I am currently participating in Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars as a ninja mentor — meaning I surreptitiously snuck through the slush and picked out three gems to mentor for the next five weeks.
Team Rae (YA/NA) — AKA “Team Here There Be Monsters” (#TeamHTBD)
Mentee: Sworn by C.H. McFarland
1st Alternate: Asleep by Mikaela Bender
2nd Alternate: The Shadow of a Dream by Katie O’Shea
All three of these young women came highly recommended by my fellow mentors. I am so excited to begin working with them!
This is an excerpt of the congratulatory message I sent them:
“Hey guys! By now you SHOULD have checked the blog — if you haven’t slunk away in premature defeat — and realized that you are ALL pitch wars picks!
Fact: I stole every single one of you from a mentor. You were all in their top 5. ALL of you. You all came very highly recommended. Pat yourselves on the back. Be proud. Now come back down to Earth and roll up your sleeves!
Fact: I will be working with ALL of you on your full manuscripts, regardless of your status as alt or 1st pick. While only my 1st pick will go to the agent round, the other two of you will be in the secondary agent round, also known as the alternate showcase.
Fact: I am a VERY thorough editor, and you may hate me by the end of this, but I will champion your books to my last breath if you let me. (You can ask Kimberly VanderHorst of Team Lori if you don’t believe me.)
Fact: If you have any kind of online presence that reduces your chances of getting an agent, I WILL FIND IT AND KILL IT WITH FIRE! But seriously.
Fact: If you are one of my alternates, you may enter contests, query, and participate in PitMad. If not, sorry. You belong to ME until the end of January. 😛 Be afraid.”
None of them have run off yet, so this is a promising start! I will do individual showcases of my lovely ladies soon — be on the lookout!
Bleeding Ink, Inc 