QUERY KOMBAT update & YOU BELONG HERE

• Post By: Meghan Maugeri
• Date: June 30, 2018
• Category: Uncategorized

Hi Gang,

I thought I’d write a post about Query Kombat, which is an awesome contest run by three amazing authors: Michelle Hauck (@Michelle4Laughs), Kara Reynolds (@Kara_Reynolds7) , and Michael Anthony ( @RavenousRushing ). Follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs. They are great people.

As writers who’re reading this already know, online writing competitions have become a stepping stone to traditional publishing over the last few years. If agents are the gatekeepers, then these contests serve as guides that lead a writer to the gate. Query Kombat is one such contest. To participate in Query Kombat, writers submitted query letters and first 250 words of their completed novels. The top 64 out of 400+ entries were chosen by the hosts. Then entries were set up in a March Madness type bracket against similar novels until there was a Grand Champ. Before round 2, there was an agent round, where participating agents could request more materials.

I submitted my middle grade contemporary novel, YOU BELONG HERE (Query Kombat nickname A Boy Named Pez.) The short pitch: A quirky 11-year-old sets out to make his first rom-com film, called Dog Loves Cat, because he knows for a fact that his Mom will come back home to see his movie shown at an upcoming festival.

The up side: I made the top 32 and received 2 agent requests! The down side, I was eliminated in Round 2. But, I lost to the GRAND CHAMP entry–an amazing middle grade novel called Got Me A Daddy’s Map. Like, it could win a Pulitzer. It sort of felt like going up against Uconn Women’s Basketball in the second round. Not to toot my own horn, but it was actually a really close match–4 judges to 3. And the judges’ feedback was very encouraging and helpful. So, I’ll take it!

It also motivated me to finish up another revision–the 4th–of the novel, which I just completed on Thursday. As you may know, I avoid revising like the plague. I mean, I wrote THIS novel before I revised my LAST novel. This is my first completed work of fiction that hasn’t made me like, QUICK! GET ME THE LIGHTER FLUID! LOTS AND LOTS OF LIGHTER FLUID! So, actually, I guess that joke doesn’t really work since it’s all saved to the cloud.

Anyhow, I got the agent requests out this week. I don’t expect much to come of it. Most writers submit to A LOT of agents before finding the right fit–it’s like publishing dating. But I’ll keep you posted! My goal now is to submit to PitchWars in late August, a contest where you can get an author mentor to help prepare for agent submission. PitchWars has become very highly regarded over the last few years amongst writers and agents. More on that one when I submit! I’m undecided whether I will submit to more agents before then.

In the meantime, I’ll also hear back on a film fellowship I submitted to around August. Thanks for following along on my journey to be a published and produced writer!

Oh, in case you’re interested, here’s the page I submitted to Query Kombat. The query gives some of the plot away, so I’ll hold off on that until later. If you have any feedback on the page, please drop me a line!

FIRST 250 words

CHAPTER 1–SPIELBERG

Goodbyes get me thinking about Mom.

She’s been away on vacation for almost three months. Which, between you and me, isn’t actually a vacation. That’s why a lump is climbing my throat as I brainstorm the goodbye scene of my film, Dog Loves Cat. When Harold the Dog tells Kitty the Cat he loves her, she replies, “It can never be.” Then she takes his paws and declares, “Now, we must say goodbye.”

And then… and then… and then a big, fat nothing.

Usually my best ideas come during my walk home from school, but today my brain is set to one channel: Mom. Is she catching some rays on a California beach? Is she snapping pics of wildflowers in Montana? Or is she on a highway heading back to Dad and me? I hope so. Three months is already way too long.

But enough of the sad stuff.

I like life the same as I like my cinema: laugh out loud funny.

Plus, I need to get home pronto to work on Dog Loves Cat. After all, the Future Filmmakers Festival deadline is November first and–

“Yo, Spielberg!”

Before I can spin around, a massive arm wraps around my scrawny neck.

Butterscotch.

There’s only one person these Arnold Schwarzenegger biceps could belong to and that’s Fang.

He’s trouble.

Trouble with a capital T.

And there’s no way I’m pulling free from his death grip with these string bean limbs.