In honor of the upcoming release of URGENT CARE, I’m hosting a contest where one lucky person will WIN a critique of your query package by Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency!
PRIZE: one lucky commenter will win a critique of your query letter, two page synopsis, and first three chapters from Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency.
HOW TO ENTER: leave a comment below, including your name, email address, and a short blurb of your project. If you want to say something nice about my books, that’s fine as well, but the winner will be determined by a random drawing.
RULES: Odds of winning depend on the number of entries. Entries must be posted prior to midnight EST on November 8. The winner will be announced on November 9 and contacted via email by CJ and Barbara Poelle.
Good Luck!
CJ
Hi CJ! Thanks for being our guest on Working Stiffs again. I already received a rejection from Barbara awhile ago, but it would be nice to get a critique anyway. Here’s my tagline:
A new war wages in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania over a developer’s proposal to build a casino next to the battlefield. Battle lines are drawn—and so is first blood.
Your website looks great. Seems your books would make a good TV series.
My project: Alabama 1948–Prison of War returns to his Southern family to find that his past lover is pregnant by his own black half-brother.
CJ, Love your class – Kills, Chills & Thrills! Can’t wait to read your new release.
From the twenty-first century white-planked fenced pastures of Lexington, Kentucky to the nineteenth century Oregon Trail, THE RUBY BROOCH weaves a story rich in detail and mystery and takes us on one woman’s journey of recovery and discovery as she searches for her true identity.
Following the tragic deaths of her parents and fiancé in a crash that she alone survives, paramedic Kit MacKlenna discovers an antique trunk. Inside is a letter from her father, a Chantilly lace shawl with a monogrammed M, a velvet locket with a portrait of a man from the early 19th century, and a Celtic ruby brooch. According to her father’s letter, the items are clues to her identity. The brooch has mystical powers that transport Kit back to Independence, Missouri in the year 1852. She travels the Oregon Trail searching for the mysterious man she believes to be her birth father. The dangers Kit faces along the trail cannot distract her from the grief and guilt she carries. Although she willingly risks her life to save her traveling companions, she refuses to risk her heart and love again. Cullen Montgomery is a quintessential Renaissance man. The last thing he needs is a reckless, mule-headed female distracting him from his legal career and the safe and sensible sweetheart waiting for him in California. But the pain he recognizes in Kit’s green eyes reflects his own deep-seated guilt. Can he heal them both without falling in love with the woman who stirs his passion, ignites his fury, and confounds his logic? Or will he lose everything along the Oregon Trail, including his heart?
CJ, I not only love your books, but I think you’re a great teacher as well. I’ve learned a lot about writing and submitting my writing from you. Thanks for the contest.
Black Ops: Hard to Kill is the first in a series of Women’s Fiction, Action/Adventure novels about the CIA and a Mormon crime family.
FIRST SATURDAY is an 80,000 word novel about four friends who met during their Freshman year of high school at an all-girls catholic school. We meet them when they are 35 and one of them discovers she has breast cancer. What follows is a year of First Saturday dinners, laughter and the love of four friends.
First Saturday was originally published by a micro-publisher (reeeeeeallly small pod publisher) in October 2002. It did very well regionally in the Northeast as well as throughout the military spouse community of which I am a recently-retired member. (Hubby retired in July 2009).
Thanks C.J. What a great idea!
CODE BLUE is Medical Romantic Suspense about a Kick-Ass female heart surgeon who is fighting the clock to save a single mother’s life. Standing in her way with the last possibility for a cure is a stem cell research doctor determined to protect his study that’s not ready for human testing. When the stem cells are stolen they are forced to work together to save his research and her patient.
Hi CJ,
Thanks for your exciting books and for offering this contest.
GIRL THREE is a sexy 92,000 word thriller. In her quest to avenge her sister’s murder, bioethicist Jessica Croft becomes a target of Washington, D.C.’s power elite. The worst of them would kill to keep a secret. One of them already has.
Fingers crossed!
Tracy Mastaler
Thank you CJ! What a great opportunity! I met you at the Romance Writer’s of America in Summerville in Sept. Ran out and read Lifelines…loved it! Reading Warning Signs now and am on the list for Urgent Care from Barnes and Noble when it comes in. I’m hooked on them!
CODE BLUE/WITH INTENT is a 85,000 word romantic/mystery about a nurse who unknowingly uncovers a string of murders. One common factor is that they all have the same insurance company. The deeper Kate digs into the deaths, the more her own life and that of her daughter are at risk. The suspects from the hospital are numerous. This list includes a surgeon who Kate has become involved with and has her wondering if she has fallen for the killer.
Thanks CJ! I appreciate the opportunity!
Marilyn Kelsey
Thank you, CJ and Barbara! What a great opportunity for writers, and an excellent way to introduce readers to your books, CJ.
Marina Melee is a complete, 84,000 word humor novel about finding ones place in the world.
After divorce number three, George Marshall, son of the wealthy oil-industry Marshalls is fired from the family business by his father. Determined to prove to his parents (and himself) that he is more than a spoiled, womanizing, over-aged adolescent, George buys Porto da Vida Marina on the small island of São Jorge. What could be an easier, more relaxing way to achieve business success than running a marina in the tropics?
Good to meet you CJ, at the KOD retreat.
The Resurrectionist is a complete 80,000 word Urban Fantasy.
Once murder cases are solved, select victims are brought back to life and their killer takes their place.
Thanks for the contest. What a generous way for great writer to pass it forward!
My project: Barbara Walters meets Julia Child, in Italy. Girls murdered in churches, a chef knifed in his own kitchen; anger and greed,secrets and lies.
Awesome contest and I love your writing.
Thanks so much for doing this contest. Does it help if I promise Chocolate Chip Cookies???
Here’s mine such as it is:
All Mallory Donovan ever wanted was a settled life and a little antique shop to call her own. She got it all when her Grandmother passed away. Well, everything but the settled life, that is. Suddenly she’s thrust into the mystical world of the unknown when she inherits a rundown castle that belongs to the estate. And the apparent ghosts, good and evil, that come with it. What she soon finds out, with the help of her Grams, who is supposed to be dead, is there is a blood spell cast upon the castle, and she’s the last of the line to break it or die—before her thirtieth birthday.
Meeting Trevor Riley, International Realtor, seems like a godsend, until the lines between what is right and wrong become crossed and she uncovers his motivation for lavishing so much attention on her. Issues of trust are put to the test, as Mallory must decide to stay depending on her own wit to claim what’s hers, or leave the place to the evil inhabitant dooming the castle and its past to the blood spell forever.
vickilanewrites @ yahoo.com
Thanks for the great contest offer!
The finance mogul thinks Janet Thompson is worth a fortune. The President wants her for revenge. The nuclear arms trader needs her dead. The diplomat is willing to rescue her. And Janet thinks she’s only taking a short break from her boring job.
Six Days to Midnight combines improbable settings with outrageous characters sprinkled with humor at all the wrong places.
Cozy Series.
Tina uncovers the past of a murdered friend in order to save the woman’s son.
Thank you so much for hosting this contest. What a great prize, and a great way to promote your book!
BEWITCHING THE BEAST is an 86,000 word urban fantasy romance set in New York City.
Possessed by a beast, journalist Aiden Ames absorbs the luck of a witch who’s never known magic—only to discover Tess may be the one who can set him free.
Thanks again,
Tamara Hughes
Great contest CJ!!! The Irene Goodman Agency was on my top list to submit!!!
My MS is SUMMER’S ROAD, a contemporary romance of 80,000 words.
When that line between friendship and love is crossed, there’s no going back. And sometimes a girl has to be truly all alone before realizing he was always there.
Thanks!
xo
Unique contest. What a fun way to bring new readers to your books
Thanks for offering it.
Hi, CJ, this is such a wonderful opportunity! Here is a short pitch of my current project:
Lorelei is your typical college student – who happens to have a talent for sniffing out demons and sending them back to hell, kind of like a psychic bloodhound. But once a year, she is charged with the task of helping one of the fallen on their quest to earn their way back into heaven. How do they do that? By atoning for their sins. And so far, everything is working out for her – until she meets Az, son of Azazel. Does the demon fall far from the seed?
Thank you for this opportunity.
Margay
Margay1122(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks so much for the contest offer!
Looking forward to your next release
Cathy
Hi CJ – Thanks for the contest and the opportunity. Enjoyed Lifelines and meeting you at the masterclass last fall!
Hello
I have four novels.
One is about a woman who gets so caught inside her story that she can not get out; unless she sacrifices that which she loves the most.
cJ – I think your great.
Namaste
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Sydney Bristow clashes with Atticus Finch Downunder.
After witnessing a murder, Celie is flung into Witsec. She’s a tough survivor who trusts nobody. Just as well. There’s an informant buried deep in the Witsec program.
Brand is the police psychologist who demands trust from the relocatees so he can help them. But when it comes to Celie, rules fly out the window as they fight for their lives.
Good luck with the series, CJ.
Hi, CJ,
Thanks so much for a great contest offer!
Carrie Norwell Eldridge had come through the unimaginable and finally trusts her world won’t be ripped from beneath her—as had been the case fifteen years prior when what was left of her family was wiped out in a single day. Under the slow steady onslaught of her beautiful Billy Jay’s tender ways she’s learned to love, marry and start a family. Her life borders perfect—until Billy Jay sustains a severe head trauma.
Jack Donovan left tiny Holly Grove to pursue a medical degree and had no intention of returning to the small town where he’d been bounced around foster homes since the age of six, but his adoptive parents’ increasing medical needs awake a sense of duty. Piecemeal parenting had left him feeling unwanted and determined not to make emotional ties. Connecting with any woman longer than a night or two was even less likely, but daily exposure to Carrie’s devotion to her severely injured husband’s hospital bedside starts Jack rethinking his loner ways. Emotions he doesn’t understand or even identify provoke a desire to look out for her, especially once Billy Jay dies. When circumstances pit Jack and Carrie in an unlikely and ever deepening friendship, each realizes the potential to heal and be made whole in the other. Can they realize it?
Your book looks GREAT and thank you for this opportunity.
Jayne Thompson has not wandered from her Twin Oaks, Michigan community physically or mentally all of her sixty-two years. Ben Thompson, her son, a techie wild adventure seeker has wired his mom’s house like a fortress; a state of the art security and computer system. Though she thinks he’s away at college, Ben works undercover for the DEA in Detroit. Until he is asked by his mom to check out a red pick up truck parked at the end of her street. Their worlds collide and shatter. Jarring moments of fear and personal growth cling as they head into witness protection — away from her small town friends — away from big city excitement.
Hi CJ –
I was a HUGE ER fan!!! I bet I’ll love this book…
Here is the info. on my book:
Night Walker is a completed Paranormal Romance at 84,000 words.
Calisto has lost everything. Except his life. In 1775 he gave up his faith, his God and finally his own mortality after the death of, Tala, the Kumeyaay woman he loved and their unborn child. He became a Night Walker in the hope of one day finding Tala when she lived again, hoping for one more chance at happiness.
He has now waited over 200 years in the coastal city of San Diego, not far from the Mission De Alcala where his story began, but when her path finally does cross his, Tala has been reborn as Kate Bradley, a middle school choir director with no memory of him. She recently cancelled her wedding and has sworn off men in general, but when she bumps into Calisto on Dia De Los Muertos, something inside of her feels as if she’s known him forever.
Thanks again!
Lisa
CJ and Barbara, thanks for offering this fabulous contest. CJ, I wish you many sales on Tuesday!
Dangerous Expectations is a historical romance with a dash of mystery. It is complete at 93,000 words.
Self-assured Lady Victoria Cole is determined to see her timid friend marry this season. However, the disdainfully elegant, sinfully beautiful Earl of St. John is equally determined to foil Tory’s matchmaking attempts. Aidan Hunt has vowed to protect his sensitive Welsh friend from yet another grasping, social-climbing debutante. And he is certain, if he could keep his mind on the matter at hand and not on the rich depths of Victoria ‘s cocoa-colored eyes or her long, shapely figure, that success would be his.
Their battle of wills becomes secondary after a tragic incident forces the two amateur sleuths to set aside their differences and work together to find a killer. The volatile combination of looming danger, deep and abiding sorrow, and reluctant attraction creates a beguiling world neither can resist. But can their newfound love protect them from the evil machinations of a thwarted killer?
Joel fell in love with Christ at a young age. He felt called to be a pastor, and was willing to make any sacrifice necessary to make that happen. Until a misunderstanding pushes him out of the church. He has moved on with his life and allowed his heart to stay hard for 15 years. When his wife’s life is in danger due to a complicated pregnancy, Joel feels God tugging again at his heart. Can he put aside the hurt of the past to have a future?
Find out in Forsaking the Call!
Thanks for this great contest!
All-Knowers’ Land of Imagining is a 69,000 fantasy YA novel. A magical pen unleashes a young teen’s power to control another world, a realm only she can save from evil.
A series of vicious attacks are unleashed at military gatherings on American soil. Demands to stop the war in Iraq are posted on an Islamic Extremist website and more attacks are threatened until troops are withdrawn. Three men are behind it; none of them Islamic. One for a cause, one for revenge and the last just because he enjoys the killing. One woman, FBI Agent Laura Daniels is dispatched to find the truth before the U.S. escalates the war. After ten vials of a genetically altered and deadly Bird Flu virus are stolen, Laura receives a mysterious phone call from someone claiming to be with the suspected terrorist group, professing their innocence. She must decide whether to trust the evidence or her instincts in an all out effort to find the truth before the President gives the order.
Hi, CJ. This is a great idea! I heard about it from the writer Raven Bower via the momwriters list at Yahoo.
WAITING FOR NORMAL is a 78,000-word memoir. When I was diagnosed with advanced cancer at age 33, breaking down wasn’t an option. I had a 2-year-old son who needed his mom. So with every surgery, with every shot of chemo, I clung to this mantra: Get through the treatments and life will get back to normal. But by the time the treatments ended after a year and a half, my old world had disappeared, and now I had to find a new normal.
What a great and generous offer! Thank you for the opportunity to share your good fortune. And good luck with Urgent Care.
On Monday, principal Peter Galvin welcomes the committee evaluating Ribicoff High School for accreditation—just as someone guns down a student outside the main entrance. On Tuesday, he hears that the police fear gang retaliation and that one of his teachers is sleeping with a student. Wednesday really sucks.
Run Straight Down, my 90,000-word novel, follows Galvin and student teacher Kim Dombrowik as they tap dance through a political snake pit to fix a broken school.
Hi, CJ – I moderated your program at the 2007 Colorado Gold conference – quite the technological adventure.
Very good program, too.
My most recent novel is set in fifteenth century England during the “Gypsy Honeymoon” period. It’s a “‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ meets ‘Taming of the Shrew’ adventure set during the escalation of the War of the Roses.
Thanks for this opportunity, and good luck to everyone!
Hi, CJ, and thanks for running this contest. How exciting about your new book. My mom’s a nurse and has given me lots of information for my detective story set in the 1930s at Lake Tahoe.
By the same reasoning, you must have a wealth of background you can use.
I haven’t seen your books around here, but will start looking.
Best luck with you writing and your new career.
Susan
This is a great contest, thank you.
This story project is actually written by two people, Beth F Brownell and Chana Kennington.
The Birth of Dragons is a unfinished sci-fi fantasy tale weaved around a lone Drak, a saurian like creature who was banished from his race because of his color of his scales. Instead of being a white colored Drak, Ebon, the son of the leader of the Drak is a black scale, banished to become the servant of an avian emperor’s servant. He grows into a powerful commander of an all female military squad called The Dragons. Within ten years, a politic problem with the Seabirds, a nomadic merchants ruled by a female brings a big problem to the emperor, can Ebon and his Dragons bring this problem to a close without going into war or will there be a war?
What a wonderful publicity event — Thanks for this.
Christie Trent quit her job in forensics to pursue a career in black and white photography. Her first job is for a Hindu wedding in St. Petersburg, FL. It’s an outrageous success — right up until the bride dies. Christie returns to the dark world of forensics before the next bride is murdered — her best friend.
Cheryl
CJ- how generous of you to give back to and encourage other writers.
Willing to Learn is a 55,000 contemporary romance targeted for Harlequin Blaze.
Thanks for such a great contest! Blurb:
Bailey Brennan takes a job at a local funeral home to help a friend, not become a customer. But when someone from her dark past shows up in the back of a hearse along with rumors that his death was not an accident, it sets off a chain of events that reaches from an underground crime ring to the highest level of small town society — and no one is safe.
Thank you!
The first book in the River Bend Chronicles series, ‘Charity Begins at Home,’ is a work of 85,000 words, The series follows a group of family members through life as working parents and community leaders. The crimes lace through the stories of the characters as they deal with careers, love, health issues and children. Lynn Powers, a widow with a teenaged son, finds hometown life a healing power after the death of her husband almost two years ago. She returned to her home town to care for her sick father and to find a quiet atmosphere to raise her son. Her family connections and her old friends help her build a life of small joys and a little crime. Through her job working with local nonprofits and through the interests of family and friends, Lynn is in a perfect position to be drawn into crimes related to her job and her relatives. A little romance, a few murders make life interesting and entertaining for friends and family.
Respectfully submitted,
Renee Kumor
Hey, C.J.!
I met you at my romance chapter’s workshop, and I ran right out to buy Lifelines and loved it!
I just finished Flying Lessons, a 65,000 word short contemporary story about how Abby and Denny learn to trust and love each other. It’s set in a fictional town in the South Park area of the Colorado Rockies. My book would be a great fit for Harlequin Superromance.
Thank you so much for this opportunity!
Now I have to hitch up the dogs (it’s snowing) and head for the bookstore to get your next book.
Hike!
Kathy
What a great idea! Thanks so much for the opportunity.
Muddy Blood is a 75,000 word mystery featuring private detective Friday Prescott, who is half- Gypsy and half- Boston Brahman. Her business partner, Sharonna Johnson is a fashion diva who also happens to be a black lesbian and practicing Buddhist.The setting is Boston, Massachusetts and Western Mass. Characters have complex relationships and the plot has lots of twists and turns.
What if a builder from Brooklyn bought, just to tear down, an almost-landmarked house, across the street from a church where the rector was suspected of killing his wife, and the house, technically, belonged to you? Your now-dead mother, a lively and most annoying ghost, holds the clues to three murders, including one in that house and her own, and wants to encourage a romance between you and the priest. That’s what’s happening in “The Arthur Kill”, my 90,000 humorous mystery set on Staten Island.
Thanks for the opportunity to join the submissions contest.
Thanks for the opportunity, CJ!
My 85,000 word cozy revolves around the Wilder Women–Deanna and her daughters, Roxanne and Vanessa. When a local accountant is murdered, Deanna believes she can solve the crime using skills she picked up from her latest class at WACKED (Wilton Adult Center for Knowledge and Education).
Thanks CJ and Barbara Poelle for this great contest with a wonderful prize.
Just finished your Lifelines and passed it on to a friend who loved it, we’re both looking forward to Urgent Care.
Unlikely Alliance is a Fantasy Romance and Adventure. It has an unlikely set of characters ranging from a Native American vampire in love with an Irish shape shifter, who form an alliance with demons, witches, warlocks and faeries in a quest with a quirk.
Thanks for this opportunity.
TJ
Have not read your books, but did just read “Sleeping Beauty.” It was great, and I look forward to reading your other writing.
I’m writing a murder mystery that takes place in backwoods Oregon, and I produce a lot of short stories.
What a great idea! Good luck with your book!
FIRST SHOT is an amateur sleuth mystery about a young photographer who moves back home and finds herself navigating both high school and real world politics when a young cyclist is killed in a hit-and-run.
Thanks for the opportunity!
My novel is a 75,000-word supernatural mystery/urban fantasy. The protagonist is a part human witch who serves as a Guardian, a magical cop. On her first murder case, she teams up with two male partners, a human cop and a vampire singer, to stop the killer before community fears erupt in further violence.
Fantastic contest! What an opportunity for the winner. It was nice of your agent to do this!
In Edge of Dawn, a small town girl learns the big city way that the desires of vampires run deeper than blood.
Cheers!
Megan Mackas
Thanks for the great contest, CJ! I bought your first two books at Love Is Murder in February and have been anxiously awaiting the third installment. I don’t usually read romances, but I find my mind returning to your characters and wondering what’s next for them.
Sarahlynn Lester
moc.r1328635262etseL1328635262nnylh1328635262araS@1328635262nnylh1328635262araS1328635262
Hook: BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH is a classical Agatha Christie story brought into the digital age. The novel follows a group of twentysomethings as they dip in and out of the virtual gaming world called Poirot, where some of the mysteries are virtual, and some are quite real.
Blurb: Distracted new mom Clara McGregor hosts her annual scavenger hunt, but this year, she has more serious clues to solve – fast. She can’t prove it yet, but someone’s trying to kill her friend – a secretive computer programmer named Tuxy – and Clara’s sure the would-be murderer is someone both she and Tuxy know very well.
Wow, CJ! Thanks for doing this contest! Saw your post on the SinC list. Here’s my blurb. Love your books!
My project is an amateur sleuth mystery that twists to a surprising ending, and features a protagonist with wit and hard-earned wisdom. The action is set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest and the sport of dressage. The framing of my protagonist for the murder of a local Olympic-hopeful sets her on a mission to prove her innocence. But among the obstacles she must deal with are her ditsy, meddling sister, her aunt who swears the horse is psychic, and a sexy geology professor who stirs up more than dust. The killer is desperate, but being creative enough to dodge this crowd may be more than he can handle.
Raising Indigo is a young adult fantasy novel about the phenomenon of Indigo Children. There is a current theory that human beings are on the verge of a giant leap of transformation; that we as a species are becoming more intuitive, energetic, and aware. The Indigo Children are supposedly the first generation of humans to possess these higher-level abilities. Raising Indigo is about one such child, 12-year-old Indigo Lightner, and her ultimate choice to accept her gifts or powers/purpose or reject it in favor of being accepted by her parents and peers. There are family secrets, fantasy realms, spirit guides, real life early teen dilemmas, dangerous villains, action/adventure scenes and personal experiences with Indigo, as we follow Indigo, her cousin Samantha and a kindred spirit and fellow Indigo Child, Dayton Smith, through this coming of age novel.