Mandy Hubbard's Blog, page 19

Things to Avoid in your query

So, if you follow my twitter, you might have seen me mention that I am reading slush. Yes, my dear readers, I am interning for a literary agency. It's been a very interesting learning experience for me-- one I hope to build upon and eventually become a literary agent. (If anyone knows of an agency looking to add a new YA-centric agent, CALL ME!).

Anywho, here are a few things that I've seen in queries that y'all should just go ahead and leave out. None of these are auto-rejections, but they d...

Growing as a writer

I have to say, it is really, truly rewarding to see myself grow as a writer. And not always in the ways I'd expected.

Once upon a time, I thought revising meant using spell check and fixing punctuation. I slowly learned that's not the case, and eventually came to understand the basics. Through revising THE JETSETTER'S SOCIAL CLUB, that ill-fated novel that got me my first (and second) agent, I learned about audience, about conflicts, about dialogue tags, about how to say what you mean in six ...

YOU WISH cover!!!

Um, so, thanks to Alex Bracken, i discovered that Penguin's catalog for Summer 2010 is out--- and it has the YOU WISH cover in it! So, I guess I can share!

I don't think this is final-final, but here's what's in the catalog:





Kayla McHenry’s sweet sixteenth sucks! Her dad left, her grades dropped, and her BFF is dating the boy Kayla’s secretly loved for years. Blowing out her candles, Kayla thinks: I wish my birthday wishes actually came true. Because they never freakin’ do.

Kayla wakes the...

I'm a victim of deadline-ositis

I was just joking with someone that I’ve had a deadline or two looming over me since May or June. And then the laughter dried up when I stopped and realized, uh, that wasn’t a joke. From June 8th  until this very moment, I’ve had almost ZERO time free of deadlines. There were those glorious four days between October 1 and October 5th. And then there was those twenty-six minutes on October 22nd.

 

And now, before I even turned in YW, I’ve got a SHATTERED revision letter in hand.

 

So while it...

Shattered is on Goodreads!

You can add it here.

I'm not sure who put it up on the site, but hey, someone is just as excited as I am! :-)


Also, if anyone with graphic design mojo would like to make me a decidedly less sucktastic SHATTERED icon, I would like, love you forever.

In fact, I'll love you so much I'll send you a gift. I have a couple 2010 Razorbill ARCs you could choose from-- or you can hold out for a YOU WISH arc, if I get more than a couple.

Okay, I admit. This story made me cry. In a good way...

Okay, I admit. This story made me cry. In a good way, in a sad way.


It's about a middle school boy (14) who is 7'4. His abnormal growth was caused by a chromosone actually breaking apart and then reattaching--backwards. He is the tallest teen in the world.

Yet despite the fact that he has arthritis, abnormal blood counts, and gets winded easily, he wanted to play football.

So his football team created a special play just for him, that would require just catching it and throwing.

Brendan says,...

Mini Shattered Teaser

It's Teaser Tuesday! Here's a short teaser from SHATTERED, my Flux book that will be written under Amanda Grace. I believe its a 2011 book. It's about a 17 year old girl's year spent with an abusive boyfriend, told in reverse chronological order.

 

Even with all the things he’d told me about his father, I’d never actually seen the monster. He existed in stories conjured up by Connor. He was a mythical thing, the villain in a twisted fairy tale.

I know right now, as I watch the flames dance and ...

ATTENTION FICTIONPRESS PEOPLE! (and anyone else on the journey to publication)

So, for the last few weeks, I've been coordinating with sjmaas , lazy_iris ,  and seeyouupside , among others, for a whole new site.

See, the group of us all started, once upon a time, at Fictionpress.com. It's a website that hosts millions of original works of ficiton and poetry.

I became a writer in 2003 solely becuase of this site. When I found it, I intended to only read the fiction, never to write it. But after several weeks of reading, I began to get the itch to contribute something of my...

Letters from me

Dear Readers,

I know I am not Jane Austen. *checks driver's license.* Nope, still not Jane Austen. Also, I know Prada & Prejudice is not Pride & Prejudice. But just so you know, never once while writing Prada did I pause, tap my finger on my chin, and say to myself, "Wow, I think this is better than the classic! And readers will think so too!" 

Really. I know that you're not going to think Prada & Prejudice is better, is going to replace the original. I'd be batshit crazy or ridiculously arroga...

Oh, fun

I turned in DRIVEN revisions today. (Driven is the romance novella for Harlequin's NASCAR continuity-- pubs in June 2010.)

26 minutes later, I received my revision letter for YOU WISH.

I guess there's no rest for the ambitious.