Monday Misdemeanor and Other Such Rot

First of all, I want to thank everyone who read and commented on the interview with Harry Bingham.  He’s a great guy in addition to being a top notch writer so thanks!

Secondly,  the Query Spoof Contest ends Thursday night- May 27th!  Everyone who wants to win a one hour over-the-phone publishing consultation with an author-editor at The Writer’s Workshop (yes -they do read your work and talk to you about where you should be going with it) should get cracking! Also up for grabs is a critique of your first 30 pages by the members of the 3Critics Club, and third prize is a bottle of champagne or chocolates sent from yours truly.

I don’t know if ya’ll have noticed a change in my side bar but Creepy finally succumbed to the pressure and joined 

I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing and the 140 character limit is a constant slap in the face since I'm an over-writer by nature.

Finally, I want to shout out a huge CONGRATS to Elana Johnson who received news last week of a book deal!  Wherever you are Elana (and seriously I wouldn’t be surprised to hear you’re out running naked in the streets, walking on water, or hand gliding after news like that) – You are an inspiration to us all!

Now without further ado:  Monday’s Misdemeanor

Breaking Curfew

I wasn’t one of those girls who would sneak out of her window at night to go meet up with a group of delinquent kids.  Oh no.  I was the kind of girl that would sneak out of OTHER people’s windows to meet up.  Translation:  The only time I ever ‘snuck out’ was while sleeping over at my friends’ houses.  For some reason it felt safer- at least if we got caught it wouldn’t be MY parents doing the catching.  Not that there won’t be karmic retributions somewhere down the road…

In any case, it got me thinking.  ‘Breaking Curfew’ has been used as a YA plot device ever since Romeo threw stones at Juliette’s window.  I mean, how much trouble would Harry, Ron and Hermione have gotten into if they had just stopped roaming the castle or sneaking out to see Hagrid after hours?

I realized that I use ‘Breaking Curfew’ in both of my novels but the question is why?  And I suppose the answer is the same reason kids do it in real life- it adds excitement and tension to the scene.   In addition to the after-hours adventure, there’s always that chance of discovery looming over their heads.  Whether you’ve ever broke curfew or not, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement.

What do you think about ‘Breaking Curfew’ scenes in books and have you ever used one?


Paying it Forward:  thanks Dawn for including me in this.  My Pay it Forward picks are:


Tessa's Blurb
Suzanne Casamento
Kelly Dexter
T.J. Carson

Query Spoof Contest!!!

I can’t believe it, but the day has finally arrived !  During yesterday’s  internal conflict blogfest- I reached 100 members and then some!  You guys are awesome and words can't describe how happy I am to have wandered into such a generous community of people.

So, as is customary in the blogging world- I’m holding a contest.

And can I just say that I’m REALLY excited about the grand prize?

1^st Prize winner will receive an over-the-phone publishing consultation from one of the accomplished authors/editors at The Writer’s Workshop! (Thank you SO much Harry Bingham)

2^nd Prize winner will receive a 30 page critique from the members of the ‘3Critics Club’ (my critiquing group) on The Word Cloud

3^rd Prize winner will receive a choice of champagne or gourmet chocolates shipped directly from yours truly (in France:)

What do you have to do to win these awesome prizes?  Listen well grasshoppers. 

First -you have to write a short Query Spoof. 

Writing a query letter is probably the most daunting and difficult part of the road to publishing experience.  It’s HARD to find the words that will grab an agent’s attention and shine light on the best possible aspects of your book.

Well, with this contest, you won’t have to. 

I want you to write a query letter pitching an already famous book or movie in the WORST ways possible.  It’s gotta be funny and the original book or movie you’re trying to promote should shine through.  To see an example of what I’m talking about click here.

Secondly- You’ve got to blog about the contest or include the link in your sidebar.  Please be sure to include a link to where you’ve done this when you submit your entries.

 Submit your entries to – creepyquerygirl[at]gmail[dot]com

The contest will remain open from May 13^th -  May 27^th.  Entries will then be judged by the members of the 3Critics Club.  Once we’ve got five top running entries, I will post them up on my site for three days and let YOU ALL be the final judges as to who should win!

Thanks so much to all my followers and I can't wait to see what this community of wacky writers comes up with!