#Pitmad

Is taking place on the 11th of March!!

Gear up your 140 character pitch here and help out others as we all do that find-an-agent thing we do.

Good luck everyone!

Woah!

It has been a mad amount of time since I did anything with this blog. Like, I know it's been a while but checking the dates on posts really puts things in perspective. Considering the great little circle of bloggers I interacted with this makes me a kinda sad (where are you guys now?) but I went off blogging around the time hubby and I started to look to the future and now we have a beautiful son who is just the most amazing thing I've done with my life.

SO

The blog is back!

Where am I at?

I have finally finished rewriting and spit-shining Jenna's story to a level that I am 100% ready to go with it. I've sent out a grand total of ten queries in the past (some of which got partial requests) but then I chickened out. Best friend doubt kicked in and I crawled back into my preverbal hole. Now I've made the decision it's time to let go, shove her out the door, and see if I can't find an agent who loves her story as much as I do. (Wish me luck!)

Then I have Corvette's story which I'm probably 90% there with. I'm pretty happy with where she's at but I know I'll turn into ol' Tommy Tinkler and play with the pretty words again and again under someone tears her out of my hands.

Then I have Addy, Ebony and Emerella all with stories waiting to be told. And between looking after my little prince, I finally have time to write them.

At this point I have no idea what this blog is going to turn into. It will still have quite a lot to do with writing, probably some movies, maybe some baby stuff - who knows? I'm currently reviewing books over at Aussie Owned and Read who are doing a cra-zay giveaway right now.

Anyway, I'll work out something semi regular and get back to it.

Watch this space.

The Writer's Voice

Query:

Dear Writer's Voice Coaches,

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Rose is a Majesty, one of the gifted with seriously cool powers. What isn’t seriously cool is the fact she inherited those powers from her dad. And they sent him crazy.

In an attempt to escape his psychotic rage, Jenna and her family move to Delford Valley, a place that teaches and protects people like her. In exchange for her education, all The Valley asks for is one thing: that Jenna trains to serve in the impending war. The ruling family expects unwavering loyalty, and will do anything, and sacrifice anyone, to make sure it stays that way.

The more Jenna trains with her gift though, the stranger things become; someone ransacks her room but the evidence of their search disappears, there are gaps in her memories, and her dreams are so real she nearly drowns in one of them. Then the doll’s head shows up, a marker her dad has found them again. Jenna only has two choices. Stay and train with the risk of going crazy, or face her dad and risk death.

ILLUSION OF A MAJESTY is a Young Adult fantasy, complete at 75,000 words with series potential. It will appeal to readers of Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles series, and Kiera Cass's Selection series. I am a blogger with Aussie Owned and Read.

250 words:

The box, placed so deliberately on our welcome mat, made my skin prickle the second I opened the front door.

My crazy dad had found us again. We’d made it almost a year this time. But that little box always brought trouble and it meant in a few hours, before morning, we’d be gone. Moved on to the next place, the next school, like we’d never been here at all. 

Damn it, I really liked Botany.

I stepped out onto the dark porch and reached down to pick it up. It was exactly the same shape, weight, and color as every other one before it. Inside would be exactly the same, too. A doll’s body – minus the head. He’d already sent us that.

And I’d hidden it.

I threw a quick glance down the hall to where Mom was watching TV.  If I hid this, too, she’d never know. We could stay in this laid-back beach town. I’d never have to leave my friends or the cheap, old, station wagon she’d bought me to learn to drive in.

Despite that thought, there was a name in this box. Either me, my mom, or my sister Vivien, were about to have some serious bad luck. I had to find out whose name my dad had sent us. Usually the head would be enough to figure out if it was me, because while we all had brown hair, ours eyes were different. Theirs were brown, mine were blue. 

The most recent head had its eyes poked out.

Easter Nest Pitch Hunt is now on

Nest Pitch agent round is now on! 

Us Slush Bilbies have sorted through the entries to help the Nest Bloggers whittle down the entries. Now the top seventy-two entries have made it through and are waiting for agents to hop on by to make requests.  

Please remember that until the agents have finished making their selections, comments are for agents only. If you want to cheer on your favourite prior to then, you can do it in the comments of this post.  

Between now and 8am April 19^th USA EST  

To find out more about the Nest Pitch Easter Pitch Hunt go here and the Rules and Conditions here. You can find the full schedule here and the participating agents here.   

  

Here are the blogger nests where you can find the selections: 

Nestpitch

Sharon M Johnston 

Brooke Powell    

Kimberly P. Chase   

Jeffe Kennedy   

Tina Moss     

Amanda Foody   

Dannie Morin  

Sharon Bayliss   

Stacey Nash 

Good luck to everyone who has made it through. May your nest be filled with lots of chocolaty requests. Now hop around and support your favourties!

Immagica Map Reveal!

The Immagica Map is here. I really can't believe how awesome it is. Don't believe me? Check this mother out:

Also, Immagica was deleted by the mystical Goodreads fairies (AKA some meddlesome librarian) and all of the stats are now gone. If you were one of those awesome people who had it added, please pop on over and show Kim some love. <3

Book blurb:

Immagica

Where anything is possible.

Enter at your own risk.

The night before her fifteenth birthday, Rosaline Clayton uncovers a deep family secret. She receives an amulet from her deranged father, and he tells her she must find the book in order to save him. Rosaline is used to her dad not making any sense, so she dismisses their conversation as another of his crazy rants.

When Rosaline’s brother, Elliot, drags her to their Nana’s attic to explore, they find the old leather-bound book tucked away in a chest. It sucks them into its pages, transporting them to a magical world. Along the way Rosaline and Elliot are separated, and the only thing she wants is to find her brother and go home.

The creatures of Immagica have other ideas. After years of war their land lies in ruin. Using the amulet’s power, they want Rosaline to defeat the dragon and restore Immagica to its former glory. But Rosaline is bound to Immagica in ways she doesn’t understand, and when she discovers the truth about her family, she must follow her heart to save them all.

Immagica by K. A. Last
Genre: YA Fantasy/Adventure
Publication: January 31st 2014
Map Illustration: Lawrence Mann LawrenceMann.co.uk  

AUTHOR BIO

K. A. Last was born in Subiaco, Western Australia, and moved to Sydney with her parents and older brother when she was eight. Artistic and creative by nature, she studied Graphic Design and graduated with an Advanced Diploma. After marrying her high school sweetheart, she concentrated on her career before settling into family life. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she began writing to let off creative steam, and fell in love with it. She now resides in a peaceful leafy suburb north of Sydney with her husband, their two children, and a rabbit named Twitch.

Links:

http://www.kalastbooks.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/KALastBooks

https://twitter.com/KALastBooks

http://www.amazon.com/K.-A.-Last/e/B00B2IK8OM

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19281638-immagica?ac=1

Giveaway: The awesome K. A. Last is doing a giveaway too so join in the fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway