On the Heels of Pitch Wars

I recently took part in Pitch Wars. It was a contest for aspiring writers to get some help shining up their manuscripts and then pitch to a panel of awesome agents. They had 592 writers apply for the contest. And while I didn't get matched up with a mentor, I feel like I still walked away a winner.

• I received some awesome feedback.
• I will be getting a critique of my query and first five pages.
• I connected with a lot of talented writers.
• The mentors started CPseek.com. A community for writers to find others to bounce ideas off of and find new critique partners or beta readers.

• And one mentor offered to scout through the entries for two independent publishers.

All of this really gave me the boost I needed, as I had been stuck in a rut for a while. Query. Reject. Query. Reject. Query. Reject. Revise query. Reject. Query. Reject. Query. Reject. Query. Reject. Revise query. Reject. Query. Reject. Query. Reject. Well...you get the picture.

I updated my sad lonely blog, wrote this post, and added the 2,876,369 edition of my query. That may be an exaggeration, but I'm not sure. And, as we head into the holidays I have some hope, some work, and a lot of thinking to do. What's my next step?

photo credit: Nic's events via photopin cc

Beautiful

We had a fun and exciting weekend at the Girls World Expo of Binghamton. My daughter, Lia Scott, was invited to perform. Here she is singing "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera -- a perfect song for a room full of hundreds of young girls.

This is all still pretty new to Lia and she continues to struggle with shyness, but she's getting there, and I am so proud of her.

Here she is surrounded by fans

Like Lia Scott on facebook and her first single "Blind" on iTunes and Amazon

Long time no see

Hey there! It’s been awhile. I hope you all had a wonderful summer --can’t believe it’s almost over. I wanted to share some exciting news. No. I haven’t found an agent yet. However, I have recently started querying again, after a major revision. And you know how it is…that means a new query and synopsis. But, I digress...

My youngest daughter has been playing guitar and singing since the age of 12. She would perform for friends and family, small local gigs, and open mics.

Then, in November of 2011, at the age of 14, she had the opportunity to visit a recording studio with a friend. She loved watching the recording process, and begged to get an appointment to meet with the producer. They recorded a couple of covers as a test. “THAT. WAS. AWESOME!” she said, with a huge smile and a tear in her eye.

I'm getting to the point soon. I promise.

So, we discussed writing and recording an original song for her --which was such a cool process to be a part of. She loved EVERY minute of it... and her producer was eager to work on another.

Check out her artist bio.

And now for the news…
Drumroll please...

She's been picked up by Playground Records, a small, up and coming label. It’s been such an exciting time for her...and me. I’ve been with her every step of the way. I am so proud.

Her first single "Blind" is available on iTunes and Amazon, and she is hard at work on her first album. Go to one of the links to listen to the preview. Maybe you'll even like it enough to buy it!