Contest Winner AND An Interview with My Agent: Jennie Goloboy

Winning Song of the Day: "Jenny From the Block" by Jennifer Lopez

First off, thanks to all of you who entered the contest and who took the time to follow us on Tumblr and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We hope more of you will take part in our social media take-over later. In the mean time, we have some winners to announce!

So, that's grammatically incorrect, because we have more than one, but you get the idea!!!

1. Leslie Wright!!!!

2. Melanie Conklin!!!!

3. Rachel Searles!!!!

Contact us at cuzwewrite@gmail.com and rank the prizes from one to three. Here are the prizes once more: Jennie's query critique, Dawn Frederick's query critique, or the ten dollar gift card. We will reward you all in the order that receive the e-mails.

In the mean time, why not learn a little more about my agent, Jennie Goloboy of Red Sofa Literary?

You are a newer agent, when did you start and what made you want to become a literary agent? (How many clients would you consider your "max" and where are you on that list right now?)

People who've known me for a long time say I'm a natural matchmaker, and that is what drew me to being an agent-- the idea that this writer and that editor should know each other, and I can help by introducing
them! Currently, I am growing my client list, but I do know I plan to keep the list small so each of my authors gets special attention.

What kind of projects do you usually look for/gravitate toward?
Right now my practice centers on YA and MG novels and science fiction and fantasy for adults. Beyond that, first of all, I have to love your protagonist and care what happens to him or her. I love funny books (Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, and Fay Weldon are current favorites). I love fantasy with a realistic feel-- either because it's set in the real world, or because the world and its characters are fully imagined and credible. Romance is always a plus, as long as the romance doesn't solve all the protagonist's problems (especially in YA). And as a historian, I appreciate historical settings!

I also love it when my authors already have an audience ready and eager to read their books when they are published-- for example, by starting a popular blog and running exciting contests...

(Tee hee, Oh Jennie :D) 

When do you usually stop reading a query or sample pages?
I stop reading queries if I can tell that the book is not something I'd represent (like a thriller or a memoir). I skim queries if I think I've seen the idea before, in case the author has promising credentials or an unusual twist on the idea. Currently I'm seeing a lot of novels about girls who have prophetic dreams and girls who
either are or are dating the grim reaper.

If I like the query, I generally let it sit for a while, and if it still looks good at a second glance, I will request the first three chapters. (I don't ask for a synopsis-- I like to be surprised.) I always read all three chapters. If I like them, I will ask for the full manuscript, which I will also read in full.

In general, if I've asked for it, I'll read it.

How do you network with editors and other industry professionals with your office being located in Minnesota?

I have the benefit of Dawn's years of experience in the industry and great track record. Beyond that, I love conferences! I'll be speaking at three this year, one at the Loft Literary Center in late April (https://www.loft.org/classes-at-the-loft-literary-center/writing-conferences), one at the DFW Writer's Conference (www.dfwwritersconference.org), and one at the Florida Writers Association
(http://www.floridawriters.net/Home_Page.html). I also plan to be at Worldcon again this year, as well as a couple of history conferences.

You are a writer as well. How do you balance your time between writing your own material and helping your clients get published?

Coffee. I also try to keep a daily schedule: Monday is for sorting through the mail, Tuesday and Thursday are for client needs, Wednesday and Friday for my own writing. Of course, if there's an urgent issue
from one of my clients, I get to it right away!

As a writer, what advice would you give to others still working to get published?
This shouldn't be a lonely business! Once you've written that book, you'll need beta readers. You'll need people to show you the next steps, and you'll need people to help you commiserate and celebrate.
Go out and find some writer buddies!

Do you have any recommendations for writers on how to build their platform?
It's not enough to write a great book, you also have to know the kind of book you're writing, so it can find its proper audience. At Red Sofa, we're big fans of Christina Katz's Get Known Before the Book Deal, which has some great exercises to help you define yourself as a writer, and to publicize your work using social media.

What is your favorite book/author right now? What is your favorite book/author of all time?
Wow, that's a hard question! The best book I read recently-- the most creative, immersive, moving and satisfying-- was Lauren Beukes's Zoo City. Probably the book I think about most frequently is actually a
history book: Richard Bushman's The Refinement of America. But when I want to reread a book, it's usually one of Terry Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork books, of which Thud! is my very favorite.

Random Questions!

Me and Pam are scared-y cats. We're scared of clowns, mermaids, centaurs, and people on stilts... What freaks you out the most?

Mayonnaise. And yet, oddly enough, I love chicken salad, and I'm willing to make some to get it.

If it's your last day on earth, what would you eat (all we think about is food)?

I'd head down to the North End in Boston and get pizza and an arancine from Galleria Umberto, followed by Italian rum cake from Modern Pastry (all I think about is food, too!).

"The Voice" or "American Idol"?
I've run out of time for most TV, but I always watch Mad Men, to see how Don's messed up his life this week.

What would you do for a klondike bar?
For a Klondike bar? Not much. For a Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake bar? I'm embarrassed to say...

Thanks so much, Jennie!

And again, thanks to all of you who entered the contest (and even those of you who were THINKING about entering). If you want to query Jennie, find out more about her here:

Jennie's Facebook
Jennie's Twitter
Jennie on Querytracker.net

We're Back...and in FULL EFFECT!

Social Networking Song of the Day: "LOL :)" by Trey Songz

You read that title right. We're here and ready to stomp all over social media.  Not only are we back and ready to take the interwebz by storm, but we also are ready to hold another contest! I mean, we did cross 300 followers a while back.

We're no contest virgins, but this time we wanted to offer a prize that's a little different--we are going to give out, TWO, count them, TWO query critiques! Wanna know more??? Watch the following video:

Yep, you heard us right (that is if you could understand my words through all of my mumbling). My agent, Jennie Goloboy, and the owner of Red Sofa Literary Agency, Dawn Frederick, are BOTH willing to critique two query letters. Pretty awesome, right?

And if that's not enough, we are going to throw one more prize in there--just for kicks. This isn't mentioned in the video, but for those of you who are already agented, how would you like a TEN DOLLAR gift card to Barnes & Noble. We just keep making your life better, huh? All you have to do is fill out the form below and show us a lil' love on our social media takeover scheme. Not hard. At all. Oh, and make sure you enter before Sunday March 18th, 8 PM EST!

'Kay? Thanks, bye!

Like Barack Obama Said...It's Time for Change

Blogging Song of the Day: "Change (In the House of Flies)" by Deftones

Yes, we realize we've been MIA lately--Pam's been a little under the weather (by under the weather, I mean her face has been literally GREEN) and I have been playing nurse and trying to keep up with the thousands of other things to do.

With that being said, we realized some things. While cutting out TV, and trying to set aside at least an hour a day to revise, we noticed that we had to squeeze in time to blog, too. And, well, revising and writing are just a smidgen more important than blogging at the moment. SO, we've come to the conclusion that we are going to blog only when we have something to say. No more schedule for us. And when we come back, we're gonna freshen things up a bit with some vlogs every now and then. We know, you can't wait to see our lovely mugs!





Alright then, friends. We'll be around when we want you to know what is on our mind..and of course you can still find us on Twitter and YOUR blogs.

Love your bloggy cousins,

Pam and Quita

** This blog post in no shape or form condones POTUS Barack Obama...we just thought that was a pretty snazzy title :D**

Free Friday: Shall I Compare Thee...

Reading Song of the Day: "Nothing Compares To You" by Sinead O'Conner

It's hard out there for a writer. No, I'm not just channeling the infamous rap lyrics from Terrence Howard's critically acclaimed movie, Hustle and Flow. I'm talking about competitive book titles. Like Pam discussed last Wednesday, there are always books out there that seem similar to your idea...and when you're trying to sell your book you need to know what your competition is.

And that's where I'm at with my book, In Limbo, right now. My awesome agent, Jennie Goloboy, and I are trying to come up with books to compare to my 1918 interracial love story/adventure novel. Who knew that the search would be so hard? So far, I've come up with the following books as comparable titles:






Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever, 1793 (for the epidemic element)












Karen Hesse's A Time of Angels (it's also about the Spanish Influenza in 1918)

Anna Godberson's Bright Young Things (because it's about two teenagers who leave home in search of something more)


But the major thing that these books are missing is a black female protagonist. Hmmm, isn't this a problem that we've been hearing/talking about for a while now in the YA field? I have Pam to thank (my Alpha reader) for giving me this unique edge to my novel b/c, as I've said before, SJ was once white. Since I made that change, it has made it very hard to find a comparable book that is very close to the premise of In Limbo--which is a good thing, but when you're trying to fill in the competition section of your Book Proposal, it's a little frustrating.

With that being said, do you guys think you can help me out? Know of any YA historicals that have a black female protag who falls for a white boy??

RTW: Words With Friends

Writing Song of the Day: "More Than Words" by Frankie J

Wednesday: I used to HATE spelling this word in elementary school. I would never get it right. But now, I'm cool with it. Mainly because it means it's Road Trip Wednesday day with the ladies of YA Highway. And guess what we're talking about this week: WORDS!

The Highway-ers wanna know:

What words do you absolutely hate? Which ones do you adore?

As writers,  of course there are several words we adore! As of late these have been our favorites:

Now on to the hate, here are a couple of words that we cannot stand to say/hear:

What about you? What words do you absolutely love and hate?

Changing My Revision to a Re-Vision

Revising Song of the Day: "When Can I See You Again" by Babyface

So last June, Quita and I had the pleasure of attending a novel revision retreat with none other than editor extraordinaire, Cheryl Klein--which we blogged about here. You see, I was there to primarily focus on Wants, but Project J wouldn't stop nagging me. Psst, it kept saying to me, remember how much awesome potential I had?

Remember I did--so now I'm taking a stab at another round of revisions to make it the humorous, yet heartfelt, novel that I know it can be. Not that these revisions are easy (but are ANY revisions?). Sure, I love revisiting the story and characters, but I'm putting WAY too much pressure on myself to make it awesome and shiny and perfect...so much so that I've cried out in despair to both Quita and my lovely agent just like this:

Okay, maybe I wasn't that dramatic, but I was pretty close. So, when we're this overwhelmed with revisions, what can we do to take the proverbial chill pill and just get 'em done? Well, I take to heart something the awesome Cheryl Klein said at the aforementioned retreat:

Try not to think of it as a revision, but a re-vision.

I may not remember the exact wording, but the message still resonates with me. Now I'm asking myself: How else do I see this story? What else can I do to help it reach its full potential?

1. Reread the story (duh). But this time while I was reading, I made notes of the scenes I HAD to keep, and the ones that I could probably do without. The same can be done for characters.

2. Write scenes out of order. I have been a tried and true plotter, starting from Point A to Point B. But for this revision, I'm starting to think of scenes that I would have liked to include in the previous drafts. You know how most DVDs have deleted scenes? And you know how sometimes you're like: why didn't they keep that scene? It kicks ass! Well, that's what I'm doing for Project J--and hopefully these outtakes will find a home in the actual manuscript.

3. Just let the protagonist lead the way. A few weeks ago, I posted about taking personality tests for your characters. After doing so, I "found" Jonah again, and just started letting him speak to me. Sure, that may sound crazy to some, but I'm amongst my brethren here. Hopefully, you all understand what I mean. What he tells me to write may hit the cutting room floor, but get it down on paper first, weed it out later. That's how a re-vision should be.

So, despite the initial panic, I think I'm slowly but surely finding my groove with this revision. I've come to terms that while the overall story may stay the same, the way I get there may be different. And I'm okay with that.

So, do you all have any revision tips you'd be willing to share?

Free Friday: The Movie We WISH We Created

Viewing Song of the Day: "Movies" by Alien Ant Farm

Another Free Friday post, you guys! That means two things: 1.) The weekend is among us, and 2.) At midnight we can FINALLY get The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 on DVD...

But before I begin my swoon fest over Mr. Pattinson, we want to share with you the movie that has been on our mind ever since we saw it last weekend--that movie would be Chronicle.

Our review? Here it is in a just a few, simple words:

GET OFF YOUR A** AND GO SEE IT!

This movie is amazing. Full of all of the wonderful things that makes a movie work: good story, great characters that the viewer can relate to, a villain that you love and understand, an unlikely hero, visual goodies, action, and heart. I mean, what more can you ask for?

Chronicle had us excited and envious at the same time. Days after watching it we can't stop repeating: Man, we wish we wrote this story!!!

So, for those of you who have not seen this masterpiece, check out a clip below.

Oh, and this weekend we may be seeing The Vow. Why? Two words: Channing. Tatum. 'Nuff said :)

What are your plans this weekend? Hope you have seeing Chronicle high on that list!