Krista Van Dolzer's Blog

The End

Not a very auspicious title for a new blog post, is it? That said, I'm afraid it's true. This will be my final blog post on www.kristavandolzer.blogspot.com for reasons I'll outline below, so I may wax nostalgic--sigh--for a handful of paragraphs.
When I started this blog almost sixteen(!) years ago, I had a few specific goals: find a critique partner or two with whom I could trade manuscripts, start building a platform, and generally connect with the online writing community. I did all those thi...

My Annotated 2024 Reading List

What follows is a list of EVERY book I finished in 2024 (or at least every book I logged on Goodreads; I've been known to miss a couple), along with a note or two.
1. A TRAITOR IN WHITEHALL by Julia Kelly As this reading list will soon reveal, I'm kind of a sucker for a World War II historical of any shape or texture, so it should come as no surprise that I snatched this one up as soon as I saw it. Is the second one out yet?! (Yes, friends, it turns out that it is.)
2. WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS by Isab...

Feedback on My Query?

My writing career has been taking a really circuitous path over the last couple of years, and unfortunately, there's still no end in sight. As such, I've been working on a new project and new query and would love to hear your thoughts.
Content warnings: mass shootings and suicidal ideation
Dear [Agent]:
It’s been five years since Roxy’s life fractured into Before and After, since her then-fourteen-year-old attempted suicide by cop. This is the lie they told, at least, to hide an even fouler truth, ...

#PitchMe Results + Feedback

Another year of #PitchMe is over, and our finalists killed it. Their pitches logged 84 total likes, several of which came from 2 additional agents who joined in on the fun. Here's a summary of the action:
#1 PB: DEAR MATH Anjanette Barr#2 PB: BAD HAIRCUT Amy Nielsen#3 PB: I AM JEWISH, I AM PROUD Callie Hansen#4 PB: CLEVER & CRAFTY: HOW FRANCES GLESSNER LEE TAUGHT POLICE TO OBSERVE Amy Nielsen#5 PB: MOSQUITO IN A BURRITO Amy Nielsen#6 PB: ONIONS FOR BREAKFAST Anjanette Barr#7 PB: 42 FOLDS Anjanett...

#PitchMe Finalists 2024

Without any ado, this year's #PitchMe finalists:
PB
J.L.'s 42 FOLDSC.S.'s I AM JEWISH, I AM PROUDS.H.'s ONIONS FOR BREAKFASTS.M.'s CRAFTY & CLEVER: HOW FRANCES GLESSNER LEE TAUGHT POLICE TO OBSERVEM.D.'s MOSQUITO IN A BURRITOM.H.B.'s DEAR MATH
MG
A.T.'s THE GHOSTLIGHTS OF FROSTPROOF (magical realism)W.W.'s ALEX BROOKSBY: BORN A THIEF (adventure mystery)J.R.'s GOOD NEWS FROM HIGHER GROUND (contemporary)C.L.'s PHOTO NEGATIVE (horror)D.A.'s JAREN SILVERWING AND THE FORBIDDEN SPELL (fantasy)S.B.'s SOS (...

What #PitchMe Agents and Editors Are Looking for This Year

First off, thank you, thank you, thank you for submitting to #PitchMe. I've now read ALL the entries, and you guys blew me away. But instead of sharing my thoughts on what worked well and what didn't, I thought you might benefit from hearing what agents and editors are looking for this year.
Next off, a few caveats:
Though I go out of my way to bring in editors and agents who are representative of the industry at large, they're obviously not everyone, which means these lists are *not* exhaustive.S...

Second Submission Window for #PitchMe 2024 Now Open

UPDATE: And that's a wrap! We ended up with 71 PBs, 39 MGs, 71 YAs, and 186 adults, for a total of 367 entries, a new #PitchMe record. Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, September 18. Thanks for entering!
Welcome to #PitchMe 2024! To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

PB fiction and nonfiction (all genres)
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
Adult fi...

First Submission Window for #PitchMe 2024 Now Open

UPDATE: The first submission window is now closed, but the second will open tonight at 10:30 p.m. EDT (which is 10:30 p.m. in New York). For your information, we've received 39 PBs, 22 MGs, 45 YAs, and 105 adults so far!
Welcome to #PitchMe 2024! To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

PB fiction and nonfiction (all genres)
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres...

#PitchMe 2024

#PitchMe is back, and Tara Shiroff and I, along with Melissa Trempe, are ready to get to work. If you take what I love most about multi-agent query contests--mentoring great writers at wherever they happen to be on their publishing journey--and mash it up with a pitch fest, then you've basically got #PitchMe. Are you interested? Read on!

Here's the timeline:
September 4: The submission windows open
September 18: Selected submissions announced
September 18-October 22: Mentoring takes place
October 23:...

Dedicated #PitchMe Page Unlocked

Well, folks, I've finally put together a dedicated #PitchMe page. If you're actually looking at my blog, you should be able to find the tab at the top of the website. If you're getting this by e-mail or in some other feed, you can find the tab by clicking on this link.
I haven't started reaching out to agents or editors yet (though I will within a week or two!), but you can rest assured that #PitchMe will return this fall. And though I still happen to be without an agent at the moment, you can al...