AND THE WINNER IS!

You've all worked super hard and we are so thrilled with the caliber of work and revision we've seen come through this contest! You guys have been polite, hard-working, and supportive to one another, so in our minds you are ALL winners. All 100 of you.

You should know that during this whole process we were excited to see not one, but FOUR people drop out of the contest because they were offered representation. So know that it DOES happen and your hard work can pay off. 

Ahem. You've waited long enough. Drum roll, please. 

The two runners up are:

IF I PROMISE YOU THE SUN by Heather Davis. Heather has won a chapter critique from Agent Susan Hawk! 

and

SEE YOU THEN, JOSHUA JACOBS by Peggy J. Sheridan. P.J. has won a chapter critique from Agent Roseanne Wells!

The second place winner is:

A SERPENT IN THE GARDEN by Rebecca Santelli. Rebecca has won a two-chapter critique from Agent Kent Wolf!

and

The Grand Prize Winner

Of Pitch Plus One

Is:

LEAVING PEACESYLVANIA by Olivia Hinebaugh!!!!!

Olivia has one a three chapter critique from Agent Christa Heschke!! 

Congratulations to all of you! May you all strive to be the best writers you can be and find your place in the publishing universe. You'll have another chance to see your name up here when we do our next contest later this year! Remember - there is ALWAYS room in this world for good books! 

Entry #10: A SERPENT IN THE GARDEN

Title: A Serpent in the Garden

Genre: YA Historical Mystery

Word Count: 60,000

Pitch:

Amid the grit and splendor of medieval Germany, an impetuous teenage noblewoman investigates a brutal murder.

When a young woman is killed near the abbey of St. Nicholas, fifteen-year-old Eva von Hirschburg is struck by similarities between the victim and her own dead mother. She vows to find the culprit and convinces peace-loving Brother Clement to help, but they clash when Eva accuses a man Clement wants to protect.

Meanwhile, Eva is courted by the charismatic Friderich. Eva is drawn to the dashing nobleman, but fears he is only looking for an indiscretion. Worse, Friderich doesn't trust Clement and wants Eva to relinquish her obsession with the murdered woman.

When Eva suspects Friderich's childhood friend, she must risk her heart and life to catch the killer before he strikes again.

A SERPENT IN THE GARDEN is a medieval Veronica Mars with the lush, sexy feel of Anna Godberson's Luxe series.

First Page:

No one prayed for my mother's soul. No one spoke of her. My uncle Baldric forbade it. But I refused to forget her. She died fifteen years ago when I was only a babe, but every morning, before the rest of the castle woke, I went to the chapel to plead for her.

Darkness filled the room, intensifying the smell of incense and the aching in my legs as I knelt on the stone floor. I recited the De Profundis, the Misere, and the Requiem Aeternam, prayers suitable for a soul suffering in Purgatory. I considered praying that my uncle Arnulf might finally drink himself to death, but I decided against it. I stood and walked out to the chapel garden.

On my right loomed the bergfried, a defensive tower and, in troubled times, a holding place for prisoners. On my left, the crenellated battlements of the south wall snapped at the sapphire sky. I shuddered, feeling like a mouse trapped in the jaws of a lion. Father Gregory would have reproached me for such ingratitude. Most ladies would count themselves lucky to have a guardian as wise and temperate as Baron Baldric, but I knew he kept me out of duty rather than love. And most ladies do not have to contend with an uncle as reckless and cruel as his brother, Baron Arnulf.

I walked toward the stone archway that led to the main courtyard. A ghostly voice cried out. “Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me.

Entry #9: PALOMA AND THE BOW WOW BAR MITZVAH

Title: Paloma and the Bow Wow Bar Mitzvah

Genre: contemporary early middle grade chapter book

Word Count: 14,500

Pitch: 

Impulsive, fur-phobic, nine-year-old Paloma Perez needs cash fast, or she’ll miss celebrating her best friend’s birthday at the most epic-i-lious concert ever.

Pet sitting a lost and most-likely dead cat isn’t working out, so Paloma literally turns herself upside down. Ka-ching! She comes up with a brilliant money maker--Paloma Perez Party Planner Extraordinaire. But she ignores her best friend’s warning, and her first event, a Doggie Bar Mitzvah, unloads a pooper-scooper full of trouble.

Paloma scrambles to pull together a furry fun-a-palooza, but amid the chaos of cat party crashers (they come for the herring) and yarmulke-eating canines, Paloma’s worried she could fail. And even worse, she could lose her best friend too.

First Page:

Summer Vacation Rule Number One: if you’re trying to save the planet, don’t use left-over Easter egg dye as hair color.

I, Paloma Perez, have a lot of hiccups. Not the regular, can’t-breathe-for-a-second kind of hiccups. The Paloma-what-have-you-done-now kind of hiccups. But those are my mom’s words. She calls my oops-I-made-a-mistake hiccups, disasters. 

Hiccups aren’t disasters unless you’re Charles Osborne. He’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for hiccuping for sixty-eight years. Can you believe he hiccuped every ten seconds, even when he was sleeping? I used a calculator. That’s over two hundred million hiccups.

I’m only nine. I bet I don’t have a thousand hiccups. Even if I add the regular kind and the mistakey kind together. But it’s only the first day of my summer vacation. 

Not even lunchtime and I’ve already created my first summer hiccup. My planet-saving hair color stinks. Like pickles. 

I told my mom this is not a disaster. Just a hiccup.

I haven’t convinced her yet. She’s banished me from the back of Lucia's Divas Hair Salon, to the front. My mom’s Lucia. She’s the owner, and we live above the salon with my grandmother.

So I’m sitting at the scratched wooden table called the reception desk, when Nina, my best friend, flies into the salon like she packed her Tori Skori backpack with jet fuel.

Entry #8: SEE YOU THEN, JOSHUA JACOBS

Title: SEE YOU THEN, JOSHUA JACOBS

Genre: Contemporary MG (with a hint of magical realism)

Word Count: 37,000

Pitch:

When science prodigy and all-around nice guy Joshua Jacobs moves in across the street, he’s like no one Suzie Martin’s ever met before. Soon, she realizes he’s no one-dimensional geek. He makes forming friendships – something Suzie’s never quite gotten the hang of – look easy. She hopes it’s the start of a great year, until she learns Joshua believes his dead father travels through time to visit him.

As kids at school turn on Joshua for his crazy ideas, she must decide whether or not to stand by him even though she knows time travel can’t be real. When Joshua’s mother pulls him from school, and an illness threatens to take him away forever, Suzie faces the consequences of her choices. In one short year, she learns more about friendship, fear, hope and the spacetime continuum than she ever could have imagined.

First page:

If I’d been peeking out the front window all morning like my mom, I might have seen the lab table. But even that wouldn’t have prepared me for what rolled into my life when the Jacobs’ moved in across the street.  

Mom waved me over to see the boy and his mother as the long, yellow truck pulled away from their house. Like one of her photography subjects, they drew her in. She couldn’t tear herself away.

“Let’s go over and offer them a hand, Suzie,” she said, still looking through the glass. “It looks like it’s just the two of them.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” I said. Time to escape.

“He must be about your age,” she murmured as I turned to go.  

Aha, there was the real reason she wanted to go – the friendship “opportunity” for her daughter. Why didn’t she get that it wasn’t so easy?  It’s not that I didn’t want any friends since Abby moved away. In fact, I’d decided I couldn’t go through another year as the invisible friendless wonder. But you can’t just walk up to people, say hi and suddenly you’re best friends.  Life doesn’t work that way.  And middle school definitely doesn’t work that way.                                                                   

“Come grab some plastic cups, hon,” she said, striding toward the kitchen. She didn’t even check to see if I followed. “Let’s take them something to drink.”

That’s how we ended up crossing the street to meet our new neighbors with a sweating pitcher of sweet iced tea, and a stack of red Solo cups.

Entry #7: HERITAGE BLADE

Title: HERITAGE BLADE

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Word Count: 85,000

Pitch:

Fifteen-year-old Jay Mitchell is the most lethal secret walking the streets of Chicago, the boy who smells of blood and magic. Trained to protect mankind from rogue Pandorans—supernatural beings who cross into this world through Pandora's Box—he’s good at what he does, so long as no one knows he does it.

While rescuing a damsel faking distress, Jay inadvertently reveals himself and what he’s been up to. His superiors are not happy. Especially since he isn’t Sanctioned, yet, and hunting without a license is no bueno.

On top of having to convince the powers-that-be not to toss him into a dark hole for the rest of his life, someone or something has put a price on his head. Probably looking for a little payback. Jay needs to find the bastard, and the girl who started this mess, before everything that goes bump in the night arrives to collect.

First Page:

How the hell did a four-legged, supernatural killing machine the size of an F150 vanish? Magic was an easy answer, but transport spells left remnants—potent ones. Jay would’ve sensed something like that a county over.

“Not like it took the metro.” He pinched the bridge of his nose as the pounding behind his eyes intensified. If he hit one more dead end he’d shoot something, or himself. In the face.

You’re overthinking it, idiot.

Howlyngs weren’t the Einsteins of their kind. Eat, sleep, repeat.

He snorted. “But this one’s smart enough to hide.”

Damn thing must’ve gone underground after its last kill attracted Primetime attention. The newscast flashed through Jay’s mind, a sobbing mother pleading for clues about whoever mutilated her daughter. There was no who.

He gripped his sword, banishing the memory. Crouched on a ledge seven stories high, he scanned the skyline. The Near North Side rose around him with buildings transformed to solid shadows by the overcast night. Sirens crested and faded like the tide. The tangy scent of the lake drenched the air, and the wind belted him with bitter cold, cutting through his leather armor. October in Chicago—arctic.

Jay returned his attention to the streets. Police found the girl’s remains in the alley below. She was a petit thing. The howlyng wouldn’t stay sated for long.

There was one trick he hadn’t tried. It would expose him to the beast, but prevent another innocent having their throat ripped out.

He rose. Desperate times…

Entry #6: GERALD AND THE AMULET OF ZONRACH

Title:  GERALD AND THE AMULET OF ZONRACH

Genre:  Upper MG, Humorous Fantasy

MS Word Count:  77,000

Pitch: 

In the realm of Wyverndawn, a wizard’s height is the mark of his power, so demotion of an entire inch is disastrous for twelve-year-old Gerald. 

Looking to gain a few inches, Gerald attempts to create a village landmark using his superior wizarding skills. But the spell he bought --from a guy who knows a guy-- is a tad more powerful than he anticipates. Causing the earthquake that aids the escape of a dangerous wizard does not enhance his stature, either physically or with his superiors.

A red-faced Gerald finds himself banished from his village along with the one inch demotion; two more and he’ll join his father as a Royal Equine Poop Disposal Coordinator.

Gerald’s hopes of returning home hinge on repairing the devastation he caused and thwarting the evil wizard’s plans of seizing Wyverndawn for his own. Failure could mean Gerald’s next spell might well be his last.

First page: 

A jet of blinding light flashed across the room, ricocheted off the window frame and disappeared up the chimney.

"Oops..."

A rumble under Gerald’s feet steadily increased in strength until the floor beneath him rolled like a ship in a storm.

This can’t be good, he thought, squinting at the new crack in the end of his smoldering wand.

Trying to stay upright, he staggered to the window at the front of his weather-beaten cottage. The small hill, and new village landmark, supposed to be growing outside --to improve the view-- failed to materialize. But the cotton ball clouds, normally gently drifting on the warm summer breeze, were now whizzing by. His brow furrowed as he caught sight of villagers clinging to structures for dear life. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when the village herbalist flew past his window and, as he followed her progress across the green, he spotted Lord Moleheart hanging onto a tree like a flag in a gale.

“Kack!” said Gerald.

The bedroom door flew open. “Gerald!  What have you done?” shouted Colin, dodging flying crockery as he made his way across the room.

“Hmm?” replied Gerald. The point of his tall and illegally obtained wizard’s hat twitched, as he blinked rapidly at the devastation occurring outside. 

Colin, who had been posted to Molehaven a few weeks ago as Gerald’s assistant --a position where roles seemed to change with alarming regularity-- very rarely shouted. If he could get away with it he even whispered his spells. So, shouting indicated Gerald had been especially naughty and confirmation came when he shrank one inch before Colin’s eyes.

Entry #5: LEAVING PEACESYLVANIA

Title: LEAVING PEACESYLVANIA

Genre: YA Contemporary

Word Count: 75,000

Pitch:

Lark is the perfect hippie, growing up on a picturesque commune with her nine siblings, celebrating individuality, frolicking in peace and free love. Except she can’t stop thinking that there’s more to life than permissive parents and low expectations. She wants to experience the real world and challenge herself. So she registers for public school.

The mainstream is full of surprises. School’s more rigid than she could have imagined. She even meets a boy she can be serious about. Jeremiah’s genuine and kind. And a Republican. They really click, though their philosophical differences drive a wedge between them.

Thankfully Jeremiah accepts her as she is. When there’s a crisis on the commune and Lark starts to question her mental and emotional stability, he becomes the rock she never knew she needed. With the future uncertain, Lark must learn to accept help and to be herself no matter the outcome.

First Page:

My to-do list has grown dauntingly long. The darkening grapes are just another reminder of how quickly this summer is ending.

I scoot a few feet to my left to stay in the grapevine’s long narrow patch of shade. I tap my pen on my worn notebook and look over the master list.

1. Registration forms.
2. Break things off with Petey. Again.
3. Get out of grape harvest.
4. Learn math. All of it.
5. Help Dad get help.
6. SAT prep.
7. Read giant stack of books.
8. Sew new wardrobe.
9. Reveal secret plan.

“Lark! It’s quittin’ time!” My half-brother, Sean, shouts louder than he needs to. It startles the pen right out of my fingers.

“Jesus, Sean. You have to stop sneaking up on me!” I stand up and do a quick tick-check on my bare arms and legs. It’s really freaking hot, and my honey-colored mass of curly, partially dreaded, partially braided hair makes my back feel immediately sticky.

I reach behind Sean and grab the ratty bandana that’s always in his back pocket and use it to tie up my hair.

“I definitely just used that to wipe my nose,” he says. He’s filthy from head to toe, wearing his grime like it’s a badge of hard work.

“Whatever,” I smile, “I love your snot.”

“You’re so gross,” he says.

“Says the one with half of his lunch still stuck in his beard,” I tease.

“I’m thinking of shaving it,” he says.

I raise my eyebrows at him; he normally loves the Peacesylvania aesthetic.

Entry #4: IF I PROMISE YOU THE SUN

Title: IF I PROMISE YOU THE SUN

Genre: YA Near-Future Thriller/Romance

Word Count: 89,000

Pitch:

In 2107, two teenagers with starkly different goals threaten to shatter the money-making machine of Nova Vita, an anti-technology cult with the key to unlimited solar power.

Plagued by the OCD linked to her photographic memory, Eve Thomas is already on edge when her brother contracts a disease the cult won’t treat for religious reasons.

Having left Manila’s slums years ago, laborer Mana Aquino’s determined to kill the bishop who made a sacrifice of his sister. He just can’t get anywhere near his prey.

But when Mana learns about Eve’s memory, he realizes she’s the weapon he’s been missing. He offers to smuggle medicine to her brother, if she’ll serve as his human camera, gathering information that could topple the bishop.

If Eve accepts, she’ll commit a crime that could destroy the only home she’s ever known. If she says no, her beloved brother’s as good as dead.

First Page:

Mama and I struggle to keep my sister in the kitchen chair so the medics can find a vein and fill a vial with her blood.

“Let me go!” Theresa shouts, her arms and legs flailing.

Restraining a furious seven-year-old is no easy task. Miraculously, once the needle’s in, her hazel eyes calm and the thrashing subsides. The thin red stream shooting up into the glass is beautiful. After we release her, I tap the back of the chair four times.

Sarah’s next. Nearly twelve, she’d rather die than act like a baby. She jumps into the seat, jaw clenched and lips mashed together. When the vial’s full, she pivots toward me.

“Your turn.”

“Sixteen’s too old. They don’t want my blood.”

“Too bad. It’s kind of fun.”

She bounces off as I rock baby David in his cradle. My smallest brother has such pudgy cheeks, I want to gobble him up. In another year, he’ll be old enough to contract the disease.

Josh is the last one. He slides into the chair before anyone notices, then starts the usual barrage: How’s the blood labeled? How’s it stored? Where will it go? I don’t know any other ten-year-olds like Josh. The two women collecting the samples glance at each other.

“Don’t fret,” says the older one.

“But who looks at the samples?

“Josh.” Mama shakes her head. “That’s enough.”

He frowns. There’s no way he’s buying the story we’ve given the kids about why they’re being tested—he knows it’s not for some scientific study.

Entry #3: ROGER FIREBUG

Title: ROGER FIREBUG 

Genre: MG Contemporary 

Word Count: 34,000 

Pitch: 

Roger “Firebug” Frieburg spends a lot of time in the middle school principal’s office and has his eye on his best friend’s crush, but it’s his artistic ability and love of pit-firing ceramics that earns him his new nickname. Unfortunately, when an at-home art experiment goes awry, the fire department doesn’t find his nickname very cool or funny. And when his brother is abruptly fired from the local restaurant and the building mysteriously burns to the ground, Roger looks just like an arsonist- not an artist. Small town secrets unfold as Roger realizes a creepy math tutor named Elton may take over his best friend, the only girl that likes him, and get away with arson.

First Page: 

I think I just burned my eyebrows off. I open one eye in time to see the flaming jar roll across the floor and out the shed door. It leaves behind a trail of red-hot sparks. Epic! How did ceramic glaze blow up like that? 

The smoldering trail in front of me changes color, then springs to life as the floor catches fire. No! I stomp on flames and follow the burning line out the door and escape down the steps. Curls of smoke snake from beneath the wooden stairs where the jar has fallen. If it’s close by, I’ll throw dirt. 

I squat, and peer between the steps, but something hairy launches from the dark and smacks me square in the chest. It rebounds off my stomach and my butt hits the ground as two more furry bodies boing off me. Bushy tails swish over my face and an oily stench settles in. Burnt skunk. "Harris! Help! I'm roadkill!" Dazed, I stagger for the house. 

"Harris! The shed's burning!" 

My older brother blasts out the front door, shooting death-ray eyes my way. "Turn on the hose Roger! Ugh, skunk!" 

This is awful. I crank the spigot on and exhale skunk. How did this happen to me? I was only trying to make my glaze recipe better? The hose finally turns rigid as strong water pressure kicks in. If Harris lets the shed burn down, I’ll lose all my best pots and won’t have anything good to show.

Entry #2: DARKENWEAR, INC.: FEATHERS VS. SCALES

Title: DARKENWEAR, INC.: FEATHERS VS. SCALES

Category/Genre: Upper MG fantasy/adventure

Word Count: 46,000

Pitch:

Thirteen-year-old Persephone Stone stumbles across a terrifying secret: DarkenWear Inc., the hottest fashion label on earth, is imprisoning magical creatures from an unknown realm in its superpowered clothing and accessories. Unicorns live in jacket linings. Dragons warm the fingers of gloves. Goblins lurk in the shadowy folds of skirts. And it’s up to Persephone to set them free.

But the arrival of a mysterious storm and a green-and-white-haired boy conjures lost memories and Persephone discovers that the scar on her arm is actually a dragon bite. She’s slowly transforming into a fire-breathing monster. Not good, considering dragons top DW’s list of exotic materials for their upcoming collection.

Persephone must tame her inner dragon, stop production, and expose the fierce, feathery fashionistas for what they are—nasty, no-good harpies—before she and every other enchanted creature are transformed into designer handbags and fabulous pairs of shoes.

First Page:

The vortex howled around the dilapidated Calvin Coolidge Middle School, throwing crows against the glass and filling the air with feathers. The old panes rattled in their paint-caked frames, drawing Persephone’s attention away from her Edgar Allen Poe project and toward the tall windows of the eighth-grade humanities classroom. The sky turned a ghoulish shade of gray-green and the room shook with the rumble of thunder.

Persephone went back to splattering red paint on her papier-mâché rendering of The Masque of the Red Death, trying to put the storm out of her mind. She felt a twinge and grimaced, rubbing the silvery swirl of scar tissue that peeked out from underneath the top of her arm warmer. Stupid dead skin. First darn feeling in five years, and it’s pain. Spotty memories of the accident drifted in and out of her head until thoughts became spoken words. Storms create lightning. Lightning makes fire. Fire ruins lives. It happened then, and it could happen now. “Storms conjure change.”

“Huh, what did you say?” Kendall turned in his chair, his gaze fixed on Persephone.  

She noticed him looking at her bad arm and scowled from underneath her dark razor-edged bangs. “I dare you to stare at it a second longer.”

 “Sorry.” He looked down, flashing an awkward smile, and tousled his mop of chestnut hair.

Ignoring Kendall and the tingling pain, she pulled the striped woolen sleeve back up to cover the wound. Even my best friend can’t help himself. Nobody can. I’m hideous. 

Entry #1: CONDUIT

Title:  CONDUIT

Genre:  NA Paranormal

Word Count:  72,000

Pitch:

Not everyone gets a second chance, unless you ditch the afterlife to become a Conduit—a reincarnated human contracted to reap souls.

For Liv Hartley, it means a new college and new love interest, David. When another Conduit, Asher, steals her first assignment, she second guesses her choice to live twice, especially when her afterlife caseworker rips her a new one. To redeem herself, Liv takes a job delivering a message to a demon. During her mission, her life is threatened, forcing Asher to bind their souls together to protect her. Now, she’d rather slap the bad-boy scowl off this face than kiss him. But Liv can’t deny her attraction to his newly addictive touch.

Even though Liv loves David, the bond with Asher makes her question her choice. When Liv’s assigned to reap David’s soul, she must decide: follow through, or sacrifice her soul, and Asher’s, instead. 
First Page:

All the people with near-death experiences got it wrong. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a lobby, like the entrance to a ritzy hotel, with level upon level of balconies that stretch on forever.

“Next!” A disembodied voice thunders from overhead speakers.

The line, with more twists and turns than the one for Space Mountain, moves a few inches. I step forward. The soul in front of me doesn’t. Before I realize what’s happening, I’m standing in him.

“Sorry.” I step back and shake off the Jello-like feel of his energy. Gross.

That’s when I spot the balding Dean of Accounting, Professor Burstein, in his penny loafers and plaid sweater vest. He stalks toward me like I’ve cheated on a test or taken the last cookie at a student-faculty mixer.

“Mr. Burstein?” I can’t keep the surprise, and disgust, from my voice.

On Friday, he’d given a pop-quiz. Governmental Tax Law. If he’s dead, I’m guessing a fellow senior retaliated against his self-aggrandizing soapbox speeches and appearance-based grading pyramid.

“Not exactly, Ms. Lamb. My name is Marvin. I find it’s easier on transitioning souls when I appear as someone they recognize."

I push a lock of frizzy brown hair from my eyes and stare at his gnarly sweater vest. “You can look like anyone?” My gaze moves from his stubby, fat fingers to his shock of orange hair. “I can totally give you a better suggestion.”

Announcing Our Ten Finalists!

We've made it to the final round and may I just say how impressed we are with the quality of your work and revisions! You all deserve a round of applause. Sadly, we must cut down 25 to 10 for our five agent judges to review.

The ten entries named below (again, in no particular order) must send me their pitch plus first page revisions no later than Sunday at noon EST. If your entry is not received by then, your latest version will be reposted.

Remember, 150 word pitch, 250 word first page (but don't cut us off in the middle of a sentence). ONE email only, please. Subject line: Top Ten Entry: (Title).

Body of the email should be formatted like this:

Name:

Title:

Genre:

Word Count:

Pitch:

First Page:

And now the titles you've all been waiting for!

1. Paloma and the Bow Wow Bar Mitzvah
2. Leaving Peacesylvania
3. Darkenwear, Inc.: Feathers Vs. Scales
4. See You Then, Joshua Jacobs
5. Roger Firebug
6. Heritage Blade
7. Conduit
8. Serpent in the Garden
9. If I Promise You the Sun
10. Gerald and the Amulet of Zonrach

Best of luck to all on the Agent Round! The First Place, Second Place, and two Third Place winners will be announced Next Saturday the 15th at Noon EST. 

Entry #15: LEAVING PEACESYLVANIA

Title: LEAVING PEACESYLVANIA

Genre: YA Contemporary

Word Count: 75,000

Pitch:

Lark is the perfect hippie, growing up on a picturesque commune with her nine siblings, celebrating individuality, frolicking in peace and free love. Except she can’t stop thinking that there’s more to life than permissive parents and low expectations. She wants to experience the real world and challenge herself. So she registers for public school.

The mainstream is full of surprises. School’s more rigid than she could have imagined. She even meets a boy she can be serious about. Jeremiah’s genuine and kind. And a Republican. They really click, though their philosophical differences drive a wedge between them.

Thankfully Jeremiah accepts her as she is. When there’s a crisis on the commune and Lark starts to question her mental stability, he becomes the rock she never knew she needed. With the future uncertain, Lark must learn to accept help and to be herself no matter the outcome.

First Page:

My to-do list has grown dauntingly long, and the darkening grapes are just another reminder of how quickly this summer is ending.
    
I scoot a few feet to my left to stay in the grapevine’s long narrow patch of shade. I tap my pen on my worn notebook and look over the master list. 

1. Registration forms.
2. End things with Petie.
3. Get out of grape harvest.
4. Learn math. All of it. (This item is stressful)
5. Help Dad get help.
6. SAT prep.
7. Read giant stack of books.
8. Sew new wardrobe.
9. Reveal secret plan.

The last one gives me pause. I'm not looking forward to the peace meeting tomorrow .

“Lark! It’s quittin’ time!” My half-brother, Sean, shouts louder than he needs to. It startles the pen right out of my fingers.
    
“Jesus, Sean. You have to stop sneaking up on me!” I stand up and do a quick tick-check on my bare arms and legs. It’s really freaking hot, and my mass of curly, partially dreaded, partially braided hair makes my back feel immediately sticky.
    
I reach behind Sean and grab the ratty bandana that’s always in his back pocket and use it to tie up my hair.
    
“I definitely just used that to wipe my nose,” he says. He’s filthy from head to toe as per usual. He wears his grime like it’s a badge of hard work.
    
“Whatever,” I smile, “I love your snot.”
    
“You’re so gross,” he teases.

Entry #25: SEE YOU THEN, JOSHUA JACOBS

Title: SEE YOU THEN, JOSHUA JACOBS

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary (with hint of magical realism)

Word Count: 37,000 words

Pitch: 

When science prodigy and all-around nice guy Joshua Jacobs moves in across the street, he’s like no one Suzie Martin’s ever met before. Soon, she realizes he’s no one-dimensional geek. He makes forming friendships – something Suzie’s never quite gotten the hang of – look easy. She hopes it’s the start of a great year, until she learns Joshua believes his father, who passed away over a year ago, travels through time to talk with him.

But when kids at school turn on Joshua for his crazy ideas, she must decide whether to stand by him even though she knows time travel can’t be real. When Joshua’s mother pulls him from the school, and an illness threatens to take him away forever, Suzie must deals with her choices. In one short year, she learns a lot more about friendship, fear, hope and the spacetime continuum than she could have ever imagined.

First page:

If I’d been peeking out the front window all morning like my mom, I might have seen the lab table. But even that wouldn’t have prepared me for what rolled into my life when the Jacobs’ moved in across the street.  

Mom waved me over to see the boy and his mother as the long, yellow truck pulled away from their house. Like one of her photography subjects, they drew her in. She couldn’t tear herself away.

            “Let’s go over and offer them a hand, Suzie,” she said, still looking through the glass. “It looks like it’s just the two of them.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” I said.

As I turned to go, she murmured, “He must be about your age.”  

            Aha, there was the real reason she wanted to go – the friendship “opportunity” for her daughter. Why didn’t she get that it wasn’t that easy?  It’s not that I didn’t want any friends since Abby moved away. In fact, I’d decided I couldn’t go through another year as the invisible friendless wonder. But you can’t walk up to people, say hi and suddenly you’re best friends.  Life doesn’t work that way.  And middle school definitely doesn’t work that way.                                                                   

I turned to escape to my room.

“Come grab some cups, hon,” she said, heading to the kitchen. “Let’s take them something to drink.”

That’s how we ended up crossing the street to meet our new neighbors with a sweating pitcher of sweet iced tea, and a stack of red Solo cups.

Maybe it’ll be easier making friends with someone new to town, I told myself. Yeah, and maybe it would be fun playing with a hungry rat snake. 

Entry #24: DON Q OATNEY: VAMPIRE HUNTER

Title: DON Q OATNEY: VAMPIRE HUNTER

Genre: YA paranormal fantasy 

Word Count: 60,000 words.

Pitch:

The week Becca Sanchez discovers Uncle Don is a total whack-job begins with a moving van and ends in handcuffs. First, her creepy history teacher moves in next door. And then her uncle tries to stake him. That’s right, stake. As in vampire.

But when a student goes missing, Becca starts to wonder if maybe crazy Uncle Don isn’t so crazy after all. She investigates and finds a freezer full of blood bags in the teacher’s basement. She and her uncle team up to stop him before he turns the Halloween Dance into his personal high school buffet line. 

Everything is going to plan … until she discovers proof her teacher isn’t a vampire after all. Because that’s ridiculous. This is real life, and vampires aren’t real. But now Becca has to save her least favorite person from a stake to the chest and her uncle from sixty to life.

First Page:

“Whoa, do you see that? Someone’s moving into the haunted house.” 

Becca Sanchez pointed at the overgrown estate at the end of the lane. The other hand trapped a basketball against her hip.

Ashley, sitting on the front porch, looked up from her math worksheet. She’d worked yesterday and was catching up on her homework before school on Monday.

“You’re kidding.”

“No, really. There’s a moving van in the driveway.”

“Weird.” 

Ashley’s tone was already bored. She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and leaned back over her worksheet. A breeze rustled through the fallen maple leaves, setting the paper flapping. She slapped her hand down before her homework blew away.

“C’mon, Becca, stop putting off the shot.”

That was Drew, Ashley’s brother. Twins, though they hardly even looked like siblings. Except when playing video games, Drew always seemed half asleep, moving with the ponderousness of a giraffe. Ashley was a foot shorter, and rounder. Anyone else would have been plain chubby, but somehow on her it looked all woman, instead. The boys at school certainly noticed. 

Becca eyed the hoop from halfway across the yard. It was impossibly far away. Drew always went for the long shots, and usually he missed. Not this time. She sighed and took aim. The basketball whiffed, bouncing on the cement driveway and landing in the grass in the neighbor’s yard.

“Hah!” Drew grinned. “What letter is that, now? R?”

“Says the guy at H-O-R-S.”