"Prep Work" Logline/First Page Critique Round Submission Window Now Open!!

*THE SUBMISSION WINDOW IS NOW CLOSED.  THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!  PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER TODAY FOR THIS ROUND'S ENTRIES.*

This month's critique round will be called "Prep Work".  This particular round is for those of you who plan to enter Baker's Dozen 2013, or for those of you who need to work on both your logline and first page.  Hopefully, the feedback you'll receive here will give you what's needed to get your work chosen for the next contest or auction (Secret Agent is right around the corner!).  And if you enter this round, you will receive automatic admission into the revisions round I will offer in late September.

This round I will accept all genres and it is one entry per person, per genre (So you can submit 1 adult, 1 NA and/or 1 YA/MG).

Starting now, please send submissions to ktcritiques [AT] gmail.com by 10 PM EDT Sunday night, September 1.  I will post them Monday, September 2 at KTCROWLEY.COM for critiquing.

In the subject, please state “PREP WORK ENTRY”.

Please list the TITLE, GENRE and your SCREEN NAME (I will not include screen names in the critique posts, these are for my purposes only. Your screen name is the name you'll use to critique others in the comments.) above your logline and 250 words (format it the way you normally would). Please do not stop in the middle of a sentence. If it goes over the 250 limit by a couple of words, that's fine. If you stop at say, 235 words, that's fine, too.  As for the logline word limit, I'll make the cut 75 words, but please note, most loglines should only be a max 50-55 words, so keep in mind that less is more.

So your submission should look like this:

SCREEN NAME: Your Screen Name Here

TITLE: Your Title Here

GENRE: Your Genre Here

(Logline here)

(First 250 here).

A confirmation email will be sent, but it may not be right away. Only resend if you don't get one by the last hour of the submission window. Should I receive 20 entries, an email will be sent to notify you if you didn't make the cut and I will update this post to reflect an early closure, so get yours in quickly!

Please check your submission(s) carefully for typos, grammatical errors, etc. before submitting. Once the submission is confirmed by email, it is set to automatically post. Double checking it first will ensure your writing is critiqued appropriately. Also, please leave out "chapter one," chapter "titles", etc. Otherwise, I may count them toward your 250 and you could lose some of your first page entry.

If you enter, please critique five other entries, so that it's fair for everyone (if you enter multiple times, please critique 5 others for each one of your entries).  And spread the word; the more critiques, the merrier! Let's help everyone involved get as much feedback as possible.

 Good luck, everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing all the great writing and supportive critiques.  Got questions?  Post them in the comments or shoot me an email.

P.S. If you're not a follower of my blog, I'd love it if you'd follow my journey and join the fun! There are several ways via the right-hand side of the screen. I try to offer open critique rounds monthly to help writers like you perfect your work. Our already amazing writing community only gets better when we help each other. :)

What I Think About That Insensitive, Ignorant Magazine Cover...

April 15, 2013 and the days that followed will always be remembered by not just the victims, families, first responders and Bostonians, but by the world.  The Boston Marathon bombings are the very definition of a terrorist attack. Comprised and executed out of sheer hate and lack of regard for human life, two brothers believed they were giving America the ultimate payback for what people of their radical beliefs thought to be valid reasons.  They wanted to send a strong message.  Eye for an eye, to sum it up.  What it really was, was just plain, ignorant, ill-conceived hate.  

But still, these two got more press coverage than most of the victims.  Their names will almost always be remembered, marked as part of a tragic day in US history.  They achieved a horrible form of infamy, one that no person should ever wish to gain.  

What those two crazed radicals didn't succeed in?  Breaking our spirit.  In the wake of that horrible event, Bostonians and people around the world stood more united.  Grievances were pushed aside, strangers became friends, bonds that may have never formed before now in place as if they were always meant to be there.  I worked tirelessly with wonderful donors and bidders from the writing community for over a month on the Write Stuff for Boston fundraising auction to benefit the victims and families, because it was the least any of us could do for the people whose lives were callously maimed and/or destroyed.  Everyone came together and proudly, Boston came out of those horrible first days Boston strong.  There isn't another strength like it.  We'll always be Boston strong, that'll never change.

I chose not to use the alleged bombers name because they do not deserve repeating.  I chose not to name the iconic (even if it hasn't lived up to its reputation in many years) music magazine for the same reason.  I understand the curiosity about the living suspect in custody.  I even wonder myself about him, and why he and his brother would commit such heinous acts of violence.  So, even though I refuse quell my curiosity by reading the article and have no idea of the content's integrity, I will not discount its merit, or the journalism behind it here.

What I will say is this: putting a terrorist, just 3 months after the attacks, on a cover normally reserved for musical artists and celebrities, not only sends a strong message that with great violence comes great, twisted fame, but that it says they as a publication care more about the dollars and press behind such an offensive, controversial cover rather than have a shred of compassion, empathy and consideration for the victims, their friends and family, and the city of Boston as a whole.  It tells other possible psychopaths that they, too, can be on the cover of a Rock and Roll magazine, sensationalized and made to seem like a legend.  To me, it's classless, disgusting and trashy.  It drags the already-down publication's reputation to a low almost any other national/international publication couldn't match.  A headline on the cover?  Maybe that could be justified a year or two after he's been tried and convicted.  But not a cover, and not while the wounds are still fresh.  It's an attempt at shock value at the expense of my precious city.

You know what, though?  It doesn't change the fact that we still stand united.  The backlash just proves that.  The amazing love and support for this city and the victims is still as strong as it was that day.  That cover probably made it that much stronger.  As Mayor Menino mentioned, even though it's the victims and families that deserve to be on the cover, that piece of junk publication (and all who support it's decision to publish that atrocity of a cover) doesn't deserve them.  

So go ahead, print your trash.  For every victim/family member/friend of that tragedy who has to see that, I'm sure karma will be paying you back a million times over.  I relish that thought, and refuse to let your benign attempt at gross infamy affect me any more than it already has.  Because you're now considered evil almost as much as he is.  I can live with that branding on your once sterling name, at least, if all the negativity hasn't made you reconsider and retract by now.  

Enjoy being the newest pariah of publishing.

June Test Run #4

TITLE: Reality 346181 - Safe Place

GENRE: YA Sci-fi

September 12^th, 2013

“Yusef, get up man. Don’t make me pour water on you.” Ibram pulled his foot up onto my bed to tie his shoelace. My big brother usually made a good roommate, until he forgot to be my friend and changed into my dad.

“Get your foot off my bed.” I kicked him from under the sheets.

He kicked me back.

“Ouch! You’ve got your shoes on man.” I pulled the blanket back and rolled out of bed.

Ibram winced at the sight of me and hid his face. “Little bro, you are so skinny. You need to work out more.”

 “Torvald’s helping me train.” I ran my hands through my shaggy, black hair, searching the floor for something to wear.

“Training you for what? A dog show?”

“I’ve gained five pounds.”

 “Since you were twelve?” He laughed at his own joke.

“No, in like the last... I don’t need to tell you this.” I found a pair of matching socks and pulled them on. First triumph of the day.

“Maybe one day you’ll be able to stop me from beating the wreck out of you.” Ibram put his jacket on to head to his first class.

“Maybe I already can.” I stood up and puffed out my brown chest. It only made him laugh more.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but did I just hear a challenge escape your lips? If I didn’t feel obliged to go to school I might take you up on it. Put you back in your place. As it is, we’ll never know.” He opened the dorm room door and with a flourish and a wink he turned and stepped out into the hall.

Ibram always made a good bully. Lucky for me he was usually on my side. He only pestered me when it didn’t really count. We wouldn’t have been able to room together at a regular school, but Young Adult Colligate combined High School and College so the students could narrow their field of studies sooner. I wanted to be a physicist. Ibram was into programing. If anybody was a nerd, he was. He’d probably argue if he knew I said that, but I could take him on. He owned two computers, I only had one, plus my laptop, but that didn’t count.

Tuesday mornings I had a spare. I usually went down to the computer lab, but my inability to find a clean shirt put a chink in my schedule. I sat down at my own computer and wiped the goop out of my eyes.

“Time to wake up.” I directed my comment at the blank screen. The hard drive whirred and clicked like it couldn’t remember how to work. Maybe it needed a good kick too.

I used to be amazed by computers. Once upon a time my life revolved around them but these days not so much. I found it hard to go from a reality where technology was implanted in our skin and embedded in our glasses, back to a world where all we could invent was WiFi and touch screens. It seemed so basic to me now. The inter-dimensional universe had so much more out there - stuff that freaked the heck out of me when I first saw it. Sometimes I wondered why I chose to stay and finish school.

June Test Run #3

TITLE: The Last Innocent

GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Suspense, Romance

He sat with his wings tucked neatly behind him on the roof of the old house located in the heart of the college district in Eugene, Oregon. Muffled music from the expensive speakers escaped through the warped rafters. The Warrior smiled. She was playing her favorite tunes again. The ones she played when life became too stressful. He envisioned her now, walking through the cramped rooms below, singing with abandon at the top of her lungs. How fast she had grown up.

The Warrior shook his head and tried remembering the others. Human time was just a blur for him. Surely he could recall at least one of his other assignments, but only bits and fragments surfaced. Mortals’ lives were over in the blink of an eye, and such a shame, too. These creatures possessed so much passion and hatred, with the capacity for abundant goodness and, sadly, equal ugliness. All of it rolled into one fragile package. No, the only details that came to his mind were the battles and carnage. No wonder he suppressed the memories.

Assignments, he chuckled aloud at his own thoughts. He could hear Michael’s scolding now, the beautiful Archangel lecturing him endlessly that protecting wards—mortals—was not an assignment, rather an honor of the highest regard. He could even picture Michael’s finely sculpted eyebrows arch in that way he had when masterfully weaving his words. How an angel could be so dangerous, so powerful, and yet so beautiful mystified him. He shook his head again. God, in all His omnipotence, was the only one who could answer that question; however, that question hadn’t made it on the list for when his time came to stand before the Almighty.

June Test Run #2

TITLE: My 7th Grade Life in Tights
GENRE: MG Humorous Contemporary

My downward spiral into the land of purple nurples and arm burns started when the sixth grade teachers announced an open call for talent show auditions.

Magic sets were dusted off, guitars restrung, jokes written and rewritten. For me, though, I didn’t need any of that.

Because I’m a dancer.

Okay, hold on, lemme explain something first. I’ve never actually been to a dance class. I pitched the idea to my mom and dad back in fourth grade, and after a few hours of crunching numbers they told me I could either choose to enroll in Sunnydale’s Elite Dance-SPLOSION after school academy or go the next ten years without lunch money.

It took me a full week to make up my mind but in the end I decided I’d never even make it a week at the academy without a lunch in my belly. Even if the school cafeteria’s spaghetti sauce was 99% grease and the tuna casserole smelled like day-old fart.

Besides, that academy was no joke. They had a reputation for being the toughest dance school in the state. In fact, rumor had it that Abby Lee learned her best stink-eye face from the head of the Dance-SPLOSION academy. I probably wouldn’t have survived there anyway.

So… like I said, I’m a dancer. Sort of. No official training but I’ve watched and rewatched every single episode of SYTYCD, DWTS, Dance Moms, and I’ve spent over one hundred dollars of my hard-earned allowance over the years buying every teach-yourself-to-dance DVD I could find on eBay.

June Test Run #1

TITLE: Nomags vs Gifted
GENRE: MG Fantasy

 

A shot whizzed by twelve-year-old Christian Derling and exploded on the ground behind him. That was close, he thought, but now I know where you’re at. Direction, speed, angle—you must be right over—Zing. Christian saw the second attack coming just in time to duck out of the way. Too much thinking. Christian scampered behind a knobby sienna, the largest tree inhabiting the forests of Thuringia. Sitting between the gnarled roots of the tree, safe for the moment, he called out, “Molly.” She didn’t answer. Where was she? Some best friend. They were the last two. The Gifted he was hunting had eliminated all of the others. Two Nomags trying to capture one Gifted was not nearly enough. One Nomag was impossible.

He heard the crackling of branches breaking under the heavy feet of his larger foe. There would be no more chasing. So he wants to end it now. Ok. I’m ready. Christian hushed his breathing so he could listen. He did not want to end up like the others. The footsteps stopped on the far side of the tree. Smaller but quicker than his adversary, Christian knew a sneak attack was his best hope. Well, Molly was his best hope, but she’d abandoned him. Sweat ran down the back of his neck soaking through his shirt as he pressed himself against the tree. He climbed across the tops of the roots and around the trunk until he could see the wavy, sandy brown hair on the back of his target’s head. Knees bent, he prepared to strike.

June "Test Run" Critique Round Call for Submissions!!

*submission window has been extended to June 30 at 4 PM EDT!!*

It's time for another critique round, finally!!

Since the opportunity to score feedback on WIPs is one of the more popular critique rounds I offer, we'll do yet another "Test Run” session. This is for any first page. Whether your manuscript is finished and polished, it's a work-in-progress, or you only have the first page, this is the time to test it out on readers and get some honest, helpful feedback and support from your peers. If you've entered previous rounds, this is also a great opportunity to get feedback on your revisions.

From Thursday, June 27 at 10:00 PM EDT until Saturday, June 29 at 9:00 PM EDT I will accept submissions. I will post them on June 30 here at KTCROWLEY.COM for critiquing.

Please send submissions to ktcritiques [AT] gmail.com

In the subject, please state "JUNE TEST RUN”.

This round I will accept all genres and it is one entry per person, per genre (So you can submit 1 adult 1 YA/MG).

Please list the TITLE, GENRE and your SCREEN NAME (I will not include screen names in the critique posts, these are for my purposes only. Your screen name is the name you'll use to critique others in the comments.) above your 250 words (format it the way you normally would). Please do not stop in the middle of a sentence. If it goes over the 250 limit by a couple of words, that's fine. If you stop at say, 235 words, that's fine, too.

Your submission should look like this:


SCREEN NAME: Your Screen Name Here
TITLE: Your Title Here
GENRE: Your Genre Here

(Excerpt here.)

Please leave out "chapter one," chapter "titles", etc. Otherwise, I may count them toward your 250 and you could lose some of your first page entry.

You will receive a confirmation email, but it may not be right away. Only resend if you don't get one by the last hour of the submission window.

Please check your submission(s) carefully for typos, grammatical errors, etc. before submitting. Once the submission is confirmed by email, it is set to automatically post. Double checking it first will ensure your writing is critiqued appropriately. ;-)

If you enter, you must critique at least 5 other submissions (if there are only five, please critique all). If you enter two first pages, please critique 10 (if there are less than 10 total, please critique all). This is so it's fair for everyone involved.

I will accept up to 25 entries.

That’s it! If you have any questions, please hit me up in the comments or send me an email at crowleykt [AT] gmail.com.

Spread the word please; the more, the merrier! Let's fill up this round and help everyone involved get as much feedback as possible. Also, if you're not a follower of my blog, please do so, so I can continue to offer rounds like this to help writers like you perfect your work. :)

Thank you all again for your support and participation; it truly makes a difference!!

2+ Weeks, 100 Donations and A Whole Bunch of Money Raised!

For those who missed it, here is the official post from last night with the grand total raised:

"Annnnd the grand total is in!

*Drum roll*

The #Writestuff4Boston auction raised a total of $7,431!

A humongous thank you to every single donor, bidder and word-spreader involved in this event-- without you guys, none of this would have been possible. Give yourselves a round of applause and a pat on the back; you deserve it!"

What an accomplishment!

As for the incentives winners, here they are:

Donor Who Raised the Most: Eric Ruben, Esq.
Highest Overall Bidder: David Oarr

Way to go, guys!  You both get virtual gold stars and fabulous t-shirts.  I'll be in touch soon to get your sizes.

I'm honored and humbled by the amount of people who jumped on board from the first message I sent out to get this off the ground, without hesitation.  My heart swells just thinking about it.  I knew this writing community was amazing, but wow, I was floored by the generosity and kindness displayed to benefit the victims and families of the Boston Marathon bombings.  Many of the donors have ties to Boston, which just goes to show what a special place it.  I was also touched by the amount of you who expressed your concern for me and my family.  I've never met most of you in person, but you'll all hold a special place in my heart.  I'm lucky to have met you!

To the donors, thank you for your generosity.  Some of you had never spoken to me before, and yet you still stepped up to donate to the cause.  Thanks for your faith in me and this auction.  You're all wonderful, caring people with hearts made of gold. 

To everyone who bid, thank you for your generosity, as well!  Your donations have made a big impact already for both the funds, and that's what this was all about.  Thanks for being so prompt with your payments, and for making my job a little easier, too.   

To everyone else involved, thank you for spreading the word, your encouragement and support.  Every single person made a difference, whether it was big or small, and that's something to be really proud of. 

My biggest hope when I started this auction?  To get 10 donations and hopefully raise funds in the triple digits--and to not anger anyone, cause it took a lot of guts for me to contact the donors I did.  Imagine my surprise when after the first two days I had over 30 donations!  Then when the first day closed at over $1500 raised, and people were seeking me out to help, I knew this event was going to be much bigger than I had anticipated. 

Though it was a ton of work (if I didn't have my husband's help, I may have actually drowned in emails and postings, so thank you so much, Bob!) it was an experience of a lifetime, one I will never forget, and I will actually miss all of it.  I'll miss the daily postings, the email conversations, the tweets and Facebook posts.  I'll miss all you guys, so please, keep in touch!  I'd love to hear how you're all doing now and then.

In closing, I want to say that you may not be from Boston, or even have a single tie to this city, but you're all BOSTON STRONG.  Don't forget that.   

The next critique round will be next month, so watch for that announcement, as well as a blog post on where I'm at later this week.  And if there are any agents or editors interested in participating in one of my critique rounds, send me an email; I'd love to have you and you're always welcome!

With that said, I officially close the Write Stuff for Boston Auction *sniffle*.  Hugs to all of you!  <3       

Sprint to the Finish Discounts!

This is the final push to get more donations in.  All items left are due to close between now and Friday, but if you see something on the Race to Donate block that has already closed (without bids), place your bid anyway! It's all for a good cause, and I will honor it because it will benefit the funds even more.

And I'm taking one more step to nudge you awesome bidders even further...

DISCOUNTS!! 

That's right, discounts off multiple items won in the same day.  I'll offer $5 off to anyone who bundles 2 or more separate auction items, $10 off for 4 separate items, $15 off 6 separate items, etc. The only catch is you have to be the first to bid on each item, and it must be all together on the same day.  I'll apply the discount to your total in your winner notification email.

Friday night at 10 PM EDT marks the official close of the auction, so don't miss out on this last sprint to the finish!

And finally, if you've donated to the funds and work for a company that matches employee contributions, why not make your donation go even further by submitting it?  It's more for the funds, without it costing you anything extra.  If you do take advantage of this prior to Friday night at 10 PM EDT, make sure to let me know so that I may add it to the final tally!  If 50% of the donations made through this auction are matched, that would push us officially over the 10k mark.  How fantastic would that be??  I'll be back after the auction has officially closed with a note to announce the incentives winner(s) and to reveal the grand total raised.

Thank you, everyone, for all you've done.  Without you, this auction wouldn't have been this big of a success.  Together, we've made a difference and I couldn't be prouder. 

BOSTON STRONG!  <3

 

Day 16 Item #20: Author Carol Peacock (3 Available) *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 16

Item #20: Signed copy of RED THREAD SISTERS from Author Carol Peacock

Day 16 Item #19: Author Janet Oakley *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 16

Item #19: Signed copy of TREE SOLDIER from writer/historian/educator Janet Oakley

Day 15 Item #18: Author Hilary Weisman Graham *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15

Item #18: Signed copy of REUNITED from Author Hilary Weisman Graham

Day 15 Item #17: Indie Ignites Blog *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15
Item #17: Book Bundle and Sway from Indie Ignites

SOLD! Day 15 Item #16: Authors Carol Post and Missy Tippens *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15 

Item #16: Signed paperback of GEORGIA SWEETHEARTS from Author Missy Tippens and Signed paperback of MIDNIGHT SHADOWS from Author Carol Post

Day 15 Item #15: Author ST Bende (Only 1 Left!!) *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15

Item #15: Query letter critique from Author ST Bende (Only 1 left!!)

SOLD! Day 15 Item #14: Author CF Winn *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15
Item #14: Signed copy of SUKI from Author C.F Winn

Day 15 Item #13: Author Mike Kalmbach *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15 

Item #13: Signed copy of CALDARIAN CONFLICT from Author Mike Kalmbach

SOLD! Day 15 Item #12: Teen Writer/Caligrapher Elyse G. *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15

Item #12: Calligraphy Writing from Writer/Caligrapher Elyse G

Day 15 Item #11: Author Ellen Booraem *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15
Item #11: Signed copies of THE UNNAMEABLE and SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS from Author Ellen Booraem

Day 15 Item #10: Author Mike Kalmbach *RACE TO DONATE ITEM*

The Write Stuff for Boston Auction Race to Donate Day 15
Item #10: Classroom pack of WRITING ADVICE FOR TEENS from Author Mike Kalmbach