I'm posting my query for those of you participating. If you do a critique, please leave your blog link cause I'll be popping over to critique yours!
Dear Amazing Agent Who is Going to Love My Book, (Okay, that part isn't real.)
I
am looking for an agent to represent CATCHING
KATIL, a middle-grade (tween) mystery set in the 1980s in a rural, Colorado
town. It has a word count of 34,000.
Using skills learned from watching
television detective Magnum P.I., 12-year-old Jenny launches her own
investigation into the murder of her neighbor's cat. Surprisingly, her quirky
spy tactics work and she uncovers a gang of criminals who live on her brand new
paper route. Before Jenny can tell the local sheriff of her discovery, the ring
leader kidnaps her and threatens to take her to California with him. To escape,
Jenny must overcome her crippling fear of blood; make peace with her best-friend-turned-enemy;
and become a yodeling, ninja-kicking newspaper girl.
One
thing about CATCHING KATIL that I think will catch the attention of both junior
high students and their parents, is the usage of 80s language and culture—much
of which is coming back into popularity. As far as comparables go, CATCHING
KATIL is similar to the SAMMY KEYES series by Wendelin Van Draanen.
I have a
bachelor's degree in journalism and have worked as a newspaper reporter and freelance
writer for twenty years. During that time, I edited several books for New York
Times best-selling author Dr. Neil Solomon, and I published a self-help book on
stress management with Leatherwood Press in Sandy, Utah.
Currently,
I’m a member of SCBWI, the League of Utah Writers, and Writers Cubed. I’m also
a co-founder and producer of the Teen Author Boot Camp hosted at Utah Valley
University in Orem, Utah. This is a writing conference designed for aspiring
teen authors. We have featured several published YA authors, including Kiersten
White (PARANORMALCY) and Brandon Mull (FABLEHAVEN)
as our keynote speakers. In 2012 our attendance at the conference was 250
teens.
I
look forward to hearing back from you.
Best,
Lois
Brown
