Today…
Today is my last day at the Arisia Convention in Boston. I’m writing this post on my iPhone sitting in the lobby relaxing before my final panel. I just finished a group reading with the fabulous contributors in the unCONventional Anthology from the lovely Spencer Hill Press and did a signing. This whole signing books thing and hearing from people who have read the book is maddening and humbling and so incredibly awesome. I’m going to share some photos of my time here. I hope you guys enjoy them! I’ll be back to regular programming soon.
Its a contest… with words
The lovely folk at YA Lit Chat are having a writing contest. There are all kinds of fancy rules and such at that link, so if you have any questions feel free to ask me and I will try to get an answer for you. The cool part however is what you get if you win the contest. A story in an as yet untitled anthology with the biggest names in YA Literature at the moment! Here are the contributors:
Cyn Balog
Nina Berry
Sarwat Chadda
Leah Cypess
Shannon Delany
Debra Driza
Leigh Fallon
Angie Frazier
Heidi R. Kling
Nancy Holder
Suzanne Lazear
Karen Mahoney
Lisa Mantchev
C. Lee McKenzie
Georgia McBride
Gretchen McNeil
Pamela van Hylckama Vlieg
KM Walton
Suzanne Young
Michelle Zink
Jessie Harrell
Why yes, that is my name you see there! The theme is Mother Goose done darkly. I chose Ring Around the Rosy a really dark version and am pairing it with the Morrigan legend.
I hope you are all as excited as I am and will consider entering the writing contest!
A ring, a ring o’roses,
A pocket full of posies,
Ash-a! Ash-a!
All stand still.
The King has sent his daughter
To fetch a pail of water,
Ash-a! Ash-a! All bow down.
The bird above the steeple
Sits high above the people,
Ash-a! Ash-a! All kneel down.
The wedding bells are ringing,
And boys and girls are singing,
Ash-a! Ash-a! All fall down
Query Hell
I thought it might be fun to take a break from the writing and think about what I will eventually say when it comes time to look for an agent. As unpublished writers, we tend to build our dream team and long for sending out that first letter (to probably be rejected) (over and over again). So I wanted to share an early draft of my query letter with you and let you comment on what you like or don’t like about it to help me revise that later. If you post yours let me know so I can return the favor.
Dear Agent McAgentson,
I am writing today to query my YA cyberpunk Terra Nova which is completed at 65,000 words.
I live in the Silicon Valley and am married to a Senior UI Prototype Developer who works for Yahoo! doing very secret things. Tech and industry secrets are a huge part of my day to day life.
If I were to sum Terra Nova up in one sentence I would say:
If your Sims were sentient, would you play God?
Longer Summary:
When Joel is asked by long-time friend Chrissy if he would like to move from San Francisco to Japan and work for the largest virtual reality landscape company in the world he quickly agrees.
Upon starting his job and finishing his first prototype -Mika – A London tour guide- he realizes something is off at Terra Nova.
Mika is sentient and Joel is asked to delete her and her landscape from the system.
This command from the higher ups sends Joel on a journey of right vs. wrong – full of life or death decisions and situations. Secrets and betrayal lurk behind every closed door – real or virtual- and there is seemingly no where to go that Terra Nova can’t reach him.
Will Joel be able to complete his mission and save Mika before time runs out?
I have been blogging about kidlit at Bookalicio.us for four years. I also write for the San Francisco Book Review and YA Warehouse. I partner my blog with my local independent bookstore Hicklebee’s in sunny San Jose California. I also record podcast reviews for Brain Burps and video blog at Youtube Channel InterrobangYA, I am a judge in speculative fiction for the Indie Lit Awards. I have a short story in the unCONventional anthology coming in January of 2012. Member of SCWBI, a critique group, NCIBA, NCCBA and NBCC.
Best,
Pam van Hylckama Vlieg
Sourcebooks Teenfire YA Writing Contest
I entered into the Teenfire writing contest with no expectations. Kind of my first step to testing the waters before I query. I am happy to say I am shortlisted here on Georgia McBride’s blog of semi-finalists. I am blogging about writing my book Inspiration over at Pamalicio.us if you are interested. I thought I would share my 250 words with you guys. Don’t forget to check out the writing forum at Teen Fire Ning if you need critique. Their authors made my shortlist a possibility.
Title: Inspiration
Description: For centuries the Greek Muses have slept, their power waning
as intelligence in man grew and not one believed still in their existence.
Power drained and bone tired Mount Olympus fell asleep. Under a spell of
sleep and nightmares one awakens, will he find the reason for his
startling return to existence?Prologue: She was sitting in Hyde Park feeding macadamia nuts to the furry
little tame gray squirrels. At these times she was the most inspire-able. I
would place my hand to hers as the squirrel danced around her and she swiped at
the bits of shell lying around her on the ground. It was then she had the
ideas to go home and write furiously for hours. Sometimes even days. If I
was feeling particularly foolish I would bend down and touch my nose to
her willing every bit of my Olympian magic into her, directly fueling her
with the best ideas and confidence I could muster. She was so lovely in
the park , the squirrels always paid court to her as if she were Victoria
in the flesh.I am left with a feeling which is at my best guess what humans would call
longing. I long to sit beside her in Hyde Park and watch her lovingly
stare at the little rats with bushy tails as if they were the most
adorable creatures in her world.I had recently been chastised by my fellow muses and by Zeus himself for
spending too much time in the mortal realm with this charge. Knowing my
place was in Olympus was not enough to keep me from spending my days and
nights watching and inspiring her.I watched as she laughed out loud at the tiny creature who was tickling
his way up her skirts to reach his prize.
