Okay, so it’s July already and life is good. It’s warm, the pace is relaxed, and if you’re lucky, your days include moments of sunshine. But with summer being in full swing, that means our August Critique Corner round will soon be a thing. Yay!
So here are the details, in case you haven’t heard…
This round will be for writers of middle grade fiction—any genre. Unlike other blogs and websites where agents are lurking (I love those BTW) and winners may get requests from them, Critique Corner is very different. It’s a virtual critique meeting. Writers submit their 300 words of a completed or in-progress manuscript in order to give and receive feedback from other writers. It’s a chance for writers to connect. It’s a chance for all of us to improve our writing craft.
Do you have a passage that isn’t as sparkly as it could be, but you’re not sure why? Are you trying to whip your opening into shape for an up-coming contest or for querying? It doesn’t matter if you submit your first 300 words or your last… you can choose.
After holding several critique rounds over the last year and half, I’ve realized these rounds work best if we specialize them. That’s why this round is only for middle grade pages, much like an actual critique meeting would be. I mean, who better to critique your middle grade page than another middle grade writer. 🙂
For details on submitting your page go here. For updates on twitter, go to #critcorner. Spread the word to other middle grade writers if you can…I’m accepting pages any time from now until July 31, 2015.
And as for this week, I’ll be following the action over at another great blog for writers, https://writelarawrite.wordpress.com/. A cool contest is happening there involving the 69th or 70th pages of completed manuscripts. (What a great idea! ) The top 7 MG, YA, and adult entries have been chosen and posted, and agents have the chance to request pages. So even if you didn’t participate, it will be great to see what types of entries the agents are going for.
I’ll be working on my business novel draft again this week too. I took a brief hiatus while my family was here visiting from Florida, but now I really have to get back to work. At least it’s July so I can work outside! I’ll also be taking some moments to research middle grade agents for my query list and to review my query letter and synopsis again—and again. This process is never really done, is it? And I also owe some chapters to my patient critique partner. As I’ve said before, Mel is amazing and so is her new story. I’m anxious to see where it’s going!
How about you? I hope your week is full of things you love too. See you all next week!
swirl and spark 