I have nothing to celebrate, no deals to announce, no new pages to launch.  BUT, I did go to the Montgomery County Book Festival on Saturday where I met Rachel Harris, Lindsay Cummings, Victoria Scott, Jenny Trout, Krissi Dallas, Jessica Brody, Kristin Rae and Marissa Meyer.

It was great day! I felt like a legitimate professional for a few hours and I wore jeans all day.  I know.  It was epic.

Also, I managed to get a few little books signed.  You might recognize them:

And look what’s inside!

I know you want these!  I sorta want to keep them for myself, but since I already own copies I’m willing to share! Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You guys.  YOU GUYS!!  My friend and critique partner, Lynne Matson, will be published in less than three months!

Not only is Lynne one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people in the history of the world, she’s also an incredible writer.  Her book, NIL, will knock your socks off, especially if you like things such as Survivor, or Lost, or that awesome little book called The Maze Runner. 

I know lots of authors say nice things about other authors’ books, and I could find dozens of positive things to say about NIL. But, there is one thing that Lynne does better than just about anyone in YA today….


Or more correctly, she writes teenager. Her two main characters, Charley and Thad, sound like real, living people.  Their conversations sound exactly like the ones I eavesdrop on at Panera (Have I become that nosy lady who pretends not to be listening to your chat with your BFF but totally is?  Yes. I believe I have.) 

Now, on to the business of the #NILtribe:

Do you like books?  Reading books? Winning free books and other book-related goodness?  Then you should join the #NILtribe too! It’s super simple! All you have to do is tweet, or post to Facebook, or post on your blog, or comment on Lynne’s blog: “I joined the tribe!” and add the #NILtribe hashtag. And that’s it! You’re in.:)
Do this, my friends. You want to. You want to read NIL.You want to win awesome books and prizes. I promise.

And check back during NIL’s launch week for an interview with Lynne!  It will be all the things awesome. 

Yesterday I posted about my favorite things that don’t cost a fortune…or anything at all.  As promised, today I’m giving away something that I think is pretty darn valuable even though you can’t put a dollar figure on it.  My time! 

I don’t need to tell any of you that time is a commodity and that I try to use it wisely.  But because so many great people offered critiques for both my book and my query letter, I’d like to pay it forward.  So here’s the deal: 

1. Post the synopsis from your query letter (that’s the most important part anyway) in comments (include your name, genre and word count).  
2. The ten best/most interesting queries will receive a ten page critique and line edit. 
3. For three of those ten, I’ll read, edit and critique the next fifty pages.
4. One writer will receive a critique and line edit of their full manuscript. 

Honestly guys, I’m a pretty good editor.  It used to be my full-time job.  And my totally awesome crit partners seem to like working with me and appreciate my opinion.

The Rules

• Your synopsis should be less than 250 words.  If it’s longer than that, you probably need to rewrite your query letter anyway.
• Your manuscript should be complete or at least pretty close.  What’s the point in entering if you don’t have ten pages to send me?
• For every twenty entries, I’ll add an additional ten page critique. 
• If there are fifty entries, I’ll add a fifty page critique.
• And if there are seventy-five entries, I’ll read another full manuscript.
• Only blog followers can participate! 
• All entries must be submitted in the comments section of this post by Tuesday, July 19th. 

There are no losers!  If your query isn’t picked and you want to know why, send me an email and I’ll critique your query letter too!

Go brush up your queries.  I can’t wait to see what ya’ll are working on!