YA Confidential: A Proud and Gleeful Promotional Post

     Okay, I know. There's a lot of shameless marketing on blogs and on Twitter. And I am dutiful in following these blogs and Tweets, because supporting fellow writers is important to me. I learn a great deal from my fellow writers, and someday I intend to be among their published ranks.And then I will be in an even better position to support the writing community. These are all happy thoughts that spring from happy actions.

     So by dedicating  an entire blog post to the YA Confidential contest, I am helping myself by adding five points to my overall contest total. This is an entirely selfish action, and I cop to it without a blush. Because even as it helps me, this post helps a host of other people, too, including a cadre of "teen spies"--which is admirable--and I have no problem competing for free books, and getting the word out about these books, because I.Want.Them.All.

     So check this out.

     You can be in the running to win a query critique from Sarah LaPolla of Curtis Brown Ltd.  I don't know about you, but writing query letters is, for me, a plunge into a circle of hell that Dante never imagined. Dante never had to write one, or he would have included it as one of the bolgias. If you read Ms. LaPolla's website, you will see buckets of trenchant insights. If you win, imagine those trenchant insights applied to your anemic, sad, pathetic, totally inadequate, utterly risible query.
Trust me. You will want to enter this contest.

     Also up for grabs is a five page critique by Vickie Mottar of Andrea Hurst and Associates. A critique of this length by Ms. Mottar would make the angels weep, if they had critiques.Ms. Mottar's blog is here. She has serious mad skills.
You really want to enter this contest.

     And then there are the books. Yes, go ahead. Gaze wistfully at this list. Which would you pick, given the choice?

• ARC of Shatter Me, by Tahera Mafi
• ARC of Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater
• ARC of Legend, by Marie Lu
• ARC of Crossed, by Ally Condie
• FINISHED COPY of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (Which has to be one of the coolest titles ever!)
• FINISHED COPY of Fateful, by Claudia Grey
• Both of these FINISHED COPIES were donated by Diana Fox of Fox Literary Agency

So. All of this info, and more, is available at YAConfidential.