Giveaway: Win an ARC of It's a Mystery, Pig Face! and candy!!!!

As of today, it's less than two months until IT'S A MYSTERY, PIG FACE! enters the world.

In honour of that blessed event, I've decided to share an ARC with a lucky Middle Grade Minded Blog reader.


But then I thought about it. Why it hardly seemed enough. And since this is a giving time of year in many cultures, it seemed I ought to sweeten the pot.

Get it? Sweeten the Pot?

In IT'S A MYSTERY, PIG FACE! Tracy Munro defends the honour of her town's local candy factory, Ganong Bros. Limited, which she believes has the best chocolate and pink peppermints in the world. In fact, Tracy and Ralph and Lester (AKA Pig Face) believe that chomping on pink peppermints is a mystery-solving  requirement:

Meanwhile, Ralph reached up, grabbed a thermal bag we'd left hanging on a nearby branch, and plunked down. He unzipped the top, pulled out a package of Ganong Pink Peppermints--also made at the local chocolate factory and our meeting candy of choice--and popped on into his mouth before passing the bag to me.

Ganong Bros. Limited is a real candy factory in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. I grew up in St. Stephen and that's where the book is set. I happen to agree with Tracy that they make the best chocolate in the world!

(And by the way, they ship to Canada and the U.S, and overseas by request, so you can always order some yourself if you don't win!)

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Lucky for you, Ganong Bros. Limited has provided me with some candy to give to you!

The lucky winner will receive a signed copy of the It's a Mystery Pig Face! ARC, a stack of Pig Face bookmarks, an It's a Mystery, Pig Face! book plate, a box of Ganong Delecto Chocolates, a bag of candy chicken bones (if you haven't had these before, you're about to fall in love with them! I recommend you pop over here to see how chicken bones are made) and a bag of Ganong pink peppermints!

The contest opens on Monday December 12th and closes at midnight on December 16th, at which point, I will rush to send them in the mail to you!

What do you need to do to win?

Leave a comment below.

You can say hey or ask me a questions about the book,  or tell me why you'd love to read the book.  If you're a teacher, tell me; if you're the winner, there might be a few more sweet treats for you and your class to munch on while you read the book!


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And hey, you can also pre-order the book now. Visit here to get all the details!

GOOD LUCK!!!! 

The Importance of a Strong Concept

We are in the midst of Pitch Wars season.

And I must make a confession: I'd never heard of Pitch Wars, or any other online pitching, before I got my first book deal and became more active on social media.

And I'm also not going to lie: since I heard about Pitch Wars, I've been equal parts terrified and enthralled by the idea.

Why you might ask?

Simple: Being able to pitch your idea means you have such a clear concept that you are actually able to deliver it in less than 140 characters (well, perhaps over two or three tweets).

And I salute you.


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Because as a writer, refining my idea into something clear, fresh, AND engaging is one of my biggest challenges.

And being able to pitch an idea that jumps out of a tweet and gets people excited?

Golden.

Oh, I get lots of ideas.

But often they are only flashes of something, and I seem unable to build on them in such a way that it makes my agent sit up and shout "Write THAT!"

Or sometimes I'll get a great idea only to realize my idea has been done a thousand times before and by better writers than me.



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I attended a break-out session with a literary agent at the Winter SCWBI conference this past February. The agent spoke at length about the benefit of having a high concept when it comes to pitching your work to an agent, an editor, the public.

What's high concept?

An idea that no only you can explain easily, but which immediately creates buzz in whoever hears it. It's as if when they hear your concept they think "Wow! What a fantastically original twist on an idea!"



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Think of Romeo and Juliet. Had Will Shakespeare said "Hey-I've got this fantastic idea about a boy and girl who fall in love in Italy" his agent would have said "Um, no thanks Will. Seen it a thousand times before."

But no, Will's got something better:

"Hey-I've got this fantastic idea - the children of sworn enemies fall in love, secretly marry, and thanks to a series of violent and tragic events, must separate, only to be later reunited and die in each other's arms thanks to a terrible mix-up."

His agent's response? "Nice play, Shakespeare!" And the rest is history!


Obviously, not every idea can be high concept nor should it be. The book I have coming out in February, It's a Mystery, Pig Face! was definitely NOT high concept.

Sure there's a mystery surrounding a bag of money discovered in a baseball dugout, but mostly, it's about how the impact of trying to solve the mystery affects the relationships between a sister, her best friend, and her annoying little brother.

But let's be honest. If you have a killer idea AND your idea is high concept, it is going to WAY easier to get people to want to read your book and represent you.

So how can you take your idea and make it high concept?

• Push your idea farther. Ask yourself the same kinds of questions Shakespeare must have asked himself when writing his plays "What if..."
• Ask yourself - is this unique? Has it ever been done like I want to do it before?

How will you know if your idea is high concept?

• When you describe your idea to other people do they get REALLY excited and already start imagining what your book will be like? (this happened to be with the recent book I sold and believe me, it is a fabulous feeling!)
• You can easily imagine the movie
• You can imagine lots of different kinds of kids wanting to read the book and you can imagine parents, teachers and librarians recommending it.

One of the best pieces about concept that I've read online is by literary agent Jill Corcoran, who has killer instincts.  Read her piece here - it will forever change your perspective!

The one thing I know for sure: developing a strong concept can come to you like a bolt out of the blue, but usually, it takes time and a lot of finessing to take your idea and make it something compelling so that an agent will want to sign you, a publisher will want to publish you and best of all, a kid will want to read your book.

But it-is-oh-so-worth-it!

And for all of you participating in this year's Pitch Wars: GOOD LUCK!

So Your Book is on Submission.....

You've finished your book.

You and your agent (or perhaps you directly if you don't have an agent) have whipped it into magnificent shape.

You can almost hear the angels sing in gladness because you are about to send out THE BEST BOOK THAT HAS EVER BEEN WRITTEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE!

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Hey, it might be, and who are you to judge? Your beta readers like it, as do your critique partners and your mom.

Best of all, your agent likes it enough to submit it.

He or she makes a list of which editors/houses you submit to. You look at the list and swoon.

A pitch letter is drafted. Calls are made, and then whoosh! Your manuscript is in other hands now.


It's all going to be great.




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You thought all those endless queries to get an agent was hard, right?

But hey - you've got an agent. How hard is this going to be?

And then you wait. And wait. And wait.

No one ever told you that the submission process works at the speed of snail.




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Wasn't it Tom Petty who once sang "The waiting is the hardest part?"

Amen, Tom, Amen.

I mean, it makes sense right? How many agents/authors are submitting their work to an editor at any one time? And sure, those editors might have assistants who do the first read-through, but they're only human. How many books could YOU read in a single week? (probably more than me - on a good week I can do two)



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They not only have to read your book, they have to get other people to read your book, too.

Even if they love it, they need to determine if it fits the House's philosophy. Is it marketable? Are there too many books similar to yours out in the marketplace already? Do  they want to spend the next two years working on YOUR book?

And then they need to get their boss to love it and invest money in YOU.

That's a lot of questions.  And often, the answer to some of those questions is No.

Which sucks, big time.

Depending upon what you and your editor have decided in advance, those rejections will trickle in one at a time or they will be sent bundled together once every one or two weeks.

I was several months in submission for It's a Mystery, Pig Face!  And each rejection felt like "We don't love you, Wendy" even though that is a completely irrational thought, since they didn't even know me. (irrational thoughts are the gift that the submission process keeps giving)

You lose hope. You despair when you read about authors getting six figure deals. You despair when you read about other offers getting ANY deals.

You worry your agent will drop you in disgust ("What! I was sure Wendy was going to be the next J.K. Rowling!")

If you have a lovely and kind agent like mine, you will get little notes telling you to have heart, don't give up, and the like.

Regardless,  you will lose heart, wonder if they are still looking for someone for the graveyard shift at the local McDonalds, and want to write your agent a letter that says "Dear Agent, I am a fraud. I don't know what I was thinking, trying to get published. Please disregard.")

You question if there was some little thing you might have done to the book that might have resulted in everyone CLAMORING for your book!




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The answer is probably not, and it's likely not a question worth asking anyway because if you find that thing, it's not typical that you can resubmit your work anyway, unless and editor has specifically asked you to do so.

I know how fortunate I am that my agent found my first book a publisher in the first round of submissions.

It takes many authors several books on submission before they find their first publisher.



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But you mustn't lose heart.

I have come to the conclusion that the only thing that truly separates the published from the unpublished is luck and perhaps tenacity.

Oh sure, there's the whole issue of talent, but I've known many talented authors who just never caught a break or who decided they didn't have it in them to keep trying.

It feels like it's not worth it, like it's never going to happen. But if you keep writing, working on your craft, and submitting, it will happen.

And it so worth it.

I remember the day my agent called to tell me It's a Mystery, Pig Face! sold.

I cried.

First from joy, but then from the realization that the submission process was finally over.

But here's the thing. You may have to go through the process several times in your career. I am currently on submission for my second middle grade novel.

I thought I would find it easier this time.



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You know: I had a book coming out soon, people would see that someone else had taken a chance on me, would be desperate to do the same. Well yes and no.

Just like in the querying process, some will love your work, some will not. Some will say you have a great voice, but not a strong plot.

Others will say your plot is amazing, but your characters are weak.

Some will be 'meh" about the concept you love so much and have spent months (or years!) refining.



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At those times, I remind myself again and again, that this is personal, but not.

It's the personal taste of the reader, not personal to me. I remind myself of the books I've read and loved. I remember the books I've read and am just "meh" about.

Such is life.

In some ways this time is easier, because I knew what to expect. In some ways it was harder, because I adore the book that we're subbing.

How book #2's process ends will be determined soon enough.

What I know for sure is that you will always, always, hate the process, unless you are the most well-adjusted person ever. If you are that person, you should share your secrets with us right away!

And should they want your book or mine?



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Anybody out there have good suggestions for surviving the submission process? I'd love to hear them!

For the rest of us: Good Luck!

Preparing to Write Your First Draft

I'm about to begin the first draft of my sixth book.  Before you think that's an accomplishment, I should advise you that:

a) the first book I wrote, It's a Mystery, Pig Face! took YEARS from draft one to publication (oh wait, it's not published YET...)
b) the second book I wrote, three years ago, is only being revisited now, thanks to my abject fear that it probably sucks
c) the third book I wrote is a sequel to the first book. No one was actually looking for this book and it is clear now that it will NEVER be the sequel to the first book. It's only chance of seeing light of day is if I suddenly become rich and famous and my fans clamor to see it. Yuh-huh...
d) the fourth book lies abandoned on the side of the road in the dark world that is my computer
e) the fifth book is currently out on submission, which makes my stomach hurt.

I can say, unequivocally, that I only started getting the hang of preparing to write with the fifth book.

Prior to that, I got an idea and started writing. Those were happier days, but ultimately, less satisfying, because I always ended up trapped in the middle of the book looking for a way out.

And the revisions? Brutal. Total rewrites and clean-ups.

The process I'm using for this YA novel is similar to what I used for the fifth book:

1) I have an inspiration

2) I have no idea what to do with that inspiration

Me, having no idea...
This is how little vanity I have left...

3) I research. I read things to help me refine the idea - in the book I am about to start, one of the characters has a brain injury. I am reading about brain injuries, watching documentaries and will soon do some interviews, all to make sure what I put on paper is as true as it can be. I take copious notes.

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4) I stare out the window a lot and go for long walks. If it's Spring or Summer, I might garden. This is both to assist my imagination and to procrastinate

5) I may or may not surf the net endlessly (see #4 above)



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6) I write and rewrite a one page synopsis, so I know where I'm going (which will bear almost no resemblance to the final product, I'm sure)

7) I write a three or four page summary (see #6 above)

8) I do some more pre-plotting and character analysis. One of the tools I have found very useful is Kristen Kieffer's She's Novel website (which is full of great supports for writers) Pre-Write Project Tool. It was worth the money ($7) to buy, because I can use it multiple times and it makes me think about my plot and characters. You can get yours here.

9) I read really good books. I love reading award winners before I start draft one - the excellent writing inspires me and reminds me of what I am aiming for.

What I'm reading right now. Brilliant!

10) I outline. I do a spreadsheet that breaks down every chapter and every scene, flags who is in the scene and the point of them being in the scene, how it relates to the theme, tracks my date and time and how it relates to the overall story arc. Then I draw myself a picture and track it using a plot planner.

The plot planner is something I picked up from a course I did with Martha Alderson, whose book The Plot Whisperer was very helpful in getting my seeing my story from the hero's journey perspective.

If you want to see some examples, visit my Pinterest board here.

As well, Jami Gold has some awesome worksheets on her website that are helpful at this point.

11) Finally, I get so itchy to write, I begin. And the first draft is always sloppy, but hey, that's what revisions are for, right?



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It may seem like a lot of work, but I find that with preparation, my writing process is SO much easier!

How about you? What's your first draft process? I'd love to hear about it!

Until next time: Keep writing!

Careful: Inspiration is sneaking up on you!

Fellow Middle Grade Minded Blogger Jamie Krakover recently wrote a wonderful post on inspiration and how asking "What if?" can be an amazing catalyst for our imagination.

That got me to thinking - How do I get inspired? Where are my ideas coming from?

For me, the process seems to take three routes: the esoteric, the stumble-upon-it, and the story I need to tell.

The Esoteric

These are the ideas that are completely random. In my mind's eye they are swirling all around and seem to light on me like a butterfly.

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In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert argues that ideas are a "disembodied, energetic life-form", forever searching for someone to bring them to fruition (in whatever creative field you are engaged in, from knitting to writing to painting to gardening to whatever).

While this may sound crackers to you, there have been many occasions when an idea has simply "appeared", often almost fully-formed, begging for me to write it. Sometimes the result is good, sometimes not-so-good. In all cases, the not-so-good stories were because my heart wasn't quite in it. I still need to learn when to abandon an idea that doesn't quite do it.

Still the book I just finished (and am too superstitious to discuss yet!) arrived one afternoon without fanfare, but with great persistence. It followed me on my walks, it niggled at me in the shower, it directed me to a certain book, which when I opened it, led me to my character. And then it had the good grace to help me write it, including providing me with the elusive voice on page one. Sure, it needed revising and editing and all that good stuff, but I can only describe it as a gift. And truthfully, I felt more like the scribe, getting it all down, something I had never really experienced before.

The Stumble-Upon-It

I love the stumble-upon-it inspirations. These are the ideas that are gracious enough to present themselves in such a way that they are completely intriguing.

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One amazing source of ideas is old newspapers (and I'm talking really old here). Last year I was looking for the obituary of my great-uncle, who died tragically in the early part of the twentieth century, when a story about a presumed murder caught my eye. (The murder was presumed because there was not yet a body). Suddenly I found myself going to the next day's paper on the microfiche, then the next. Each day's content was more fantastical than the last. The old adage that you wouldn't believe something could happen if you read it in a book was true in this case.

It also happened that the reporter could spin a yarn. In fact, it's my experience that old newspaper reporters wrote their stories in the most florid and excitable tone, a tone just begging to be fictionalized. While I have yet to write the book, it continues to percolate in the back of my head.

Another idea I am currently exploring presented itself to me via Twitter. There are a few random historical and news sites I follow on twitter and when one of them popped up with a plaque from an historical site in England awhile back, I knew it was the name of one of my next novels. Since then, I've been researching and putting together an outline. This made me feel very cocky about my use of Twitter and has obliterated the guilt I sometimes associate with it, since it can be my way of avoiding real work...

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The Story I Need to Tell

It's a Mystery, Pig Face! definitely falls into this category.

I'd always wanted to write a fun adventure story in the vein of Enid Blyton, Arthur Ransome, Harriet the Spy and that ilk.

I also always wanted to write about the neighbourhood I grew up in. Like kids everywhere, we were always hoping to stumble upon a mystery. If we couldn't find one, we were more than happy to make one up. This didn't always end well. Thus Tracy and Ralph and Pig Face's adventures were born.

Two years ago I wrote the first draft of another MG novel during NaNoWriMo about a boy coping with a family loss and a discovered grave. I haven't returned to that book yet, and I suspect when I do it will be almost completely overhauled, but I needed to write it at the time because it was a family story that had been worming its way into my imagination for many years.

So that's my take on inspiration and ideas. If I could sum it up in two words it would be: PAY ATTENTION! Inspiration is always sneaking up on you. You don't want to miss it.



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Now I'd love to hear your take on ideas and inspiration - do share!