GUTGAA Meet and Greet Sign-Ups and Questions

T-minus 3 days and counting until the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest begins!!! How excited are you? I know I am! 

If you writers are ready to get this party started with a little 'get to know you' action, then you've come to the right place! 

Meet and Greet Rules:

-Sign up on the linky list below if you are going to participate in this bloghop.

-Copy the questions below and paste them in your Monday's Meet and Greet post along with a mini bio about yourself. If you don't like these questions, make up your own.

-You will have from Monday, Sept 3rd- Friday, Sept 7th to visit other's blogs and get to know them. Have fun and visit as many as you can!

Questions for the Meet and Greet

-Where do you write?

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

-Favorite time to write?

-Drink of choice while writing?

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

-What's your most valuable writing tip?

That's it! I can't wait to see your answers! And as always, if you have questions, please post them in the comments section.

Wait. Before you do....

Other tidbits to remember for week 1 of GUTGAA:

If you're interested in hooking up with beta readers or critique partners, come to my blog Wednesday for further instructions.

Don't forget, Friday is the call for Pitch Polish Entries and I will be announcing the first random prize winners!

If you want to get in on any part of the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest/Pitch Contests you must sign up on the master list first. Sign ups will continue until the last event begins. Go HERE to sign up on the master list.

The complete GUTGAA schedule is HERE.

Badges are HERE.

Wanna yap about it on Twitter? #GUTGAA talk is HERE

I have a new side bar to the right ---->>>> and up, with links and a recently added GUTGAA FAQ's 

And one more thing...

I had to tell you guys that I'm being interviewed by the lovelies at Falling for Fiction. I'd love for you to check it out. If you want to, that is:) The link is HERE

Now that really is it. 

Questions? If not have a great holiday weekend and I'll see you back here Monday!!!

GUTGAA Pitch Contest Agents...REVEALED

I know you want it. So I'm not going to waste your precious time.

I present to you the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Pitch Contest...

AGENTS!!!!!

Sarah LaPolla

Agency: Curtis Brown LTD

Reps: YA and Adult

What would she like to see?

Twitter

Blog

Jennifer Azantian

Agency: Dijkstra Literary Agency

Reps: YA

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Website

Molly Jaffa

Agency: Folio Literary Management

Reps: YA and MG

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Linda Glaz

Agency: Hartline Literary Agency

Reps: Adult

What she would like to see?

Blog

Hannah Bowman

Agency: Liza Dawson Associates Literary Agency

Reps: Adult and YA

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Blog

Sara D'Emic

Agency: Talcott Notch Literary Services, LLC

Reps: Adult

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Tricia Lawrence

Agency: Erin Murphy Literary Agency

Reps: Picture Books, Chapter Books, MG and YA

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Website

Brittany Booker

Agency: Corvisiero Literary Agency

Reps: Adult, New Adult and YA

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Blog

Molly Ker Hawn

Agency: The Bent Agency

Reps: YA and MG

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Sarah Younger

Agency: Nancy Yost Literary Agency

Reps: Adult and YA

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Weronika Janczuk

Agency: Lynn C. Franklin Associates, LTD

Reps: Adult and YA

What she would like to see?

Twitter

Jordy Albert

Agency: Corvisiero Literary Agency
Reps: Adult, YA and MG
What would she like to see?

Twitter

That's quite the line up don't you think?! I'm thrilled to have them all on board. In the next couple of weeks we're going to be getting to know some of these agents better through interview questions they've been gracious enough to answer. And speaking of interview questions, today only you can catch one of the judges, Brittany Booker (see above) over at Cassie Mae's blog answering your writer questions. You can't miss that! 

What we have coming up for GUTGAA:

-Come back Friday to sign up for the Meet and Greet portion of the blogfest and to pick up your 'get to know me' questions

-Next week it's official, GUTGAA will begin!

-We still have Small Presses to reveal (I was going to do it today with the agents, but I feel like they all deserve their own day) so stay tuned for that next week!

And as always...

If you want to get in on the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest/Pitch Contests go HERE to sign up.

The schedule is HERE.

Badges are HERE.

Wanna yap about it on Twitter? #GUTGAA talk is HERE

1st Round Judges for Agent Contest...REVEALED

This week is going to be so much fun! The reason? I get to reveal the 1st round judges for the agent pitch contest today! And Wednesday, I will be posting the agents participating!!! 

If you want to get in on the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest/Pitch Contests go HERE to sign up.

The schedule is HERE.

Badges are HERE.

Before I go introduce these amazing people to the blogosphere, I want to bring up two possible issues that may arise with this judging and how I am going to go about handling them.

1) Many of the 1st round judges are YA writers. Yes, this is the case. I know for those of you who do not write YA this may cause some trepidation, and for that I am sorry. Being just a minuscule writer in this industry myself, I have to utilize the tools and helpers that I come in contact with. Because I'm a YA writer, many of the agented authors I know write YA too. No worries, though. I do have a plan of action to combat the worry that may arise from this. My plan is to separate the pitches into groups based on the writer's target audience. For example, those with adult manuscripts will be grouped together, as will YA, MG and so on. I will do this, as well as grouping the genres together as best I can. Now, you must understand, with only five host blogs, this won't be a perfect science. So I repeat, I will do the best I can:)

2) Many of the judges may know some of those entering. To take car of this being a problem I am a.) making the entries anonymous and b.) going to try and separate the judge from any entries they recognize. 

I am very aware this may not work out perfectly and that no matter the planning I do, problems will arise. Because that may be the case, I ask that we can all go about this contest with the general understanding that myself and the judges have only the best intentions for the writers entering the contest and we want to make it as fair as possible. Please, if you have questions on this matter, put them in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

Now, without further ado, I present to you....

ROUND ONE JUDGES FOR THE AGENT PITCH CONTEST

(Listed in no particular order - They are all full of awesomeness)

As a reminder, these are the 20 judges who will be grouped into fours and spread throughout five different blogs who will each host forty pitches (query plus first 150 words of their manuscript). The goal is to pick their top ten to move on to the final round with the agents.

Angelina Hansen

Angelina C. Hansen eats and writes young adult and middle grade books everyday. In order not to gain all that weight (books weigh a lot, ya know) she likes to takes hikes in the woods where she conjures up all sorts of trouble for her characters. You can find  out what she's up to on Twitter: @AngelinaC.Hansen Website: http://www.yascribe.com/

Taryn Albright

Taryn Albright does almost every job in publishing (writer, freelance editor, lit agency intern, author assistant) for free. But such is the life of a teenager. When she's not reading or writing, she swims collegiately and checks the campus post office for care packages. Twitter: @TarynAlbright Website: http://www.tarynalbright.com/ 

Cindy Thomas

Cindy Thomas lives in NH with her husband and two sons. She adores all things blue, is a total bookish fan girl and has way too many pets. She'll read almost anything, but writes YA and is represented by Marcy Posner of Folio Literary Management.  Twitter: @CindyisWriting Blog: http://cindythomasbooks.blogspot.com/

Ryan Graudin

When she’s not writing and drifting around the globe, Ryan Graudin enjoys hunting through thrift stores and taking pictures of her native Charleston, SC. Her novel LUMINANCE HOUR, the story of a Faery who falls in love with the prince she’s forced to guard, is due out with HarperTeen in 2013. You can learn about all of these things and more at http://ryangraudin.blogspot.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @ryangraudin

Kelley Lynn

Kelley Lynn's dog, allows Kelley and her sister to live with her in a suburb of Milwaukee, WI. An engineer by day, and writer whenever she can find the time, Kelley Lynn is releasing a YA Fantasy in March 2013 from Sapphire Star Publishing and is represented by Brittany Booker of The Corvisiero Agency. Twitter: @KelleyLynn1 Blog: http://getbetweenthebookends.blogspot.com/

Lori M Lee

Lori is a YA writer represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary. Twitter: LoriMLee Website: http://www.lorimlee.com/

Elizabeth Briggs

Elizabeth Briggs writes YA sci-fi, lives for Comic Con, and volunteers with dog rescues. She's represented by Kate Testerman of KT Literary and interns for Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency. Twitter:@lizwrites Blog: http://elizabethbriggs.blogspot.com/

Melodie Wright

Melodie Wright lives in Palmer, Alaska, with her family. She's a teacher and a writer repped by Tricia Lawrence of EMLA for her YA fiction, and a soon-to-be-named agent for her adult fiction. Twitter: @rewrighter01 Blog: http://foreverrewrighting.blogspot.com/

Bethany Crandell

Bethany Crandell lives in San Diego with her husband, two daughters and a chocolate Labrador who has no consideration for personal space. She loves chunky guacamole and generous hugs. Her debut, SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS will be released by Running Press in spring 2014. Twitter: @rookieriter Website: http://www.bethanycrandell.com/

Cassie Mae

Cassie Mae is a total peanut butter cheesecake addict from Utah, who likes to sing along to High School Musical and quote Harry Potter with her best buds. She writes humorous YA Contemporary Romance, and is repped by Brittany Booker of the Corvisierso Agency. Twitter: @CassieCook2 Blog: http://readingwritingandlovinit.blogspot.com/

Angie Sandro

Angie Sandro was born at Whiteman Airforce Base, Missouri. Within six weeks, she began the first of eleven relocations throughout the United States, Spain, and Guam before the age of eighteen. For her thirteenth birthday, she visited Japan, Korea, Philippines and Okinawa which developed her love for learning about other cultures.

Traveling the world inspired her imagination and allowed her to create her own imaginary friends. For Angie, writing is as necessary as breathing. She is represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. http://anjeasandro.blogspot.com/ https://twitter.com/AngieSandro http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angie-Sandro/253044268078356

Beth Hull

Beth Hull lives in northern California with her husband, two kids, and cat. Three of her favorite words (in alphabetical order) areblackbird, haruspex, and lackadaisical, and she overuses parentheses. She writes YA and is represented by Brandi Bowles of Foundry Literary + Media. Twitter: @tbethhull Website: http://bethhull.com/

Lisa Chickos

Lisa Ann Chickos is a zookeeper and environmental educator by background, and she has been kicked, cornered, bitten and chased by nearly every animal she loves. She surfs (poorly), snowboards (moderately) and utilizes commas (proficiently). She also digs young adult fiction, and she is represented by Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates. Twitter: @LisaAnnChickos Blog: http://lisachickos.blogspot.com

Ilima Todd

Ilima Todd is a homeschooling mom of four by day, writer by night (usually late late night) rep'd by Jennifer Skutelsky of Veritas Literary. She writes YA sci-fi and fantasy with lots of kissing while listening to the M83 station on Pandora. Sometimes she thinks her husband is a sleeper-cylon but doesn't think avocados are the greatest invention ever. She knows it. Twitter: @ilimaktodd Blog: http://ilimawrites.blogspot.com/

Jenny Morris

Jenny Morris lives in the Pacific NW with her husband and two young padawans. She writes Young Adult Fiction and is repped by Brittany Booker with Corvisierio Literary Agency. Twitter:@jennysmorris Blog: http://jennysimaginaryworld.blogspot.com/

Julie Murphy

Julie lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cat who tolerates her. When Julie's not writing or trying to catch stray cats, she works at an academic library. Side Effects May Vary (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray 2014) is Julie's debut novel. Twitter: @andimjulie Website: http://www.juliemurphywrites.com/

Krista Van Dolzer

Wife of one, mother of three, writer of several unpublished things. Fan of BYU football and sideways smiley faces. Represented by Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary. Twitter: @KristaVanDolzer Blog: http://www.motherwrite.blogspot.com/

Alex Villasante

Alex Villasante didn't always know she wanted to be a writer. She's got an MFA in Fine Art to prove it. The fact that she was a storyteller eluded her until she moved to the wilds of Pennsylvania and began painting with words. She writes YA Fantasy and Paranormal Mystery and anything else that gets the muse going. Alex makes her home with her husband, two children and a pair of cranky rabbits. She's represented by Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and blogs almost faithfully at magpiewrites.blogspot.com Twitter: @magpiewrites

 Angela Cook

Angela is a young adult writer, represented by Eric Myers of The Spieler Agency.  She lives just outside of Detroit with her husband and two children. Twitter: @AngelaVCook Blog:http://www.angelavcook.blogspot.com/

Kathryn Purdie

Kathryn Purdie grew up spouting Shakespeare on the stage and playing folk songs on her guitar, but it wasn’t until she had three children that she discovered her passion for creative writing. Now she channels her artistic energy into the pages of her young adult fantasy novels, where she gets to act out all the parts and write swoonworthy love songs for her characters. Kathryn is represented by Weronika Janczuk of Lynn C. Franklin Associates. Twitter: @KathrynPurdie Blog: http://www.purdiewriting.blogspot.com/

***

Pretty amazing right! I feel privileged to be working with every last on of them! And I can promise you, they feel the same to be able to pay it forward to those entering this contest. 

During the 1st round of judging, the above judges judge will go incognito with some very interesting names they've picked out for themselves. So be prepared, folks, to be entertained when the time comes.

So I ask you: ARE YOU EXCITED YET?

Me too!

See you back here Wed. for the agent reveal!

GUTGAA Schedule!!!

AHHHH! It's almost here!! Anyone else ready to get this party started??? I'll tell you, I may not be trying to land an agent, but I am super stoked to meet new writers. But I know you're not here to listen to my blathering. You want to know the GUTGAA Schedule, right? Right.

But wait...
A couple things to remember:
1) You don't have to participate in all of the events in GUTGAA, but if you want to take part in any of it you must signup on the linky list HERE.
2) Grab your badge HERE.
3) Please spread the word via Twitter (#GUTGAA hashtag), Facebook and Blogs.

Okay, now your wait is over....

GUTGAA SCHEDULE

Friday, August 31st:
Meet and Greet Questionnaire - I will be posting a list of fun "get to know you" questions on my blog for you to grab and use for our Week 1: Meet and Greet Blog Hop.

WEEK 1 (Monday, Sept 3rd - Friday, Sept 7th)

OFFICIAL START OF GUTGAA!!
Monday:
GUTGAA Meet and Greet - We're starting off with a little get to know you action. On your blog, post a mini bio about yourself along with answers to the questions I posted on my blog (see above if your confused). Don't like those questions all that much? That's fine. Make up your own. Either way, we just want to get to know you!

Wednesday: 
BETA/Critique Group Connect - Anyone interested in making some serious writer connections can come to my blog and post in the comments section what they're looking for and I will try my best to make a writer connection for you.

Friday:
Call for Pitch Polish Entries - Are you looking for some pitch help? The Pitch Polish may be what you're looking for. I will start taking pitches Friday, at 11AM  and you will have until Saturday, Sept 8th at 11:59 PM EST to get your pitch sent to deanabarnhart(at)gmail(dot)com. I will take the first 100 entries I get (if I get that many). To enter the pitch polish you will need to paste in the body of an email, your query and first 150 words and send to deanabarnhart(at)gmail(dot)com. Go HERE for details about what I mean by query and first 150 words as well as the format for entries.

Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)


WEEK 2 (Monday, Sept 10th - Friday, Sept 14th)

PITCH POLISH!
Monday:
Pitches Posted for Pitch Polish - I will be posting all 100 pitches on my blog for critique. They will be posted anonymously and I will expect ALL comments to be constructive. It is possible for you not to like something and still be helpful. But I'm sure you lovelies know that:)
NOTE: If your pitch didn't make it into the anonymous Pitch Polish, I welcome you to post your pitch on your blog for helpful feedback. I will be posting a linky list for this so those that want can visit as many blog pitches as possible.

Friday: 
Agent Pitch Contest Call for Entries - There will be two windows for entries--one at 11AM EST and the other at 4PM EST and I will accept a max of 100 entries in each window for a total of 200 entries.  If the windows don't fill up, I will take entries until 11:59PM that same day. To enter the agent judged pitch contest you will need to paste in the body of an email the query and first 150 words of your completed manuscript and send to gutgaa(at)gmail(dot)com. Go HERE for details about what I mean by query and first 150 words as well as the format for entries.

Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)

WEEK 3 (Monday, Sept 17th - Friday, Sept 21st)

AGENT PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 1!
Monday:
Get Your Foot in the Door - For those that made it into the Agent Pitch Contest (assuming there are 200 entries), your pitches will be divided into groups of 40 and posted on 5 different host sites: My Blog, Robin Weeks, Falling for Fiction, Emily R King and Jaye Robin Brown. I will do my best to separate the entries into genres. Once the posts go up, each group will be visited by 4 anonymous judges who will each pick their top 10. Those entries with the most votes will go on to Round 2 - The Agent Round. If there is a tie, judges from the other host blogs will come in and pick their favorite until one comes out on top. There will be 50 finalists!

Monday - Thursday:
Judge Trolling - The anonymous judges can comment on any entries that they would like, but if they want you in they will say something along the lines of, "I vote for you to move on."

Friday:
Finalists Announced - I think this is pretty self explanatory:)

Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)

WEEK 4 (Monday, Sept 24th - Friday, Sept 28th)

AGENT PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 2!
Monday:
The Agent Round - I will post the 50 finalist pitches on my blog for the 11 agents to read through.

Monday - Friday:
Agent Trolling - As agents read through the pitches they can comment on any that they want. If they really like your entry they can request a partial or full through the comments as well.

Friday:
Small Press Pitch Contest Call for Entries - There will be two windows for entries--at 11AM EST & 4PM EST. I will accept a max of 50 entries each time. To enter the small press pitch contest you will need to paste in the body of an email the query and first 150 words of your completed manuscript and send it to gutgaa(at)gmail(dot)com. Go HERE for details about what I mean by query and first 150 words as well as the format for entries. I will post the format directions on this day as well.

Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)

WEEK 5 (Monday, Oct 1st - Friday, Oct 5th)  

SMALL PRESS PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 1!
Monday:
Get Your Foot in the Door - For those that made it into the Small Press Pitch Contest, (assuming there are 100 entries) your pitches will be divided into groups of 20 and posted on 5 different host sites. I will do my best to separate the entries into genres. Once the posts go up each group will be visited by 3 anonymous judges who will each pick their top 5. Those entries with the most votes will go on to Round 2 - The Editor Round. If there is a tie, judges from the other host blogs will come in and pick their favorites until one comes out on top. There will be 25 finalists!

Monday - Thursday:
Judge Trolling - The anonymous judges can comment on any entries that they would like, but if they want you in they will say something along the lines of, "I vote for you to move on."

Friday:
Finalists Announced - I think this is pretty self explanatory:)

Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)

WEEK 6 (Monday, Oct 8th - Friday, Oct 12th)

SMALL PRESS PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 2!
Monday:
The Editor Round - I will post the 25 finalists pitches on my blog for the 7 small presses to read through.

Monday - Friday:
Editor Trolling - As editors read through the pitches they can comment on any that they want. If they really like your entry they can request a partial or full through the comments as well.

Friday:
Winners Announced For Agent and Small Press Pitch Contest - Again, I'm thinking this is pretty self explanatory:)

Final Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)

And that's it folks! Any questions? Please leave them for me below.

Got a Question for an Agent or Small Press???

The Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest is shaping up to be pretty fantastic if I do say so myself (and not because of me, but because I have the best helpers in the universe!!).

At the end of the week I will be posting the GUTGAA schedule. Then next week I will be revealing the eleven awesome agents and seven spectacular small presses who will be participating in the pitch contests. I can't wait!

Until then I need your questions!
Is there a burning question you've been eager to ask an agent or small press? If so, leave it in the comments section and I will try to get you an answer for you in the interview portion of GUTGAA.

Still haven't signed up? 
There's still time. Head HERE and put your info in the linky and grab a badge to get in on the action. And you don't have to, but I'd love it if you'd spread the word through blogs, facebook and twitter (we will be using the hashtag #GUTGAA).

So get those manuscripts ready, polish those pitches and send in your questions because the time is almost here!!!

I Swear I haven't Abandoned Ship!!!

I've just been in the moving hole and I couldn't get out! It was a lot harder this go round than I expected. I think it was because I had to move, then get the kids registered for school, then my computer crashed AND I'm trying to plan this awesome Blogfest/Pitch contest. CRAZY TIMES!

It's all going to work out though and I'm feeling pretty good about a number of things.

1)Almost all my boxes are unpacked!

2)My buddies Ilima Todd and Cassie Mae got agents! And Kelley Lynn signed a publishing contract then, a week later she and Jenny Morris landed an agent with their collaboration piece!!!

3)Writeoncon is going on and the slew of info coming out of it is ALL good!

4) The Alabama radio stations are pretty killer.

5)I found out I have a year warranty on my computer so hopefully the Geek Squad can help a girl out...for free when they fix my computer. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I don't lose anything on it. Yep, like a dip stick I didn't back anything up. Eek!

How about you? How is your week going?

If you wanna get in on the GUTGAA Blogfest/Pitch Contests go HERE to sign up. 

On the Road Aagin

It's kind of laughable that I'm actually doing another moving post...but I am. The great state of Alabama is calling my family so I suppose we must leave on yet another adventure.

Since my house is about to get all kinds of chaotic and we'll basically be living out of boxes and hotels for awhile, I'll be taking a blog break until Monday, August 14th.

When I come back be ready is all I've got to say. We'll be on a two week countdown for the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest/Pitch Contests.

So get those pitches polished and sign up by clicking on the above button. So far we've got 9 agents and 6 small publishers participating in two different contests. It should be a blast!

It would be really great if you wanted to spread the word too:)

Until then!