Mystery Blogger Contest #5-8: Guess the Lie and Win

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In case you missed our BIG news at Operation Awesome, we are welcoming eight new bloggers to the owlery. 

We could just announce their names, but what fun would that be? 

So instead, we're holding a Mystery Blogger contest, and you have 4 more chances to win a critique by one of the newbies. The first four Mystery Bloggers were revealed yesterday:

Mystery Blogger #1: Angelica R. Jackson

Mystery Blogger #2: Becky Mahoney

Mystery Blogger #3: Max Gladstone

Mystery Blogger #4: Abby Annis


Today we'll meet four more Mystery Bloggers! They've each given us three truths and a lie about themselves in random order. To win a Mystery Blogger's critique, guess which fun fact is really the lie. Out of those who guess correctly, a random name will be drawn for the prize critique and announced tomorrow -- along with secret identities and the real truth about their fun facts.

Four people are offering critiques today if you guess their lies correctly.

*rubs hands together*

Here are the final four: 


Mystery Blogger #5: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a choice of 2 PB manuscript critiques {700 words or less} OR 5 pages critique of a middle grade novel)

• Author Verna Aardema blurbed my first award-winning book.

• To date, three people have had to save my life by performing the Heimlich Manuever. Each incident involved me talking too much at the table and an oversized piece of steak.

• I single-handedly delivered a baby in less than 50 minutes in a bathroom.

• I've been in a commercial and a movie, seen only from behind a ketchup bottle in each one.

Mystery Blogger #6: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a first 5 pages critique)

• I almost cut Rachel Weisz with a tappanyaki knife as she was being stood up for a date.

• I once hunted boar with the natives of Kauai, with nothing more than a knife and a pack of hounds.

• I broke through the 18th mile wall of a marathon without ever running a mile.

• Michael Jordan and I used to sell underwear together.

Mystery Blogger #7: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a first chapter critique)

• I have eight years of Martial Arts training, and secretly look forward to the day my skills can be used for more than just writing. 

• I did the unthinkable by sending a nude picture in reply to an editor's form rejection.

• I love cooking, especially when the wonders of spice and flare are appreciated by my characters. 

• I built a writer's cave disguised as a treehouse, and am patiently waiting for the kids to lose interest so I can reclaim it as my own.

Mystery Blogger #8: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a first 5 pages critique)

• When Mystery blogger’s first novel was 80% finished, her hard drive, along with her zip drive backup, were deleted by a helpful twelve-year-old. There were many bitter tears, but she pieced it back together from old pages she’d given her preschoolers to scribble on.

• Mystery blogger wrote a middle grade novel while driving with a van full of judo kids into the mountains of Idaho for a tournament. One of them asked her when she was going to write “a real book.” Surprisingly, he is still alive.

• Mystery Blogger’s favorite rejection is her query letter with “No!” written on the top in red ink.

• Mystery Blogger gathered all her old-school paper rejections and papier-mâchéed them into a piñata. She filled it with chocolate and took a bat to it when she signed her first book deal.

Which one is the lie?
Guess only one lie for each Mystery Blogger, and list your guesses in a comment below.

Good luck!

(Remember, winners will be announced tomorrow along with the big reveal of who these people are and what lies they told you.) *cue ominous, mysterious music*

Mystery Blogger Contest #1-4: Critique Winners!

Yesterday we announced that 8 new bloggers were joining Operation Awesome! The first four were introduced mysteriously. They gave us three truths and a lie, and you took your best guesses on which fun facts were LIES. 

Now meet our Mystery Bloggers, discover who won each critique prize, and find out who lied about what!


Mystery Blogger #1: 

ANGELICA R. JACKSON

Hi, I'm so excited to join the illustrious Operation Awesome group and lend some credibility to my writing career! I'm looking forward to seeing the "behind-the-scenes" drama of the contests, as well as continuing to learn from the collective wisdom of my fellow bloggers and the commenters.
Where you can find me on the web:
My Facebook
My blog
My Twitter
My photo website (oh yeah, I'm also a photographer/artist)
Angelica will be blogging at Operation Awesome every other MONDAY.

Truths and a lie about Angelica:

• On her very first time volunteering at a regional SCBWI conference, Mystery Blogger introduced Well-Respected Editor without any verbal stumbles. And then as MB exited the stage, she promptly tripped over Well-Respected Editor’s purse and nearly faceplanted.

• The most cats that Mystery Blogger has ever had piled on her at one time is seven, distributed equally between her lap, feet, head, face, and shoulders. There were another five in the queue waiting for an opportunity. Or a fight to break out, which also clears the decks.

• Mystery Blogger once scared an agent on Twitter by trying to make a joke. Agent had tweeted something along the lines of “you don’t ever want to send me a query so bad it ends up on my Special List” and Mystery Blogger responded with “Challenge Accepted!” Agent tweeted back that the Special List was not meant to be aspired to and Mystery Blogger apologized profusely. They shared a laugh and became the best of friends.

• While recording a video pitch for a PitchFest, Mystery Blogger misspoke “sets a ship afire” with a bad word that rhymes with ship. And then couldn’t stop laughing for the next twenty takes. Now whenever she talks about that book, most of her brain cells are devoted to screaming, “make sure you say ship!”

THE WINNER of Angelica's query critique is Steph Scott!




Mystery Blogger #2: 

BECKY MAHONEY

I am a longtime Operation Awesome fangirl, and I am super excited to join the big leagues and become part of this amazing blog. I am an unassuming admin by day and a young adult writer by night, represented by Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger Inc. My preferred genre trifecta is fantasy, mystery, and horror. I am a lover of good food, awesome fashion, and any and all things creepy. You can find me here:
Blog: Rebecca Mahoney - Writer
Twitter
Becky will be blogging at Operation Awesome every other FRIDAY.

Truths and a lie about Becky:

• Mystery Blogger's favorite non-writing hobbies are handicrafts, especially origami. Mystery Blogger once signed up to help out at an origami instructional workshop, and ended up teaching the class entirely by accident.

• Mystery Blogger has a serious scarf problem. She was pretty sure she had one in every possible color, until she obtained three more over the holidays. Now she has every color. Maybe.

• Despite (or due to) the many gallons of coffee Mystery Blogger serves her bosses during her day job, Mystery Blogger is forever loyal to tea. No writing session is complete without a mug of red milk tea by her side.

• This Mystery Blogger began the first book she ever queried during a 13-hour car ride across Japan with her host parents and their two very restless young children. Mystery Blogger would like to thank that manuscript for saving her life that night.

THE WINNER of Becky's first 5 pages critique is Manju Howard!



Mystery Blogger #3: 

MAX GLADSTONE

I met my agent at an Operation Awesome contest, sold my debut novel soon after, and feel that Operation Awesome does exactly what it says on the tin. In various lives I've been an EFL teacher, researcher, tour guide, translator, smart grid analyst / cube operator, and an editor. These days, when I'm not making up stories about necromancers, I'm hunting my manuscripts for errant semicolons. I just deleted one from this paragraph!

My blog: Max Gladstone - Myths for Hire
My twitter: @maxgladstone
THREE PARTS DEAD
Max will be blogging at Operation Awesome every other SUNDAY.

Truths and a lie about Max:

• Mystery Blogger has been an illegal alien in the People's Republic of China.

• Mystery Blogger has shaken the hand of the Dalai Lama.

• Mystery Blogger has shaken the hand of a Vice President.

• Mystery Blogger has shaken the hand of Stephen King.

THE WINNER of Max's 5 page critique is Eliza Tilton!



Mystery Blogger #4: 

ABBY ANNIS

I am mom to three brilliant and talented kids. No bias there. ;) I write YA sci-fi and speculative fiction. My day job is in numbers (yes, I’m one of those weirdos who enjoys math), but I love words and writing. Taking beautiful writing and making visual art is one of my favorite things to do. Photoshop is a great procrastination tool. :) And I have a tendency to overuse smilies and the word awesome.

I’ve been a longtime lurker on the blog, and I’ve learned so much from the fabulous folks here. I’m excited to be a part of the awesomeness.

Blog
Twitter

Abby will be blogging at Operation Awesome every other SATURDAY.

• My AP English teacher from my junior year in high school made me HATE writing. And though I’ve journaled my whole life, I didn’t discover that I actually enjoy writing fiction until four years ago.

• I love anything peanut butter—PB&J, cookies, smothered in chocolate, plain—but I especially love to put it on waffles with maple syrup. Yum!

• The first piece of writing I got published was a poem I wrote in tenth grade titled “Down Yonder”. It was written as a joke and it was so very, very awful, but my English teacher loved it and put it in the annual school anthology.

• I really enjoy taking things apart to see how they work. So much so, that I get a little thrill of excitement when something breaks because that means I don’t have to feel bad about dissecting it.

THE WINNER of Abby's first 5 pages critique is Tiffany!

If you won a critique, please send the material you'd like critiqued to operationawesome6 (at) gmail (dot) com with subject line: MYSTERY BLOGGER WINNER

If you didn't win, come back tomorrow to meet our other Mystery Bloggers. There will be four more winners on the 31st, when our last four Mystery Bloggers' true identities are revealed!

Mystery Blogger Contest #1-4: Guess the Lie and Win

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BIG news at Operation Awesome as we welcome eight new bloggers to the owlery. We could just announce their names, but what fun would that be? 

So instead, we're holding a Mystery Blogger contest, and you will have 8 chances to win a critique by one of the newbies. The first four are posted below. The last four will be posted January 30th, 2013. 

They've each given us three truths and a lie about themselves in random order. To win a Mystery Blogger's critique, guess which fun fact is really the lie. Out of those who guess correctly, a random name will be drawn for the prize critique and announced tomorrow -- along with secret identities and the real truth about their fun facts.

Four people are offering critiques today if you guess their lies correctly.

*rubs hands together*

Here are the first four: 

Mystery Blogger #1: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a query critique)

• On her very first time volunteering at a regional SCBWI conference, Mystery Blogger introduced Well-Respected Editor without any verbal stumbles. And then as MB exited the stage, she promptly tripped over Well-Respected Editor’s purse and nearly faceplanted.

• The most cats that Mystery Blogger has ever had piled on her at one time is seven, distributed equally between her lap, feet, head, face, and shoulders. There were another five in the queue waiting for an opportunity. Or a fight to break out, which also clears the decks.

• Mystery Blogger once scared an agent on Twitter by trying to make a joke. Agent had tweeted something along the lines of “you don’t ever want to send me a query so bad it ends up on my Special List” and Mystery Blogger responded with “Challenge Accepted!” Agent tweeted back that the Special List was not meant to be aspired to and Mystery Blogger apologized profusely. They shared a laugh and became the best of friends.

• While recording a video pitch for a PitchFest, Mystery Blogger misspoke “sets a ship afire” with a bad word that rhymes with ship. And then couldn’t stop laughing for the next twenty takes. Now whenever she talks about that book, most of her brain cells are devoted to screaming, “make sure you say ship!”

Mystery Blogger #2: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a first 5 pages critique)

• Mystery Blogger's favorite non-writing hobbies are handicrafts, especially origami. Mystery Blogger once signed up to help out at an origami instructional workshop, and ended up teaching the class entirely by accident.

• Mystery Blogger has a serious scarf problem. She was pretty sure she had one in every possible color, until she obtained three more over the holidays. Now she has every color. Maybe.

• Despite (or due to) the many gallons of coffee Mystery Blogger serves her bosses during her day job, Mystery Blogger is forever loyal to tea. No writing session is complete without a mug of red milk tea by her side.

• This Mystery Blogger began the first book she ever queried during a 13-hour car ride across Japan with her host parents and their two very restless young children. Mystery Blogger would like to thank that manuscript for saving her life that night.

Mystery Blogger #3: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a 5 page critique)

• Mystery Blogger has been an illegal alien in the People's Republic of China.

• Mystery Blogger has shaken the hand of the Dalai Lama.

• Mystery Blogger has shaken the hand of a Vice President.

• Mystery Blogger has shaken the hand of Stephen King.

Mystery Blogger #4: (prize for guessing right: random entry for a first 5 pages critique)

• My AP English teacher from my junior year in high school made me HATE writing. And though I’ve journaled my whole life, I didn’t discover that I actually enjoy writing fiction until four years ago.

• I love anything peanut butter—PB&J, cookies, smothered in chocolate, plain—but I especially love to put it on waffles with maple syrup. Yum!

• The first piece of writing I got published was a poem I wrote in tenth grade titled “Down Yonder”. It was written as a joke and it was so very, very awful, but my English teacher loved it and put it in the annual school anthology.

• I really enjoy taking things apart to see how they work. So much so, that I get a little thrill of excitement when something breaks because that means I don’t have to feel bad about dissecting it.

Which one is the lie?
Guess only one lie for each Mystery Blogger, and list your guesses in a comment below.

Good luck!

(Remember, winners will be announced tomorrow along with the big reveal of who these people are and what lies they told you.) *cue ominous, mysterious music*

Lessons From Dean The Handmaiden

So. This post is about SUPERNATURAL. And writing. But mostly about SUPERNATURAL. 

You've been warned. O_O

Last week, there was a special episode of SUPERNATURAL. It involved Sam, Dean, and LARPing. For those of you who don't know, LARPing is short for Live Action Role Playing. Picture a bunch of people playing an elaborate (and awesome) game featuring characters from their favorite video games, movies, TV shows, graphic novels, historical periods, etc. The point is to play not as yourself, but as a character. 

Well, if you watch SUPERNATURAL, you know Sam and Dean don't scream LARPing fans to anyone. Until they get their chance to prove everyone wrong. Dean is named handmaiden to the queen (yes, you read that right. DEAN THE HANDMAIDEN). Sam... well... Sam stayed Sam, but he enjoyed himself. Both brothers did.

Case in point:

 

That's Dean in a faux BRAVEHEART moment. It is also the very last seconds of the episode. After recovering from a horrendous fit of giggles, it hit me--Dean the handmaiden looked happier than he had in ages. He can't do what he's doing in that GIF on a daily basis. His real life sucks the fun out of living most of the time, and in this brief moment, he lets go of that suckage. 

So here's my advice to you, blogging buddies: remember to work hard, remember to sacrifice things, but please remember to have fun. I don't care what your idea of fun is. Knitting. Baking. Rock climbing. Koala watching. I DON'T CARE. Just have fun. You need it. Your work needs it.

Now go out there and find your faux BRAVEHEART moment. :)

Rejection Feedback

A few friends and I are in the middle of revisions (who isn't!), but in discussing our revision strategy, I've realized how much our views on rejection feedback has changed. We've gotten feedback in agent and editor rejections, but we are not jumping to implement it. This is quite a change from my previous views. My reaction to rejection feedback has actually gone through five different stages.


Stage One - Agonizing over rejection feedback without realizing it's a form

When I got my first few rejections, I parsed every word and I thought they revealed the truth about my manuscript. I tore my hair out because Agent A was intrigued by my premise, but not drawn into the opening chapters as much a she hoped. Agent B thought I had much to be proud of, but couldn't connect with the main narrative.

Argh!. I could make it to the next step if only I revise my opening chapters somehow, or make my main character more relatable.

Then I learned those were forms. The "feedback," positive and negative, meant nothing but no.

Stage Two - Wishing for feedback with rejection

Once I realized that general comments were forms, and I agonized because I WANTED feedback. If only the agents would tell me what was wrong, I could fix it. Why won't they tell me what is wrong? Don't I even deserve a REASON?

Stage Three - Revising to every comment

Finally! My rejections came with feedback. After every rejection, I would revise. But then the next revision had DIFFERENT feedback. How could I know what to do if everyone told me something different?

Stage Four - Wishing I didn't get feedback with rejection

And then I'd get a particularly stinging comment. Maybe it hit on a nagging problem I always suspected but didn't want to face, or is was way too blunt about something I never considered. Feedback like that got me thinking the opposite of Stage Two. Must rejections include feedback? Why isn't a simple no enough without sticking the knife in too?

Stage Five  - Just another opinion, and I appreciate all opinions.

This is where I am now. When I get feedback on a rejection, I'm grateful. I appreciate the thought and time that went into reading and commenting, and I consider the comments carefully.

That doesn't mean I revise based on them. The agent or editor did not want my work. The comment is not the real reason why -- they just didn't love it, or just didn't think they could sell it. Feedback is just extra, a little parting gift in an attempt to be helpful. Unless they say they'd like to see the manuscript again if I revise according to the comment, it's useless revising to please them. The horse has already left  the barn. I won't get another chance with that editor for this book.

So when I consider the comments carefully, I find that sometimes the reasons given by several editors contradict each other Sometimes it's clear that the book is not for them and no amount of revision is going to change that. I file those comments away.

But sometimes they are right. Some problems are fixable. But the final decision to revise or not comes from my own judgment. I'm looking for an editor who loves my work, and whatever makes that more likely is a good thing. I can't always see my own work clearly so I appreciate wise guidance wherever I get it, even if it has a big old NO attached in capital letters.

How do you use rejection feedback? Have your views on rejections changed and how?

And be sure to come back tomorrow for some big news and a contest from Operation Awesome!

Enter to Win 10 awesome Ebooks!

I am so excited to share a blog post from my good friend Angela Ackerman of The Bookshelf Muse. Not only do Angela and I share a first name we also share an awesome agent, Jill  Corcoran of the Herman Agency.  I am honored that my novel Amarok was chosen as one of the giveaway prizes!  

Hurry and visit  http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com to leave a comment for a chance to win. 

Celebrate 5 Years With Us & WIN!

Posted by Angela Ackerman

Dennisallen

Every time January hits, I am shocked to know that it's been another year of blogging for Becca and me. The same thoughts scroll through my brain: what did I do before this blog? How did I manage to function before realizing I needed to reach out to the blogging community? 

I had ties in a few forums of course, and made some wonderful friendships. Heck, Becca and I met at The Critique Circle, an online critiquing community for writers (thank you Universe for making that happen!) But really, for both of us, our world grew bigger and brighter when we met all of you! :)

Crazily enough, we've been at this now for 5 years! FIVE! And in a bizarre twist of fate, we hit two other incredible milestones this month as well:

The Emotion Thesaurus sold over 20,000 copies

&

 The blog had its 2,000,000th Hit!

~~ * ~~

CLEARLY a celebration is in order, yes? We think so too, so we're giving away a Kindle Paperwhite loaded with 10 ebooks (winner's choice) from the selection below: 

MG & YA Reads:

Janet Gurtler's Who I Kissed

Susan Quinn's Open Minds

Laura Pauling's How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings

P.J. Hoover's The Emerald Tablet

Angela Townsend's Amarok

Kait Nolan's Red
Cheyrl Rainfield's Parallel Visions
C. Lee McKenzie's Alligators Overhead
Marilee Brother's Moonstone

Adult Reads: 

C.S. Lakin's Intended For Harm
Amber West's Ruth Valley Missing
K. M. Weiland's Dreamlander

Joanna Penn's Pentecost
Steena Holmes' Finding Emma
Liana Brook's Even Villains Fall In Love
Heather Atkins's The Temple

Alex Cavanaugh's CassaStar

Reference: 

James Scott Bell's Fiction Attack!
S.P. Sipal's A Writer's Guide To Harry Potter
Kristen Lamb's We Are Not Alone: The Writer's Guide To Social Media

Roz Morris' Nail Your Novel
Jodie Renner's Style That Sizzles & Pacing For Power

Jill Elizabeth Nelson's Rivet Your Readers With Deep POV

Denise Jaden's Writing With A Heavy Heart: Using Grief And Loss To Stretch Your Fiction
Becca & Angela's Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression

~~ * ~~  

 

SO MANY AMAZING BOOKS, am I right? I am sure the winner will be very happy, no matter which 10 they pick. And hey, that could be YOU, so let's talk about how to get into the draw, shall we?

HOW TO ENTER: 

Becca and I are not big on hoop jumping, and this is about CELEBRATING ALL OF YOU, not us. So while of course we would love your TWEETS, LINKS & SHARES, it's not a condition to win. Just simply leave us a comment at http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com.  Maybe tell us about someone who has helped you recently, and if they have one, leave a link to their blog so that people can visit them.:)

Yep, that simple. :)

Contest closes on January 31st! Good luck everyone, and thank you for all your support!

2013 Excitement and Mystery...

by Jeannie Lynn Paske

Excitement this week:

• celebrating Michelle McLean's book release of TO TRUST A THIEF 
• seeing her beautiful book trailer for the first time 
• meeting our fabulous January Mystery Agent Thao Le of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency 
• and Kristal shared her publisher's Show Us Your Wings contest and giveaway for A Shimmer of Angels book swag!

Excitement this MONTH! 

• Prior to all of this, we celebrated 2013 in style with the New Year's Revisions Conference, a totally free, totally online, totally archived conference themed around revision. 
• Then Michelle shared her publisher's news: Entangled has partnered with Davis Entertainment, in which Davis "gets an exclusive first look at all the titles coming out of Entangled". Entangled has also partnered with two Big 6 pubs, Macmillan and St. Martin's in which "Macmillan will distribute English language e-books of Entangled’s new publications" and "St. Martin's will launch a new joint venture imprint known as St. Martin’s/Entangled which will bring into print and publish a select number of Entangled’s digital first titles."

2013 is shaping up to be an incredible year, and we aren't even out of January yet! 

As much fun and excitement as we've had on the blog out in the open, there's been additional awesomeness going on behind the owlery drapes. Mysterious owlish stuff...

Beginning on Monday, January 28th, we're going to have some big announcements (hint: they include more contests, and that's not even the exciting part!). Note: we won't have a February Mystery Agent contest as we are just catching our breath after NYRC 2013.

We have more Operation Awesome book news coming down the pike, but that's not my news to share, so I'll let you wonder...

*insert fog machine here*

hee hee

I also have some personal news which I'm sure I'll be blogging more about in the future. It involves the publishing industry, but doesn't involve any of my books. 

Riddle, riddle, riddle. 

I'd make a terrible Sphinx. 

 

by ~Nathali

I'd love to hear from you what wonderful, mysterious things are you anticipating in 2013? (ooh, especially tell me about book releases, yours or your favorites)