The Writer's Voice Contest Entry ~

Hello lovely Blogger friends!! I've been randomly selected to participate in the Writer's Voice Contest! Soooo excited!! A huge shout out and THANK YOU to Cupid, Brenda Drake, Monica B.W., and Krista Van Dolzer for hosting! If you're interested to see how the contest works, click here.

The contest instructions ask that I share my query and first 250 words of my YA Contemporary Fantasy THE GLASS PRINCE, here on my blog. So, here it is ~ I hope you enjoy it!

Query:

Dear Writer's Voice Coaches of Awesomeness:

Clara Knight wants nothing more than to perfect her baking skills, enjoy her seventeenth birthday party with friends, and go to Prom with her super-popular boyfriend. But then Rion rolls into town, complete with golden-boy good looks and a sexy British accent. When he kisses her in front of her party guests, all social-hell breaks loose.


Clara flees to upstate New York, accepting her estranged Grandma’s invitation to spend the summer with her. Grandma did promise to unveil some secret family tradition, after all. What Clara actually learns is that she shares a curse with Rion, and that he is an immortal fairy-tale prince her family is bound to help. Too bad he seems more interested in kissing Clara than breaking curses.

When a family heirloom and moonlight whoosh her away to the prince’s hometown of Elysia, five-hundred years in the past, Clara finds a cryptic riddle – her first clue to breaking the curse. As she digs deeper into her family’s past, she realizes that Dad’s death, always thought to be an accident, might have actually been murder. And when she starts to suspect that Grandma is working against her, she realizes that working with the boy she loves to hate is her only chance for survival.

THE GLASS PRINCE is complete at 72,500 words and I’m happy to send sample pages, if you’d like to read them. I have a BA in English, am a member of SCBWI, the League of Utah Writer’s and the Pied Pipers online critique group. I also try to attend at least one writing conference every year. And, of course, I’m always reading. I truly appreciate your time and consideration. .

First 250:

Someone rang my doorbell as if he’d accidentally super-glued his finger to the button. My neck muscles tightened with every annoying ding. A small window of time existed between taking hot cinnamon buns out of the oven and cooling them off just enough for the perfect glazing. If this idiot made me miss my window, heads were gonna roll.


I whipped the door open with dramatic flair and glared. I found a random delivery guy standing there. My eyes softened as I took in his golden waves of hair. He wore sunglasses. A curious tiara-sporting apple emblem stood out on his shirt pocket and his entire outfit, really, was head-to-toe crap, but somehow he managed to pull it off. At least, my heart thought so. Its beat quickened as I noticed all that muscle definition rippling the fabric of his uniform. And his tan? Heck. Who needed Tylenol for a stiff neck? Bring me a cute boy and “Cured!” Did ‘cute’ even do this guy justice, though? The tension in my face melted like ice cream on an oven-warm brownie.

“Can,” I paused to clear my throat. “Sorry. Can I help you?”

The boy chuckled and smiled. Or did he smirk?

“I’m here to wish you a happy seventeenth birthday, Clara,” he said, in a cool accent that made my whole body tingle. He held a large silvery envelope, so shiny I could almost see my reflection in it. “And to give you this.”

My hand crept up to my hair.        


And that's it!  Thanks to all who stop by and best of luck to all of the Writer's Voice contest participants!! :)

Maybe I've got Laryngitis? My "Show Me the Voice" entry...

Happy Monday, all!!!  So sorry - I'm WAY off my regular schedule today.  But, I've got a reason.  Sort of. 

I'm participating in Brenda Drake's "Show Me the Voice" contest today!

I'm supposed to post the first 250 words of my MS for critiques today.  I've tweaked the first few paragraphs of my MS 1,365,479 times (or so, you know...)  Even a few more times this morning!  Still not sure if I like/love it.  It's more likely that I dislike/loathe it.  Depends on my mood ~ :)

Anyhow - if anyone is out there and feels like dishing some brutal honesty today - I'd appreciate comments on the following:


My birthday morning started the same as always. For a girl who was so not a morning-person three-hundred and sixty four other days of the year, I woke up alert and smiling, my energy meter tipping into the red. I woke Mom up with a sound she best described as a helium-sucking squirrel. She threw on a robe and scampered down to the kitchen to cook my favorite breakfast meal; Belgium waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, burnt bacon and mint cocoa.



“Gonna let me help this year?” I offered.


“Nope. Shove off, birthday girl.”


So I spent thirty minutes in the living room waiting, daydreaming of birthday presents and tonight’s party. It was a silly ritual for a newly seventeen-year-old. I should be cooking my own darn breakfast and daydreaming of boys, one in particular. Shane. Although, handling a hot griddle while daydreaming of one luscious boyfriend was clearly an accident waiting to happen. Focus, Clara! I decided it might be best to shake off all thoughts and wrapped myself in the blue-speckled afghan that hung over the back of my favorite leather armchair. I closed my eyes and sucked in the smell of bacon. My toes dug into the plush, mulberry-colored carpet and I let my body lax and my mind wander.


When it hit, I opened my eyes to make sure no one was actually slapping my face. No one hovered near me. I still heard my mom tinkering in the kitchen. But flashes started to pop in front of my face, as if some phantom hand shoved picture after picture a half inch from my nose.
 
 
So, there you have it!  (if you hear some virtual gagging, ignore please...)  I believe there's still time to get in on the contest, which offers a critique from agent Natalie Fischer as a prize.  Click the button on my side bar.  Again, all comments welcome.  And here's hoping that all your first paragraphs actually LOVE you!

Find the Story Friday...What a B**CH!!

Happy Friday, all!  :)

First, a little business ~  I'll only be blogging on M-W-F the rest of March.  So sorry.  This is just my attempt to save up some bloggy strength for the A-Z challenge in April.  (trust me, I'll need it.  And if you don't know which A-Z challenge I'm referring to?  Check my side-bar!)  Another bit of business - I happily accept two more awards from two fabulous bloggers!

Tanya Reimer of Life's Like That awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award.  She blogs about Life. Period.  and is a LOT of fun.  Please go check her out.

And Samantha Sotto-Yambao of The Slight Detour awarded me this adorable little thing:

This is my first time receiving this one - yay!!  Samantha's got a book coming out in August titled "Before Ever After"!  And it sounds AMAZING!  Please go check out her blog and learn all about this wonderful story she'll soon release!  And I will pass these awards on next week ~ promise!

Also - have you checked out my side-bar lately?  Some cool stuff over there ~ including an opportunity to WIN a critique from agent Natalie Fischer, compliments of Brenda Drake.  Hop on over NOW!

Ok - now for my pic of the week!!  Did I fool anyone?  Are you expecting a picture of some spray-tan, platinum blond, Barbie-doll figured, tiger-stripe skinny-jeans wearing, lady with Kruger nails giving you the stink eye?  Sorry.  (for my tricky title AND for the long string of hyphenated descrips...)  What I've actually got for you is this:

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Who's the girl?  And why is she alone on a b**ch?  I mean, beach?  Hmmm....idk.  You tell me.

Thanks for stopping by today!!  I can't wait to see what story this picture stirs in you.  Make sure you share it in the comments!  (pretty please?)  And as always, Happy Writing!