Good morning everyone! To all who've read my blog before, thank you for coming back. If this is your first visit, welcome and I hope you enjoy what you read. My purpose in starting this blog was to share my stories and the journey to publication, and I'm participating in something today that may help me on that journey. So, this blog will be different than previous ones as I share today's adventure!
An agent told me awhile ago that I needed a social media presence. So, I started my own website with a blog, and opened both an Instagram and a Twitter account. While fooling around on Twitter, I met this amazing group of extremely talented writers and we've begun following and supporting each other. Then, one of them asked me, "So are you going to pitch your book during Pitmad next week?" Huh? I had no clue what she was talking about. My grandmother always said there's no such thing as a dumb question; just dumb people who don't ask the questions they need answered. Wise woman, right? So I asked.
It turns out Pitmad is a pitch party on Twitter where writers create three different 280 character pitches for their current novel. Throughout the day, all three pitches are posted on Twitter; and you wait to see if anyone gives it a heart. If and when they do, this means the agent wants you to query your book to them.
280 characters- are they nuts? That includes the spaces, periods, apostrophes, and hashtags that are required during the event. How can I possibly sum up my book with so few characters? It turns out you can do it with a lot of help from the writing community on Twitter. Those people have been incredible and I'm over the moon grateful to them for their help. Some writers had been working on their pitches for months. I had six days to get ready.
Needless to say, I've done a lot of writing, condensing, rewriting, and worrying. But I am happy to report that at 7:07 this morning, my first pitch went out followed by pitch #2 at 10;03 (Pitch #3 will go out between noon and one). The other writers told me to stay glued to my computer because things happen fast. We retweet each other's posts to get them more exposure. We ask each other questions, and we keep our fingers crossed that somebody gets a heart!
Much like the writers I've found on Twitter, Jillian (my main character) has many supportive people in her life. Her mother and her aunt, both her sisters, and her friends Becca and Trixie. And of course, there is Travis- the handsome firefighter and love of her life. All of these people support Jillian no matter what; even when she's putting herself in danger to solve a mystery. Today's teaser shows how one of those characters has Jillian's back BIG time.
~~~On her way to Becca’s house, she decided to stop in at Sugar & Spice and pick up breakfast for her friends. Parking her car in front of the bakery, Jillian had just stepped out of the car when a man shouted, “Jillian! Look out!”
Out of nowhere, a silver sedan came careening around the corner headed right towards her. Jillian slammed the car door and bolted for the sidewalk behind her car. The sedan sideswiped Jillian’s car, knocking the side mirror off and leaving long scratches down the driver’s side of the car. Without even slowing down, the car took off down Maple Avenue.
Jillian’s heart was racing as she stood on the sidewalk outside her sister’s bakery. If someone hadn’t shouted out to her, Jillian could have been run over by that car. That thought made her feel lightheaded and sick to her stomach. Her hands felt clammy, the sounds around her seemed far away, and her vision began to blur. Knowing she was about to faint , Jillian reached out a hand to grab something to keep her from falling.
Someone, not something stopped her fall. A strong, muscled arm grabbed hold of her waist and pulled her tightly against a rock hard body. Jillian leaned into the safety offered by her rescuer. Those arms continued to hold her close giving her time to stop trembling. Her hearing was beginning to return to normal, and she again heard someone calling her name.
Jillian followed the sound of the voice and saw her sister, Cate, bearing down on her. “Jilly,” Cate gasped, “Oh my God! Are you ok?” Cate grabbed Jillian from the strong arms currently holding her and wrapped her up in a sisterly hug of her own. Jillian thought Cate was never going to let go.
“I’m fine, Cate. Really, I’m ok,” Jillian managed to mutter as she was being crushed in her sister’s arms. “Cate, you can let go now. I’m all right. Please let go,” Jillian insisted. Reluctantly, Cate released Jillian and stepped back to look her over.
Satisfied that her baby sister was all in one piece, Cate turned and began speaking to someone standing next to Jillian. She was thanking them for saving her sister. Jillian turned to see who her rescuer was, and there stood Travis. Just seeing him there made her weepy, and her eyes filled up with tears.
“Hey, hey, what’s with the tears?” Travis asked. “It’s all over. You’re ok. Your car can be fixed. No permanent damage.” Travis was trying to make light of a really bad situation to stem the flow of tears.
He used those strong arms to pull her in close, and he held on like he was never letting go. And Jillian let him. It felt so good to let him hold her, and it made her feel safe.
After a couple of minutes, Jillian pulled back only slightly so she could look directly at Travis. He smiled down at her and gave her a squeeze. She smiled back and said, “ You saved me. If you hadn’t shouted out, I would have stepped right into the path of that car.” She choked up a little, so she took a deep breath to calm herself and then continued. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
He bent down and kissed her lightly on the lips. “No thanks are necessary. I’m just glad you’re all right.“ ~~~
Since my last blog included no teaser, and I promised you a really good one; I hope this one hit the mark. I hope everyone has a Travis in their life to always watch your back.
I fear I've been away from Twitter for too long, so it's time to get back to the Pitch Party. In case you were wondering, I've received 2 hearts so far, and the party is barely in full swing! Wish me luck and I hope you'll come again soon.
Until next time,
Jodi