Hanging On To Wonder: Get to Know April Rose Carter - My 2014 PitchWars ...

Jaye Robin Brown interviewed me in anticipation of PitchWars 2014. I've had the most tremendous time being her mentee. She is simply the best mentor any writer can ask for. Her advice for everything--plotting, interiority, agent search--is just...just wow. There are no words. And you know me. I don't dole praise unless it's deserved.

You can read the interview here...
Hanging On To Wonder: Get to Know April Rose Carter - My 2014 PitchWars ...: With my second year as a mentor in Pitchwars, I entered the contest excited and hopeful and curious, oh so curious, about which manuscripts ...

As the days grow shorter...

Come the end of every August, it feels like my life stops. It's ridiculous, I know, because my life doesn't actually stop, but that's the way it feels. There's something about my job that sucks up every moment of free time. Then, as the days grow shorter, I literally don't see the light of day. I get to work before the sun is up and leave when it's dark outside.

My depression is coming. Right now it's just a distorted face, pressed against the window, causing me to be unsettled and a little disturbed. I can't ignore it forever. Every winter, I try, and every winter I fail. Some winters, to a lesser degree than others. Actually, since I began writing two years ago, the face has backed up a little; there's the oily smudge against the window, but at least the dark man isn't in the room with me like he usually is.

This is why I'll be starting a new book soon. It will keep him away a little longer, and keep me a little saner. I'll try to NaNoWriMo it up, but with my adjunct position, NaNo might not be a feasible option. Still, I think I'll try.

In the mean time, Nightmare on Query Street (my entry is here) is this week and PitchWars is shortly after that. I've got a few fulls and partials out with agents already, so all this is very exciting. I can feel this novel working. I can see it being published. 

If you haven't taken the opportunity to read the first chapter of WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL, please consider it. Of course, I'd love to hear what you think about it.

#PitchWars #TeamGrit

So if you've been following me on twitter, you know I was selected as the alternate for Jaye Robin Brown. I don't have time to write much now, but let me quickly tell you SHE IS AWESOME! Her feedback on WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL has been so utterly fantastic. She's made me feel much more confident about my scenes, especially those where I knew I had to fix something but couldn't figure out exactly what. Thanks to her, it's all come into place.

Also, she had some SUPER KIND words to say about my novel. "April Rose Carter's contemporary LGBT novel snagged me with the comps in her query, something along the lines of what if Rowell's Eleanor were to fall for Green's Margo. Then her words and story didn't disappoint....[read more]"

I mean, who wouldn't love encouragement like that? So anyway...the alternate showcase for #PitchWars doesn't occur until November. Cross your fingers and press your thumbs. I really want you to be able to pick this novel up from the shelf one day. Maybe you'll cry and laugh with Sarah and Bonnie too. :)

OH, and please, please, please add her novel to your GoodReads list (and then buy it and read it). Please. NO PLACE TO FALL comes out in December. It's completely the type of book I want to read, and I want you to read it too. Go here to learn more.

#PitchWars #PimpMyBio

Last year, I got hints of this Pitch Wars thing around the internet. Too intimidated by it, and feeling like it was something much scarier than it is, I didn't do much else but lurk by the twitter feed. I've since learned all about it and it's not scary or intimidating at all. If you were like me and you don't know what Pitch Wars is, I recommend you go here. Brenda Drake does a better job explaining it than I ever could. 

Part of Pitch Wars is #PimpMyBio, which you can read about here. Here's my bio. 

My name is April Rose, but not to be mistaken with April Rose the swimsuit model or April Rose the adult entertainment actress. My day job is less glamorous. I teach high school mathematics - my focus being Algebra II and Statistics - and I adjunct at a local college as a Statistics professor (actually, that last one I was just hired for, so I haven't done it yet, but I will and soon).

I homestead part-time, because, well, I love the earth. When I was a kid, growing up on a farm, I promised myself to get as far away from farming as I possibly could. By the time I graduated with my BA in Mathematics and English, I wanted to buy a sizable piece of land and farm as much as I could from it. Sizable turned out to be pretty small - only 2.222 acres - and right now I don't have any chickens or cows. Right now. (I want 3 chickens and 1 cow - so...enough to support my family on.) I grow nearly all my own vegetables, preserve/can an insane amount of food each year, buy my meat from local farms (and my in-laws who own a farm), bake all my own bread...

This is a panorama of the top of my kitchen cabinets. There's still more...

I am often mistaken as a snob. I am not a snob. I am narcissistic. I am well-educated. And I am INFERNALLY shy. (Seriously. I had to take the MBTI test in grad school, and I scored literally off the charts as introverted. I go to the bathroom at parties to hyperventilate and cry. Literally.) Put those together, I tend to give off an air of snobbery (unintended).

Well, I guess in some ways I'm a little snobby.

I'm a Snob #1: I have no problem spending $50 on a bottle of wine, especially if it's local and especially if it's good.
I'm not a Snob #1: I have never spent $50 on a pair of jeans. Actually, I've never spent more than $30 on a pair of jeans, and usually only spend $3-$18. I like to shop at consignment shops and Salvation Army (despite their politics, which I don't believe in).

I'm a Snob #2: I will avoid shopping at box stores and malls, if I can.
I'm not a Snob #2: I prefer local stores, including farmers' markets and small groceries. Why give all my money to big corporations when I can support my local economy? Plus, the people in the small stores know me.

I'm a Snob #3: I try to speak properly and I want my daughter to speak that way too. When she says, "good" instead of "well" when she should say "well," I correct her. There's no excuse to speak poorly.
I'm not a Snob #3: I will NEVER correct anyone over her misuse of grammar (unless I'm critting for her), and I welcome corrections to my own grammar.

I'm a Snob #4: I don't like dogs, and I secretly make fun of anyone who keeps a dog in her purse or has a "dog" smaller than, say, a labrador. I especially hate dogs that yip, jump, run from their owners, chase cars, or are otherwise ill-behaved.
I'm not a Snob #4: I love cats.  Cats don't drool, don't lick your face, don't yip, don't chase cars, don't...Okay, maybe that still makes me a snob. But really, cats are awesome! I have three.

I'm a Snob #5: I love to travel.
I'm not a Snob #5: I've only been outside the U.S. once and that was to go on tour with my college glee club (I used to sing alto in a religious choir, even though I am NOT religious). BUT when I travel, it's with a tent. I've camped across the U.S. twice in the last 7 years, the most recent being this summer. Hey, I had to share the love with my 3 yo.

I'm a Snob #6: Most of my sentences begin with, "I was listening to NPR and..."

And then there's the me that writes. It's my escape from...well everything - my depression, my Type A personality, the things I *can't* change with myself. It's how I control my life. I take criticism very well, and rejection equally well. Actually, I love personalized rejections. I can always find a spark of hope in them, and I'm always looking to improve, so what's not to love with that sort of rejection?

Universe, Give Me a Book Deal

Not so long ago, I was invited to a wine tasting. Being new to wine, I was entirely excited--so excited that even though my husband and I drove 46 straight hours from Montana to Massachusetts and only got home that morning, I was still going to go. In my mind, there would be ten to twenty people all bringing their favorite bottles of wine, there would be crackers to clear our palates, and I would leave with a list of new wines that I would love forever and ever.

It started out great because I saw these little cucumber things, but imagine my disappointment when people started showing up with cases of beer...in cans. I don't drink beer, but I'm a beer snob because my husband is a beer snob. No self-respecting beer comes in a can. Then there was a backyard fire. I hadn't dressed for a backyard fire. In fact, I hadn't even brought a sweatshirt, which I was sure to need.

The conversation eventually turned to people I had never met in situations where they might have been funny if I knew who they were. What did I do? I was rude. I pulled out my phone and started texting the babysitter. We spoke briefly of my daughter's refusal to go to bed and then moved on to the founder of Chinese communism. Yep. That's what we texted about.

Then, someone started telling a story in which she really wanted her husband to get a snow blower. It went something like this: Newly married and in a new house, she experienced her first winter in which she had to shovel snow. She told her husband they needed a snow blower. He said, "We live in the city and only have 50 feet of sidewalk to shovel. We do not need a snow blower. We aren't going to spend two grand on a snow blower." She told him, "That's fine. The universe will bring us a snow blower." Lo and behold, a couple weeks later, someone left one on their driveway for them.

So this woman continued. She told me her husband wanted a truck. They're sensible people, so after some discussion they decided they had neither the money nor the need for the power of a truck. But what did she say? She said, "If we really need a truck, the universe will bring us a truck." What happened? You got it. Someone gave them a truck, which after $300 in body work looks brand new and works like a charm.

Forgetting my whole texted conversation about Mao, I said, "I like your universe. Could you tell it I want a book deal."

"That's not how the universe works," she said.

If you know me, you know I have a really hard time in social situations. I promptly felt like I needed to go to the bathroom and hyperventilate.

"That's not how the universe works," she repeated. "If you really want a book deal, it's got to be something you need, and it's got to be something you're willing to wait for. The universe doesn't just give you things. You have to constantly give it things first. I'm always doing nice things for other people. That's why the universe gives us things. If you really want a book deal, you have to say, 'Universe, give me a book deal,' and then be willing to wait and give the universe back."

I was duly chastised.

Her husband saved me. "April's a teacher. She understands all about giving without receiving."

But it got me thinking. After I finished WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL, after completing and polishing it, I started to put every effort into my query letter. I wrote four drafts before putting a better draft up on Agent Query Connect to be peer-critiqued. Unfortunately, practically nothing came up for help. I had a maximum of 20 hits with only a few vague responses. I entered the New Agent Contest as hosted by Michelle Hauck. My query didn't make it onto anyone's 'maybe' list, but there was a tweet about an LGBT contemporary that might have been mine, saying it was still too much like a draft.Then I saw with dismay that WriteOnCon probably wasn't going to happen this year. And I thought to myself, "But I really needed WriteOnCon to help me with this query. I'm floundering here."

Still, I made sure to critique other queries on the AQC forum; all the while, I started to create a list of author friends who may be willing to take a look at my query letter and tell me where I went wrong.

But what did the universe do? The universe did not bring me a book deal--has not yet, at least. The universe brought WriteOnCon back! My vacation will have ended by then, and I'll have to overlap work with WriteOnCon. I'll be writing lesson plans while critiquing others' queries. So what. I'm optimistic now. With some perseverance, a little luck, and a lot of giving back, the universe may very well bring me that book deal yet.

Oh. Let's not be remiss. Thank you for the wine tasting. Even though I didn't taste any wine but that which I brought, I still learned some valuable information.

New Beta Readers

WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL has reached that point. You know, the one where I send it out to be read by awesome people so they can help me make it the fantastic novel I want it to be. That means one thing (or seven, depending how you see it)--BETA READERS!

Let them introduce themselves:

Ally

Ally didn't send me her bio (or if she did, I lost it), so I'll introduce her. If I were Ally, I'd say, "I'm Ally. Y'all need to know one thing 'bout me: I eat raw eggs and guzzle root beer." Actually, Ally would NEVER say that. I took some creative license here. :)

Chris

I'm Chris and I'm self-diagnosed as being allergic to fun and free time.  In that lack of free time, I teach kids how to do martial arts, collect books that I want to read in a pile on my desk, and wear polos.  Despite my self-proclaimed aversion to fun, my claim to infamy is being fan of terrible jokes that don't really make people laugh...just question why they agreed to hear yet another bad joke.

Hannah

Along with reading, I enjoy hiking, knitting, farming, and travelling. I'm a glass half-full type of person. My dream is to live on a farm and to dabble in many different hobbies and skills.

Hope

I am "Baby B" out of a set of triplet girls.  In my spare time I love listening to music (specifically twenty|one|pilots and Jack's Mannequin), reading, and exercising.  I will attend Framingham State University in the fall where I will study Spanish and secondary education.

Jackie

My name is Jackie and I really like driving with the windows open. My hobbies include breakdancing and Tae Kwon Do.

Kim

Hey there I'm Kim and I love hockey and country music. I bet a lot of people just groaned at the fact that I like country music. I love to read and am known to sit down and finish a good book in one day if I get the chance. I'm also a tree hugging  environmental science geek so please reduce, reuse and recycle :)

Query Kombat 2014

I got into Query Kombat!

Query Kombat? What's that, you say? Check it out here.

Thanks to SC's vote of confidence, I'm on team #writerbees. Check out my entry "Loving Logic" on June 1st. Follow the contest on twitter at #QueryKombat.

Look! I'm on the list!!!