change his mind?
So please vote for your favorite!  The poll will be up from now until Thursday June 7 at 11:59 PM EDT.  Then the winner’s pitch will go to editor Erin Molta for critique and comment!
And now that we’ve got that taken care of, it’s time for today’s pitch, which comes to us from the lovely Laura who says, “I’ve finally returned late in life to what I always wanted to do – write and illustrate for children  (unemployment will do that to you). I am a former school principal, and a pastor’s wife, but my favorite occupation when not at the computer or drawing board is being a grandma to my four grandchildren. I’m enjoying all the wonderful encouragement from the professionals like Susanna and the 12×12 writing group, it makes it easy to dream that we can be published one day. Thanks for reading my pitch and for all your input.”  You can visit her blog HERE.
Working Title:  Uncle Larry
Age/Genre:  PB
The Pitch:  A true story about Uncle Larry, a special child/adult who grew up on a farm, trained and loved animals, liked to play and work, got into mischief, and taught us how to love someone a little different by loving everyone himself.
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 Laura 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.  There are openings in August, so you have time to polish 🙂 for a chance for it to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Laura is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!

Would You Read It Wednesday – The 42nd Pitch

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Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Grab your donut (or any member of the donut family that suits your fancy this morning – bagel (donut’s less exciting sister), cruller, danish, croissant, preferably chocolate, actually, I suppose even funnel cake qualifies, with all that lovely powdered sugar on top… wait… what was I saying?)

Oh yes.  I want you to know that it may be a small miracle if this post actually appears.  We are in the path of severe thunderstorms (which I would know even without the weather report and the exceedingly menacing dark sky and high winds because Jemma has glued her shaking little self to my side – poor Baby J!)…

this is Baby J when she’s not being scared by thunder – I wouldn’t
want to show you her distress!

…which means that our internet, always temperamental, has become downright moody and is threatening to quit altogether.

So it will be like a little surprise to see if this post shows up or not.

Talk about living on the edge! 🙂  We laugh in the face of danger up here on Blueberry Hill! 🙂

Anyway, before we get to Would You Read It, I wanted to mention for all you contest junkies out there that Randy is having one over on his blog Author In Training.  So hop on over and check it out!

Also, if you haven’t had a chance to vote for who you think should win the Birthday Contest, you still have until midnight!  You can vote HERE.  And it is quite a heated competition, so your vote could be a deciding factor!

Now then.

Today’s pitch comes to us from the amazing Tina.  Here are a few words about her that I lifted off her blog (since apparently I forgot to ask her what she wanted me to say about her – oops! – :))

Tina M. Cho is a freelance writer for education and children’s stories and a former elementary teacher of eleven years. She wrote 16 books for Lakeshore Learning and 4 guided readers for Compass Media. Her nonfiction book for girls from Legacy Press will be out in 2013, and she’s working on another contracted book for girls with them. She has written stories for a private school’s reading curriculum, books reviews for the Christian Library Journal, educational activities for education.com,and stories for magazines and e-zines. She is the mom of two kids, a fourth grader and a first grader. She and her husband Jackey recently moved from Southern California to South Korea.

Here is her pitch:

(and BTW, Tina lives on the other side of the globe from many of us, and will be going to bed when the rest of us are getting up and reading this, so please be patient for her responses to your comments!)

Working Title:  Dewey Bookworm Takes The Stage
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  What if a bookworm doesn’t like books?  Tree leaves taste better than book leaves.  Dewey Bookworm wants to join the circus.  Will other book-eating creatures change his mind?

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 Tina 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.  There are openings in August, so you have time to polish 🙂 for a chance for it to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Tina is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!
Tune in Friday for Perfect Picture Books – I have such a perfect one for this week! you’re going to love it! – and for the announcement of the Birthday Contest winners!!!  Ooh, the excitement!  How will you ever wait for Friday?
Have another donut 🙂