Today is #FAW!!

If you're not on Twitter, you should be!

For one reason, today is #FAW, which stands for Follow Agent Wednesday! There are sooo many agents on Twitter that tweet on regular bases, and not only does it help writers get to know the agents a bit more, but it also gives them tons of information! So writers on Twitter are pretty much ahead of the game.

What kind of information?

Well, besides cute details about their pets and what deliciousness they had for dinner, they also tweet about where they are in their slush, important tips on writing queries, what trends are hot at the moment, what they're specifically looking for, and sometimes they'll even tweet about submissions they're reading (and loving)! Which is very exciting if you have a sub out with that agent.

Now, that's just to name a few benefits. There are tons more!

So if you are on Twitter, today I want you to @ me any agent you enjoy following with a little message and I'll retweet, so we can all be following all the awesome agents tweeting out there! Note: Please try not to duplicate agents that have already been mentioned for #FAW.

If you're not on Twitter, get started by signing up here. Then follow me here. Then check all my tweets and retweets to find a whole slew of great agents to follow! You won't regret it!

Feel free to mention any great follows below too!

Thanks everyone!

<3 Cupid

CAGI Wrap Up!

First, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the "Come And Get It" contest!!! Everyone who submitted! All those who made bids in the auction. All of the great judges! And of course the fabulous agents!

It turned out better than I could have ever imagined! You guys never cease to amaze me!

I read a lot of great entries during this one. Some that didn't get requests. Some that didn't get past round one. But this is only one small little contest, and I have no doubt many of you have great things ahead with these manuscripts! And I hope you guys met some fab new writer peeps! 

Now, here is a breakdown of the requests:

Linda Epstein (The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency):
#17 - WASHED UP

Terrie Wolf (AKA Literary, LLC):
#11 - LOVESENSE

#25 - STAYING DEAD

#29 - WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS

Natalie Lakosil (Bradford Literary Agency):
#1 - THE CURSE

#18 - BLOOD AND HONOR

#25 - STAYING DEAD

#27 - SYLVAN LEGACY

#28 - THE ASTRONAUT'S DAUGHTER

#31 - HOOK'S REVENGE

Pam van Hylckama Vlieg (Larsen Pomada Literary Agency):
#1 - THE CURSE

#4 - DISCOVERING ISAAC

#5 - DARKLING

#16 - FEUDLINGS

#19 - RULES OF RODENTIA

#27 - SYLVAN LEGACY

#28 - THE ASTRONAUT'S DAUGHTER

#31 - HOOK'S REVENGE

Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary Agency):

#4 - DISCOVERING ISAAC

#11 - LOVESENSE

#24 - BETWEEN

#31 - HOOK'S REVENGE

Julia Alexandra Weber (J.A. Weber Literaturagentur GmbH):

#4 - DISCOVERING ISAAC

#11 - LOVESENSE

#15 - HAROLD – THE KID WHO RUINED MY LIFE AND SAVED THE DAY
#21 - WHITE LIES

#22 - OPERATION BREAK UP

#29 - WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS

#36 - CAN'T BUY ME LOVE

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! AND GOOD LUCK!!!!!

And thanks again everyone for helping me pull of this great event! We raised a lot of money, and we had a lot of fun!!!!

THANK YOU!

CAGI Agent Round!

The finalists are up and ready for the agents to COME AND GET IT!

What you should know...

If there is anything that looks off on your entry because of Cupid error, PLEASE email me and let me know so it can be fixed! (cupidslitconnection@yahoo . com)

NO PUBLIC COMMENT THIS ROUND! AGENTS ONLY!

The agents have until the end of Thursday to make requests. They can come whenever they want and request whatever they want! 

Good luck finalists!

CAGI Finalist #39

Title: WEAVING A NET IS BETTER THAN PRAYING FOR FISH AT THE EDGE OF THE WATER

Genre: Multicultural Middle Grade Mystery

Word Count: 32,000

Query:

Twelve-year-old Allen Mak is used to hiding. At home, she hides behind

her broken Chinese to avoid her grandmother’s questions. Outside home,

she hides behind a fake address to attend a better school. And when

she runs into a thief outside her uncle’s store, she hides behind a

dumpster.

But Allen is enrolled at school legally this year. So even though

she’s on probation for standing up to a school bully and even though

her first crush lands on the school’s dweebiest teacher, Allen’s

determined to quit hiding. And if she can find the thief, expose the

bully, get over her crush, and learn some Chinese, she might even be

able to quit for good.

First, she’ll have to figure out who else is hiding.

WEAVING A NET IS BETTER THAN PRAYING FOR FISH AT THE EDGE OF THE WATER is a multicultural middle grade mystery that will appeal to fans of Wendelin Van Draanen’s SAMMY KEYES series and Lisa Yee’s MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS.

First 250:

Reena likes Tony Arias, so I’m keeping an eye on him.

“Sure, I can tail him!” I said when she asked me after school. Then I

jumped up, zipped my jacket and flipped its hood over my head.

“Ninja-style!” I shouted. Behind us, the metal double doors of our

school banged open and another wave of kids poured into the yard.

Crouching low on one leg and splaying the other, I grinned at Reena

and raised a finger to my lips.

But she shrieked, “No!” and waved her hands in front of her face. “Get

up,” she whispered urgently. “Come on, Allie. You know that’s not what

I mean.”

“Allen,” I corrected and stood slowly. I was about to fall anyway.

She rolled her eyes. “We’re too old to be acting like tomboys.” That

was generous of her actually. Reena doesn’t usually count herself with

me as a tomboy.

“It’s my name,” I said, but I smiled. I sat down on the brick wall

beside her. Surrounded by the after school bustle and soothed by the

September breeze, we leaned into each other, a kind of sideways hug.

This was going to be the best year. I was in a new school finally, and

my best friend was here with me.

“Anyway, just watch Tony, okay?” she said. “I heard he takes the 17

bus. That’s your bus, right? Be sub- I mean, act normal.”

CAGI Finalist #38

Title: HOW IT LOOKS FROM HERE

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary

Word Count: 35,000

Query:

When twelve-year-old Becca and her ten-year-old brother Johnny are uprooted from the tiny Polynesian island they’ve always called home, they slam into much bigger challenges than figuring out who can rip through steeper swells, who the next chief of the island should be, or whose grades will be good enough to avoid the Captain’s wrath.

Having a white father and a Pacific Islander mother was never a big deal for Becca or Johnny in Polynesia, but it matters a lot to everyone in Arizona. Just when the siblings begin to figure out how to survive their adventure in the desert, a death in the family forces them to re-evaluate the importance of popularity.  

HOW IT LOOKS FROM HERE is told from the alternating perspectives of Becca and Johnny.

First 250:

I broke three of Quentin’s rules on my last day at Lupelele Elementary. First: never disobey the Captain. Second: never fight a girl. Third: never lose a fight to a girl. In twenty minutes, about how long it would have taken me to run from one side of the island to the other, I pretty much guaranteed that I’d be laughed at till I graduated from fifth grade.

After I’d cleared out my locker for the last time, I headed across the playground to meet my sister. A crowd on the other side of the courtyard was chanting in a rhythm that could only signal one thing: a fight. We only had about two or three fights per year at our school, and the last time one had broken out, I was grounded for two weeks—and I wasn’t even in it. Quentin thought it was bad for the chief’s grandson to be connected to a fight in any way. Even as a bystander. Stupid rules.

As the chanting grew louder, I weighed my potential punishment against the thrill of seeing a fight up close. The decision took me half a second. I threw my backpack down and ran toward the fight.

I elbowed my way toward the front of the crowd. Faith, the biggest girl in the sixth grade, held down her unlucky opponent with a knee between the girl’s shoulders.

What were the chances of a girl fight?

CAGI Finalist #37

Title: RELIC

Genre: YA Fantasy

Word Count: 85,000 

Query:

Eighteen-year-old Princess Far has always known how it feels to die.

She is a Relic, a person who has visions from their past lives, and she has spent her entire life guarding this secret. Most people believe Relics and their so-called demon magic must be exterminated. 

After the sudden death of her sister, Far must assume membership in the kingdom’s Council, but all she knows how to do is be invisible.

When a dark order of magi invades her kingdom and thrusts her people into a world war, Far’s past-life knowledge becomes her most powerful weapon. She is the only one who knows the order's secret. But somehow, they also know hers. She must decide if exposure is worth the protection of her people.

Because if those same people learn what she really is, they’ll nail her to a fiery stake. Crown and all.

RELIC has qualities of GRACELING, A GAME OF THRONES, and THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS.

First 250:

I’ve died this way before.


Before, I stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time. But now, from the burning in the stranger’s eyes, I know he has every intention of killing me.


I wonder, does he see her too?


Her name is Far. All my life, I have been haunted by memories. I don’t know about magic or destiny or death. But they do. There are thousands of memories and dozens of lives trapped inside me. Or maybe I am trapped inside them. 


His footsteps behind me grow louder. When I try to push myself up from the forest floor, my chest smashes back to the ground. 


The footsteps stop. I hear his breathing behind me. A heavy inhale. A slow, relaxed exhale. I can’t see him, but I think he’s smiling.


I squeeze my eyes shut and try to recall how it feels to be stabbed. For once, the memories don’t come.

Of all the memories, Far's are the clearest, so close to the surface that sometimes I believe they’re my memories. That I am Far. That she is me.

Of course that can’t be true. Her tiara is my baseball cap. Her magical tattoos are my tan lines. Her creepy past-life sketches are my inspirational posters.

I’m not Far. 

I’m not.

But I can’t let it go. I can’t convince myself that I’m my own, separate person when one crucial piece of evidence is missing: Far never died. Her life ended without even a whisper, as if existence has a pause button.

I can’t help but think it has something to do with me.

CAGI Finalist #36

Title: CAN'T BUY ME LOVE

Genre: Upper Middle Grade

Word Count: 54,000

Query:

Thirteen-year-old Marnie Mercer thinks middle school would be perfect if she

could just address a few critical issues. The lack of cell phone thing, for

one. Her yawn-inducing social status, for another. And would it be too much

to ask for a first kiss to knock her (discount store) shoes off? But when

she inherits a fortune from an unknown great-aunt, she discovers a brand new

set of complications.

Now, her best friend is convinced money corrupts, her parents need a loan,

and a group of popular girls offer Marnie access to the top of the social

pyramid, but first she'll have to complete their zany pledging checklist.

Soon she's sneaking locks of her principal's hair, stealing her teacher's

beloved laser pointer, and throwing a sure-to-get-her-grounded-for-LIFE

party.

To make matters worse, she's finally met a guy worth his weight in gold only

he might not be so interested if he finds out how many commas separate their

allowances. Marnie needs to find a way to manage her money and her life

while staying true to herself. Otherwise, she can say goodbye to her best

friend's respect, her parents' trust, and any chance of getting her first

kiss from a boy who makes her feel priceless.

Life as a teenage heiress is one mixed bag of crazy.

First 250:

Is it totally wrong to be jealous of someone else's coffin? I mean, it's not

like I have a death wish or anything but my great-aunt's casket is seriously

blinged out. It has actual diamonds in the handles. When my time's up, I

definitely wouldn¹t mind flaming out movie-star-style, like Aunt Glinda.

Maybe if I'd ever laid eyes on her (or at least the casket I assume she's

inside) even once in the last thirteen years, I might be a little more into

paying my respects instead of calculating carats, but until two days ago, I

didn¹t even know I had an Aunt Glinda.

"Marnie, please move it along," hisses Mom, under her breath.

Whoops! I realize I've been standing over Aunt Glinda's casket for like two

whole minutes and there's a line of people backed up behind me.

"Sorry," I whisper and speed walk back to our pew.

It's a little difficult to get worked up for a stranger-relative, but from

all the nice things everyone is saying about Aunt Glinda, she sounds like

she was pretty cool. And RICH! Same with her friends. The ruby ring on the

lady next to me is practically blinding, especially when it catches the

sunlight coming in through the stained glass windows.  There are beams of

color flying all over the place, like when Mr. Martin goes crazy with his

laser pointer in history class. He so doesn't get that pointing a red dot at

Abe Lincoln's nostril does not make the Civil War more interesting.