Hey guys!
I met the lovely Brenda Drake YEARS ago while working on the first page of a book that I was polishing for submission. At the time, she was running an online group through her site where people gave feedback to each others first pages. It was great!
Now Brenda is hosting something new, and this looks like an awesome opportunity for those interested in honing their craft.
So here’s Brenda to tall us all about PITCH WARS
Online contests can be a great way to display your work and to meet other writers. The first Pitch Wars contest was in 2012. After running several contests in the past, I discovered something disappointing. 
Agents who had made requests on entries in my contests would find while reading their requests that the writing and/or plot would fall apart after the first few chapters. Then one fated day, I was watching Cupcake Wars, a competition between bakers to make the best cupcakes. Each baker had an assistant to help them create beautiful and tasty cupcakes for judges. So I thought that’s what we need. We need mentors to help writers who are almost there, but keep getting rejections, to help them work out what is failing in their manuscripts. And that’s how the idea for Pitch Wars came about.
What is Pitch Wars?
It’s a contest where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and guide the writer in revising it for our agent showcase. The mentors also help with their mentee’s pitch. Writers send applications (query and first chapter of manuscript) to the four mentors that best fit their work. The mentors then read all their applications and choose the writer they want to mentor for the next two months. Mentors point out the weaknesses in their mentee’s manuscript and help him or her fix those issues. In publishing, authors must meet tough deadlines all the time. The rigorous two months of revision teaches our mentees how to work on a deadline.
Then we hold an agent showcase with over fifty of the top agents in the industry making requests. We’ve had so many successes in the contests with writers finding agents and book deals. Since its debut year, Pitch Wars has garnered over two hundred successes. The 2016 contest ended three months ago and we’re already at twenty-nine successes.
One of the best parts of the contest is the community it builds. Writers hang out mostly on the Twitter hashtag, #PitchWars, and in Facebook groups. There are many amazing and giving people in our online community of writers surrounding the contests. Many have met long lasting critique partners through participating in them.
I’ve met my critique partners in the community. They were there in the first drafts of Thief of Lies and all my other manuscripts. The community has cheered me on when I got my agent, when I got my book deal, and when I had to make difficult decisions, they supported me. This community is welcoming, they show empathy for others, and they support each other. With all that said, the contest isn’t for everyone and some haven’t had as great an experience as most, but we can’t please everyone. I’m truly blessed to have this opportunity.
If you’re a writer seeking an agent, I hope you’ll join us for Pitch Wars 2017 coming this August.
About Brenda Drake
Brenda Drake, the youngest of three children, grew up an Air Force brat and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up is of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When Brenda’s not writing or doing the social media thing, she’s haunting libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops or reading someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).
About Guardian of Secrets
Being a Sentinel isn’t all fairytales and secret gardens.
Sure, jumping through books into the world’s most beautiful libraries to protect humans from mystical creatures is awesome. 
No one knows that better than Gia Kearns, but she could do without the part where people are always trying to kill her. Oh, and the fact that Pop and her had to move away from her friends and life as she knew it.
And if that isn’t enough, her boyfriend, Arik, is acting strangely. Like, maybe she should be calling him “ex,” since he’s so into another girl. But she doesn’t have time to be mad or even jealous, because someone has to save the world from the upcoming apocalypse, and it looks like that’s going to be Gia.
Maybe. If she survives.
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the end. I knew this before I read it, and I had a pretty good idea who everyone picked. Problem is, that was the wrong guy for me. I had to read, with my own heartbreak, as the guy I would have chosen had his heart broken for no reason whatsoever. He did nothing wrong. In fact, he did everything right, where the guy who got chosen did everything wrong. I hated that.
Eighteen-year-old Liam Whelan is a prince of an Irish empath family. All signs have pointed to Liam being the one who can bring his family into prominence by expanding his power. All he needs is his soul mate. Though no one is sure what Liam will become once soulmated, Liam’s father has dragged the family all around the world, following vague psychic visions. They settle in a small North Carolina town and focus on the most promising target, but Liam, tired of disappointment and weary of his father’s obsession, finds understanding in the captivating eyes of the girl next door.
As an unabashed lover of all things happily ever after, Shaila Patel is a member of the Romance Writers of America, and her debut novel SOULMATED won first place in the Young Adult category of the 2015 Chanticleer Book Reviews Paranormal Awards. She’s a pharmacist by training, a medical office manager by day, and a writer by night. She enjoys traveling, craft beer, tea, and loves reading books—especially in cozy window seats. She loves to connect with readers. You can find her online at:
for my book club this month, and I started scratching my head in the first few pages, then I went back and looked at the burb to find out what this book was about. In the beginning, this is a coming of age story about a teenage boy struggling with his sexuality. He is an obnoxious, foul mouthed, chain smoker with no redeeming qualities that I could see. For the first quarter or more of the book, we have to listen to this really unlikable kid and his problems. Then, out of the blue, the sci-fi elements pop in. I have to admit that things got better from here. These two unlikely heroes try to take on the apocalypse caused by a man-made virus. (That turns people into giant man-eating bugs) The style of the writing might be genius. We are basically reading the main character’s journal chronicling all that is going on. However, we don’t get deep into any scene, and I found myself not really caring about the characters. But I kept with it, because you know, book club and all. I hoped for that payoff in the end, but the book never takes us there. Nothing gets resolved, not the end of the world, and not even the personal plotlines. Overall, this was a very unsatisfying read for me. I’d give it three stars because the author gave us a really well thought out story. The execution, however, and no satisfying ending, were a downer for me. Warning – Don’t pick up this book if you are sensitive to really foul mouthed kids.
Blanca is purchased by Cal McNeal, who uses her to achieve personal gain. But the McNeals are soon horrified by just how obedient and non-defiant Blanca is.
may be in contention for my favorite author’s list. The first book I read by her was “Over the Edge” and I loved it. I grabbed another book to see if she’d be able to suck me in again, and in this book, she sucked me in even faster. What I enjoy about this author’s writing is she pulls in the characters that have small rolls in the story, and brings them to life, so when the random person ends up in the sites of a terrorist, and our hero decides to save them, you have stakes in both the victim and the hero. I really love that. This book uses the same characters as the previous book I read, this time concentrating on a different Navy Seal as he is trapped in the jungle with a pretty attorney with two different drug rings chasing after him. Great action, great adventure and an all around great read. As soon as I am done here, I am adding the rest of the 18 books in this series to my TBR. The challenge for me will be to NOT read them back to back, because I already have about 50 other books to read sitting on my shelf.
Red roses, a reminder of her parents’ killer, soon become an emblem of horror for Cami as one by one, those closest to her fall victim to a serial killer. Cami becomes an obsession for Carson, the man she had finally allowed herself to love. Not only is he vying for her heart, but also her life.
so I didn’t even bother to look at the blurb. Wicked has all that I love about a JLA novel, but it also has a lot that I didn’t love. Jennifer L. Armentrout also writes under the pen name J. Lynn. I read a J. Lynn novel once and quickly realized why she wrote it under another name. (I will not pick up another J. Lynn novel again) Wicked, while not being quite as graphic as the J.Lynn novel, was pretty close to it. The blurb does state that the character is 22, and it does allude to a heat factor, but the sex scenes are not glossed over in any way shape or form as it is in other JLA novels. As a fan of her work, I just wish I was warned in the blurb. I understand writing in different genres, but if you are a YA author, I really think there should be at least a warning so you know what you are getting in to. Okay – rant over. I did, believe it or not, enjoy this book. The hero is not the most likable. He is a playboy who wanted to get in the heroine’s pants the moment he saw her. Not my type of guy, but okay, I went with it. I did enjoy the heroine, and I loved her sidekick, Tink the Brownie. This was an exceptional character.
Actually, I am not a photographer but once upon a time I wanted to be. In middle school and into high school photography was something I loved! I took pictures of sunsets and what little nature I could find in my little suburban neighborhood. We had a digital camera, which was pretty modern at the time, but it was huge and saved pictures onto floppy disks (do teens even know what those are anymore? I’m making myself feel old!) but it had a screen that showed me the pictures after I took them which was awesome!
Jennifer M Eaton 