Need help with your query or manuscript?

I have a hangover. It’s a happy hangover from last week’s new and improved #AdPit. I LOVED helping people with their queries. I’ve been thinking about hanging out a shingle for awhile, but #AdPit sealed the deal.

It’s official. I am open for business as a freelance editor.

Need help with your query? I will review your query and offer my opinion and advice for $25. For a limited time, I will even include feedback on up to five Twitter pitches.

Want a critique of your first chapter? Also $25. (A first chapter or the first 1000 words, whichever gives you more.)  

I will also look at your ENTIRE manuscript! If you like the feedback from your first chapter, and want me to look at your full manuscript, I will apply your $25 to a full manuscript review. Full manuscript reviews start at $150 and go up from there. Contact me for availability and an exact quote. Payment plans are available. Because, more than anything, I just want to help and I know that I can.

Here are my strengths:

I write mysteries. And I believe there is an art to weaving a good mystery. If I get to the end of your book and I still don’t know who the bad guy is, you know you’ve got an excellent mystery plot on your hands. (But don’t worry, I will still be able to give you clues on how to make it better.)

I used to be a lawyer. I can help make sure your courtroom scenes and legal jargon shines with authenticity!

I also especially like helping to make sure your characters stay consistent throughout, your pacing is solid and your plot flows in the right direction.

If you think I can help, contact me.  I can’t wait to hear about your project.

Do you need a ghost writer? I can do that too. I am especially good at writing web content for your small business or law firm. I will even ghost write your nonfiction book for you. Especially if it’s about ghosts.  For more information, contact me.

It wasn't just an #AdPit day, it was a whole #AdPit week!

Today is the Twitter pitch party #AdPit! (Of which I am especially fond, because I found my agent during an #AdPit Twitter pitch party.) This round of Heidi Norrod's #AdPit was even more exciting because #AdPit has evolved to be more than just a Twitter pitch party. Earlier this week, #AdPit included a pre-party, where entrants were invited to submit their queries for a chance to win a query critique, and a few agents even stopped by the inbox to take a peek and make requests.

And I got to be one of the slush readers! When I told Heidi (@HRNorrod) I would help, I don't think I realized what I was getting myself into. I was at the Love is Murder mystery writer's conference last weekend. I didn't realize that the submission window would close at the exact same time as my flight home would board. I also wasn't expecting how exciting this part would be. As slush readers, we weren't allowed to touch (or maybe it was more that I was afraid to touch) anything in the inbox until submissions closed. But wow!

Looking at all of those queries was an honor and a privilege. One of my favorite parts, was seeing the queries that were nearly perfect - the ones where we all marked "YES" to a great concept, a great pitch and a great query. Those queries deserved to be read by more than just us. So it was good news that a few agents agreed to stop by the inbox to take a peek. I enjoyed the flurry of emails and the teasing Tweets between myself, @HRNorrod, @mtelschelwilliams and @sidneytblake (all friends from Twitter, none of whom I knew very well before this). Another favorite part was finding a query that had been marked by someone else as a "NO" and while I loved the pitch and concept, I also saw something in it that I knew I could fix. Those are the queries that ended up in my pick pile.

Also new this round was the #AdPitCrit - a special hashtag where participants-to-be could stop by and practice their Twitter pitches. There is an art to a Twitter pitch, 140 characters to summarize an entire manuscript is not a lot. So providing a place where writers could practice their pitches and critique each other was a great idea. Watching other writers help each other out, and seeing the pitches get better and better over the course of the week was a lot of fun.

So if you are thinking about trying a Twitter pitch event, in the words of the Nike commercial: Just Do It. There are so many reasons. You make Twitter friends and writer connections. I never made it to any of the final rounds of the contests I chose (#SunvsSnow and I think #AgentTrickorTreat) but that didn't matter. I still found my agent anyway and I made friends and connections along the way. 

Participating in the contests made me a better writer. You practice summarizing your entire manuscript into a ridiculously small word count. When my agent asked me for summaries of various lengths, I already had them and/or could write them quickly, because I'd already done a ton of them for the Twitter pitch parties. My writing became tighter. One of the contests had a first chapter word limit. When I ran my revisions by my CP's (who were forever telling me I needed to tighten my writing) they said "Yes! This!" And it was all because I was just trying to fit as much as I could into the darn word limit on the submission guidelines.

So @HRNorrod and other Twitter party organizers, thanks again for hosting #AdPit and #AgentMatch and #SunvsSnow and all the others. They added one giant step on this writer's path that made it all just a little easier.   

Do ALL the things.

I wrote a book. Two of them actually. It didn't take me long to realize, that was the easy part.

But I've made a promise to myself. On this difficult path that I've chosen, I promised myself that I would push myself beyond the limits of my comfort levels in order to see this dream through. Because at the end of wherever this path is leading me, I have to be able to say that I tried my very best or else I know I will regret it. (I know myself pretty well.) 

Joining Twitter was all the way outside of my comfort zone. But I pushed myself and it brought me my agent. It led me to writing clubs. I've connected with other authors. And don't even get me started on all of the paranormal groups to be found on Twitter. I'm a Twitter convert. 

Going to a writer's conference is also outside the comfort zone of my introverted self. Especially because I still occasionally have nightmare-flashbacks to the emotional trauma I experienced from the live pitch sessions at Crimefest 2012. (Read about that: Here.)

But Thursday night, I kissed my little ones good-bye. I got on a plane by myself and flew to Chicago. Friday morning, I walked through the hotel lobby, and into the conference room, again all by myself, for the Love is Murder mystery writer's conference. When I walked through those doors, I didn't know anyone. But I took a deep breath, put a big smile on my face and just started talking to people. Yes, this was way outside of my comfort zone. My comfort zone was back up in my hotel room next to my laptop, waiting for me to come back and write the words.

The day went on and got easier as it did. I gave my support to anyone I saw with that nervous rock, the one you do right before you walk into a pitch session. I bumbled my way through a self-introduction to one of the headliners. But had an amazing conversation about St. Paul gangster history with Robert Goldsborough. I told everyone about how Twitter helped me find my agent. I made new friends and connections. I was surprised by how few writers use it as the valuable resource it can be.

So do ALL the things. For my introverted Twitter friends, push yourself to sign up for that writer's conference you've always thought about going to. Or even start small by finding a local networking group of writers. SCBWI or maybe Sisters In Crime. For my new conference friends, join Twitter and connect with other writers, even though you've never met them in person. Do ALL the things, even if they require you to step outside of a self-declared safety zone. Because then, at the end of the day, you'll know you tried everything.

Coming up next: Why Twitter pitch contests, like #AdPit, should be on your list of ALL the things.