GUTGAA'S PITCH POLISH

Hi everyone!

Since my entry didn't make into the pitch polish over at GUTGAA, I thought I'd post it over here and see if I could get your thoughts on my query and first 150 words! Thanks so much and a thousand virtual cookies to everyone!  

Query:

During her coming of age ceremony, sixteen-years-old Daela finds out she's cursed—she has no magic in her. While her friends touched Hel's ancient scroll and received their Gift, Daela's Sigil remained stubbornly blank. Still, she never expected her father to disown her, or her brother to refuse to help her. And in a world that begrudges her the air she breathes, they might as well have signed her death sentence.

When her brother is taken by an enemy long forgotten, she's the only witness—but no one believes her. After all, everyone knows the Daci are imprisoned in a desert realm, and Daela's the cursed girl from the slums no one would touch with a stick. The only one who doesn't dismiss her as a raving maniac is Ash, her brother's favorite smuggler, sometimes friend, and the jerk who'd stolen her first kiss. Ash is reluctant to wade blindly into danger, but living on the street had long since destroyed any qualms Daela had about blackmail.

Now Daela must infiltrate the Daci's world, save her brother's traitorous behind, and find a way to warn her people that the Daci are coming. But when the truth about her stolen Gift comes to light, Daela isn't even sure who the bad guys are anymore.

THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR is a YA fantasy complete at 70,000 words. [Credentials here]

Thank you for your time.


First 150:

"Your roomie looks like she's two minutes away from stabbing that guy."

I fumbled with the glass I was drying. "What?"

"Or puking on him." Kemal cocked his head. "Maybe both."

I followed his gaze to Naji, her tray held precariously on one hand while she tried to fend off the hand pawing at her thigh. Her expression was hard to see through the smoke from the burning mischi, but the brittle line of her shoulders didn't bode well.

"Shit."

"Don't do anything stupid," he said. "She can take care of herself."

While Naji's touch of the Charm Gift wasn't strong enough to force anyone to do her bidding—not even the annoying dog that kept barking under our window at all hours of the day— she normally would have no trouble getting rid of unwanted attention.

"No, she can't," I said. "Not this time."

Meet and Greet for GUTGAA

Hi everyone!

This is my post for the Meet and Greet portion of the Gearing Up to Get An Agent Blogfest. It's basically a way to get to know fellow participants, and I thought it sounded like fun! So here are my answers to the questions Deana posted:



Where do you write? Mainly at my desk, but sometimes I like to write on my bed when I'm working with pen and paper. 

Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see? My printed out mss divided in three piles for my upcoming revision. I like to work in chunks as that makes it easy for me to not get overwhelmed.

Favorite time to write? The afternoon. I'm not a morning person (really, really not), and by the end of the day I'm usually too tired to do more than stare longingly at my bed.

Drink of choice while writing? I try not to bring anything liquid near my laptop because I'm sort of a klutz when  I'm writing. After one near disaster with a cup of coffee, I learned my lesson. I eat chocolate instead. Or peanuts. Or both.

When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence? Music is a definite must. Usually something I've already listened to so much the lyrics kind of fade in the background. Or instrumental music from movie scores. I love those too.

What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it? I like to describe my latest manuscript as Veronica Mars meets Doctor Who. I've always wanted to write a time-travel story, even if I don't quite remember how I first got the idea.

What's your most valuable writing tip? Read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. No, seriously, that stuff is gold. 

And that's it! I can't wait to read what everyone else came up with!

Brenda Drake's "Can we guess your character's age" Contest Entry

Hello everyone! I am participating in Brenda Drake's contest where we are supposed to post our first 250 words and people try to guess the character's age and see if the voice matches the age. Thank you everyone for any and all comments, and without further ado, here's my entry:

The two initiates gawked at me as one would at a gutted animal dying in a corner — with equal parts revulsion and pity. Both girls wore their hair pulled back, exposing the swirling gold tattoos at their temples that flaunted their standing as Nobles of Hel’s Court. The blonde one met my eyes and sneered – delicately, of course, nothing more than a curl of her lip.  

I arched an eyebrow, daring her to give breath to the word lurking behind her teeth.

Come on, say it. Say it to my face, you little brat.

Bastard. The word everyone thought but never said. The word I’d been reading in everyone’s eyes since I was five, that shone through despite their graceful manners and false smiles.

The blonde, proving she did have some sense, dropped her gaze and turned to her companion. And yet I could still hear the unspoken words like a whisper scuttling through the dark corners of the Sanctuary’s antechamber.

The Stark bastard.

The wooden door tucked in the corner, invisible if one didn’t know where to look, opened. The attendant who’d been ushering initiates since early morning stalked out. He glanced at the scroll containing the list of all those who’d scheduled their Pledges for today. His icy gaze raked over us from under his thick glasses. 

“Liese kerrah Mayre?”

The blonde sprang to her feet, grace forgotten in the wake of excitement. Of course she was a Mayre. I thought I recognized that particular shade of blonde and patronizing disdain.

Please, guess away, and good luck to all contestants!

A - Z Book Challenge

 

And another book challenge for 2012! This one sounds cool, and is hosted by MamaMunky at Babies, Books & Signs. Here are the rules:

• This challenge will run from January 1st, 2012 until December 31st, 2012.
• You can join anytime
• If you are blogger, leave the link to your actual post about this challenge
• If you are not a blogger, leave a link to where you will be keeping track of this challenge.So there are two different ways you can set up your own A-Z challenge.

A - Make a list now of 26 books, picking one for each letter of the alphabet. For example: A - Atonement B- Black Beauty C - The Count of Monte Cristo D - Dances with Dragons etc.

OR

B - The lazy way (how I do it) : Make a list on your blog from A-Z. Throughout the year, as you go along, add the books you are reading to the list. Hope that by the end of the year you have read one book for each letter. Towards the end of the year, you can check and see which letters you are missing and find books to fit.

Each month, I will add another challenge to this main challenge. It might to read a book with both A and Z in the title or to read a book with 3 words that all start with the same letter. I might host a few random giveaways too for good measure. If you've got some idea for the mini-challenges, send them my way!

Since it is really hard to find titles beginning with X, the letter X just needs to be in the title somewhere.

So to join along....
1. Write a blog post about this challenge and whether you are going go with A or B.
2. Add the button to your blog.
3. Attach yourself to the linky.
4. Follow my blog so that you can see when I post the monthly challenge!

  

Here's my list for the challenge, I'll be adding to it as I progress (yes, I'm doing it the lazy way, does that surprise anyone? ^^)

1. Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund
2. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
3. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
4. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
5. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich
6. Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton
7. Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
8. Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
9. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
10. J
11. K
12. Lothaire by Kresley Cole
13. M
14. Need by Carrie Jones
15. O
16. Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
17. Q
18. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
19. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
20. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
21. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
22. Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell
23. Wither by Lauren Destefano
24. X
25. Y
26. Z

2012 YA Mythology Challenge

Hi everyone! Time to sign up for a few book challenges for the brand new year! Hope I don't go overboard like last year and sign up for every challenge under the sun ^^ Anyway, this challenge is to read 10 YA or MG novels that incorporate any type of Mythology in the story line. Sounds like fun!

 
Here are the rules:

• The challenge will run from January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012.

• You can join anytime by filling out the form below

• Books must be read in 2012

• If you are a blogger, you must write a sign-up post that links back to this challenge page (Please use the image above in the post).

• If you are not a blogger, just leave a link to your account on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, LibrayThing, etc.

Not sure what to read? Check out the YA Mythology Challenge Goodreads List

And here's my list for the challenge:

1. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

2. Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

3. Wildefire by Karsten Knight

4. Need by Carrie Jones

5. Fury by Elizabeth Miles

6. Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

7. Destined by Jessie Harrell

8. Dreamless by Josephine Angelini

9. Abondon by Meg Cabot

10. The Goddess Hunt by Aimee Carter

Gay Characters Giveaway Winners

I'm sorry I'm so late in posting the winners, I meant to do it this weekend but my internet decided to crash on me! Anyway, without further ado, the winner of a copy of Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey is...

Sophia Chang   

Please contact me at riouch(dot)sara(at)gmail(dot)com with your shipping information so I can send you the book! Congratulations!  

Teaser Tuesday: Dark Predator by Christine Feehan

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, here are the rules:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser for this week is from Dark Predator by Christine Feehan:  

Stay with me, mića emni kuηenak minan—my beautiful lunatic. I promise you, I will be a better man, a better lifemate to you. You gave yourself to me once. Do it again. I have learned what cherish means. And I cherish you.

If you decide to follow this wonderful meme, feel free to share your own Teaser Tuesday in the comments!