Counting Your...

Blessings?

I'm one of those super grateful people:

• Grateful for my incredible family.
• Grateful for all the people in my life--especially the ones who overlook my brainless moments and love me anyway. 
• Grateful for an amazing editor. 
• Grateful for the opportunity to share my writing with the world. 
• Grateful for a life so full and complete, I have no room to complain. Ever. 
• Grateful for my almost complete blog tour and everyone who has kindly helped out.

I LOVE YOU PEOPLE!

What are you grateful for today?

TODAY:

Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.

Alexia’s nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with her beloved and risk becoming one of the Soulless. 

Goodreads | Buy Now

Excerpt #8 in the Mystery Sentence Game with Suzanne Furness. Unravel the mystery of the Moonless night! Hidden in each of the 8 blog tour excerpts is a single word. Gather all 8 and figure out the sentence to win a free copy of Moonless. Send your mystery sentence to crystal (AT) crystal-collier.com with the subject MYSTERY SENTENCE before December 10, 2013, and you will be entered to win one of 10 copies of MOONLESS—just in time for Christmas. Happy hunting!

Meet my amazing coach from Pitch Wars 2012, Sharon Johnston, and see what she and her buddies think of MOONLESS. 

Katharina Gerlach pries free truths about the secreted world of the Passionate. Get the insiders scoop!

Are you playing the Mystery Sentence Game? What are you most grateful for?

Happy Thanksgiving--now go enter for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Other Side of the Line

You never know what's coming right around the bend.

For those of you who are working on a goal you're afraid will never pan out, I hope this strikes home. Today I read a post from an author who just got signed with her literary agent. She spoke about months and months of putting her stuff out there and receiving either no or little feedback--most of it terribly demoralizing. Then, suddenly she got "the email." (Followed by a phone call.) An agent had her manuscript nine months before offering representation.

The author marveled at how close she'd been the entire time and pointed out that the line between endless (nightmarish) querying and success is so thin.

I'm hoping for myself that holds true. Some of you may recall me ranting about Pitch Wars a month ago. Well, it's finally over. I placed second (out of 600 original entries) receiving only 1 less request than the winner. My FULL manuscript was requested by 7 agents--7 DIFFERENT literary agents. The very next day #pitmad took place, and my coach from Pitch Wars was out there tweeting my pitch. (Sharon, you are amazing!) She dragged me out of my hiding place and between the both of us, we landed 3 more requests.

Now the hard part: waiting. I've sent out my manuscript, and while it's burning the inbox or "to read" folder of agents, I'll be penning out the draft of another book.

It only takes one "yes", one to light the world on fire. I'm encouraged by the reminder that the line is so thin. One brave step stands between me and the other side of the line.

What are you working on now? What are your goals and hopes? How are you holding up?

Bing, Bang, Boom

And no, I'm not just practicing onamonapia.

The fingers drum anxiously across the desk. Waiting. Waiting. Not waiting well.

In three days the results will be announced for Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars. The amazing Sharon Johnston and I are teamed up against a slew of others to see who can bring a panel of literary agents to their knees--with requests, that is. This is round two, the final sha-bang, and I can't decide if I want to hide my head in the sand or click the refresh button every two seconds.

How do you deal with the waiting? Me, I turn to distraction. So here are my distractions today.

I'm joining Sheri Larsen--an amazing blogger/writing friend with her New Year's Writer's Creed. Everyone needs to redefine their plan on occasion. 

(See, it's even on my side bar!) 

Finally, the BOOM! The free copy of Deadly Kisses by Kerri Cuevas goes to... 

DRUM ROLL...

Lucille Lheureux

What has you anxious at the moment, and what are you doing to relieve it?

Pitch Wars, Writers, and WINNERS... Oh my!

You know when you do something spur of the moment that ends with you pulling your hair and laughing manically? Yup. 

On November 26th Brenda Drake posted a contest called Pitch Wars. It's all about creating the ultimate hook, or pitch for a book. Thirty-seven coaches (agented/published writers/editor/industry pros) put themselves out there and asked for unagented/unpublished writers to pitch their completed manuscripts to them. 591 writers answered the call. Each writer could select 3 coaches to pitch. Each coach selected 3 manuscripts to champion--one pick, and two alternates (in case their first choice falls through). These coaches will work with their writers to strengthen their pitches for a final round (January 23-24), when all the teams will pitch their manuscripts to a panel of 16 judges/literary agents. The winner will be the person who receives the most requests for their book. 

I saw the contest and thought, "Hey, I have all the requirements and I've been querying. Why not?" So I vetted out the coaches, picked the three most stellar ones (for my genre), and tossed a few pages at them. 

Response #1: "I really enjoyed reading the material you sent me for DARK MOON. ... you have a really great story here ..." But ultimately, she went with other manuscripts.

Response #2: "You made it into my top ten (out of a LOT of submissions) ... For what you are writing, you do it very, very well. ... I am assuming this will be snapped up quickly..." But again, she passed, offering to help if I don't find this baby a home immediately.

Response #3: "I can't gush enough about your pitch. ...we can wipe the floor with everyone at Pitch Wars then celebrate with Cheese!" 

I GOT PICKED!! 

Was I surprised? Um, more like dumb-struck. So here's my wonderful teammate who is currently bulldozing through DARK MOON so we can pitch it, and wipe the floor with our competition. (Which we will.) 

Meet Sharon: a writer of YA and NA weird fiction and contemporary fiction, a blogger at YAtopia, Writing Teen Novels, Down Under Wonderings, a regular speaker at The Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival, and a NA/YA intern for Entangled. She has a habit of posting weird profile pics and has been stalked by women because of her great taste in shoes.

Together we are the Grimm Writers, and although I never could have anticipated being picked, I couldn't have a better partner. Sharon is AWESOME! 

So I guess the moral of the story is, you can't be a winner without trying. Take a chance. Do crazy things. Jump before you look. You never know what will happen.