Pitch Day with Agent Jennifer Johnson-Blalock of Liza Dawson Associates

Title: A JAR FULL OF BUTTERFLIES
Word count: 58,000
Genre: Contemporary Middle Grade
Pitch:
Moving to Texas—devastating.
Outdoing her perfect, Americanized big sister—impossible.
Holding it all together—harder than surviving middle school.
Twelve-year-old Graciela longs for the past, but a tragic accident helps her embrace her present.

Excerpt:
I miss the open skies of Mexico. Instead, when I look out our windows I get to admire black tightrope wires that connect to tall wooden posts, tangoing with tree branches and covered with blackbirds. Even after three years here, it’s something I’ll never get used to – the feeling of a prison.
This is why I hardly ever look outside my window anymore. But today, the motor of Papí’s truck screeches, and then click, click, clicks. He’s trying to get it started so he can leave to work, but it won’t budge. This is the second time this week. Maybe it doesn’t like to wake up.

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Title: Prairie Storm

Word Count: 60,000

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pitch:
Things haven’t been the same for Dillon Walker since he returned home from the Army. Running the family’s farming and ranching operation, he’s tired of their scrutiny. Honoring his dad’s last request, he meets with a counselor thinking it’ll be a waste of time – until he sees her.
Elle Brady lands a secure job in a rural town where she can care for her recovering alcoholic father. When Dillon swaggers into her office, she experiences the appeal of a small town farm boy. Despite his efforts, she can’t forget her past – or that’s he’s her client.

Excerpt:
“Hear that noise? Because you shouldn’t.” Dillon Walker shouted into his phone, pissed that he had to abandon plowing the field on a–finally–gorgeous day. His cousin, Brock, could probably hear him just fine, but Dillon could barely hear himself over the clanking coming from his Case tractor’s engine.
“Can you limp her back to your shop?” Brock was frustratingly calm.
“Halfway there and it’s getting worse but probably.”
“I’ll meet you there then.” Brock disconnected, and Dillon resisted throwing his phone out the window to get run over by one of the massive wheels.

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Title: My Crimson Life
Word Count: 96,000
Genre: Crime-Thriller

Pitch:
Torn from an impoverished childhood at the age of ten, Brendan must spend the next ten years of his life learning how to survive on the margins of an underworld fraternal hitman group. With the coming of his twentieth birthday he ends a decade of nefarious training and commences his life as a professional assassin. Accepting his first international job turns out to be much more complicated than Brendan anticipates which leads him further past the point of no return and forces him to come face to face with his childhood nightmares. Some questions, Brendan learns, are best left unanswered.

Excerpt (first 100 words):
Rain spattered the dark blue car as it continued to roll up alongside me. Its wheels trotted slowly over the black asphalt. My chest, thumping so loud that it overtook the thunder. I rubbed a thumb over the fleshy scar that streaked across the palm of my right hand. The car stopped.

Sometimes I wonder if I was meant for this life. And then other times, I wonder if this life was meant for me. I guess it was just luck of the draw. But in the end, isn’t everything?

The car’s headlights pierced through the darkness like a set of bright swords.

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Title: ESCAPE VELOCITY
Word count: 22,000
Genre: MG Science fiction graphic novel

Pitch:
It seemed to Marty he was always making mistakes, going from bad to worse. Break the neighbor’s widget? Yup. Break his OWN iGame? Double yup. Just when he thought he was finally getting on the right track, earning the money to fix his problems while helping the shut in upstairs, it seems Marty might have really stepped in it. Mysterious federal agents have come asking hard questions about that kindly old man, who is building something…explosive. When Marty discovers the truth, he must decide whether or not to help Mr. Albert escape the feds, the town and even the planet.

Excerpt:
Setting: Apartment 2B is a small, homey 2 bedroom apartment. The front door opens into a living room area with small sofa and chair, TV in the corner and a playpen. Toys are scattered all over the floor. MARTY’S bedroom is tiny, just large enough for the bed, a folding table and small dresser, leaving a narrow space to walk and leave dirty clothes in.

PANEL 1
MARTY is lying on his narrow bed, intently playing his iGame, tuning out the world. The light through the window
SFX (off panel): Martin! Maar-teeeen!!

PANEL 2
MARTY reluctantly pulls out an earbud, eyes still glued to his iGame.

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TITLE: The Secrets That Girls Keep
WORD COUNT: 55,400
GENRE: Contemporary YA
PITCH: Living in a world of Trending Topics, retweets and memes; thirteen-year-old Samantha Mathers is having a problem connecting with people in real life. As a spoiled, newfound feminist, the people around her are having a tough time taking her stances seriously—whether it be her disinterested peers or dismissive elders. When her mother’s drinking and prescription mixing becomes more persistent and her father’s absences becomes more consistent, Samantha is forced to deal with the threat of their possible divorce after finding a few sexually explicit text messages sent to her mother—from a woman named Caitlyn. As her aggressive and self-centered ways begin to alienate the people around her, she must decide between staying lost inside of a myriad of glowing rectangles or dealing with her real life issues head on. The Secrets That Girls Keep is an young adult fiction that follows the humorous journey of a tween searching for maturity through hashtags.
EXCERPT:
“You’re not oppressed, sweetheart.”
Dad says this while masticating around the chicken parmesan meal that I prepared for tonight’s dinner. The recipe was from Giada De Laurentiis, who is quickly becoming a recurring character on my television and laptop screens as I’m beginning my quest of liberation. One of the first steps of independence was being able to cook gourmet meals for myself, which is what I had started doing.
“Those women with the”—he limply waves a finger around his face—“. . . what are those Muslim thingamajiggys called?”
“Burkas, niqabs and chadors,” I shoot off, while quickly adding, “but there’s no need to add arbitrary rankings to our collective struggles as women.”

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Title: LEARNING TO FLY
Word count: 69,000
Genre: Contemporary YA

Pitch: (100-words maximum):
At 16-years-old, Wren has perfected the art of pleasing people: Rarely say no. Always apologize. Shy away from the spotlight so others can shine. When Wren’s older sister Meredith comes home from college withdrawn and sad, Wren is determined to identify what’s wrong with her sister and fix it. But Wren’s new job at Cherry Hill Conference Center is a total time-sucker. One perk? Wren’s new co-workers, including Asher with the blue-blue eyes who makes Wren’s stomach flip-flop more than her feet. As Meredith’s sadness deepens, Wren must learn there is only one person’s happiness she can control: her own.

Excerpt:
The basement smelled stale as I walked down the stairs. Part of me regretted agreeing to help Meredith, but I knew unpacking these boxes was a Big Deal. So here it was, the first day of summer. Me, Meredith and the Boxes.

Yippee.

I flipped the switch to turn on the hanging light bulb. Sunshine poured through the crawl space window, touching Meredith’s sequined dance costumes hanging on a rack in the corner. These costumes used to feel like an extension of my sister’s personality, all sharp and sparkly.

But that was High School Meredith. I barely recognized this new College Meredith.

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Title: MAKING AMENDS
Word count: 70k
Genre: YA psychological thriller

Pitch:
When sixteen-year-old Tanvi spots a girl who’s a spitting image of her deceased cousin, that’s just the beginning of her problems. The lookalike stalks Tanvi, running her off the road, even implicating her in a local bully’s death.
To survive and unmask the lookalike, Tanvi must find the truth behind her cousin’s death. But her search is complicated by flashbacks into her past, into the dark magic rituals from India that her mother was involved in and into her father’s gruesome murder. The closer she gets to the truth, the worse the flashbacks. Survival could come at the cost of her sanity

Excerpt:
It had been five years since my cousin’s death, and we were nowhere near closure. Instead, the pain had coalesced into a jagged icicle in my chest, a reminder every time my gaze slipped to the woods down the road. The last place she was seen.

With a shudder, I averted my eyes from the trees and walked my bike to the front porch. Dry, brittle leaves crunched underfoot. Fall had set in early under a cold Michigan sun, and I could almost smell winter. But, in spite of the chill in the air, sweat glued frizzy strands of black hair to the back of my neck.

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BEFORE BEFORE
90,000 WORDS
YA (low fantasy/contemporary)

Pitch:

Angela and Adam are BFF’s, but there’s a problem—they haven’t been born yet. Like all childlike students in Etheria, they studied to enter the Hall of Selection and select couples as their parents. The process works as designed when Angela selects a Chicago couple, but Adam, unlike any student before him, selects a single lovelorn travel reporter from Chicago as his father. Appealing to a Supreme Council, they’re allowed to travel to Chicago, New York City, Vancouver, Yosemite, and Malibu to help Adam’s potential father find his potential mother. If successful, they hope that their friendship will be born again.

Excerpt:

“Best friends?” Angela asks rhetorically, glancing at Adam with a knowing half-smile as they jog at an even pace toward their favorite playground.

“Best friends,” Adam agrees.

Then, Angela takes off with a burst of speed and, a few paces ahead, adds, “Forever!”

Adam cannot tell whether she asked or said, “Forever.” He maintains his pace and thinks, “Forever’s complicated when you haven’t been born yet.”

Near the swings, Angela catches her breath and waits for Adam. Several moments later, he reaches her. “Why can’t you just keep an even pace?” he asks, not out of breath.

“Because I know where I’m going and once I see it, I want to get there fast.”

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• Title: The Art of Healing
• Word count: 57,000
• Genre: Contemporary Romance

• Pitch: Julianne thought she had the perfect marriage until she came home to an empty apartment. Jokob was living his dream life with his high school sweetheart until cancer changed everything. Jokob’s art brings them together but even love may not be enough to keep them that way. Broken hearts, life events, and long silent dreams work to pull them apart.

• Excerpt: Julianne rolled over in bed and reached for the warmth of her husband. Her hand met an empty space, already cold. “Clay?” Wondering why he was up so early, she slid to the edge and dangled her feet, patting the floor in search of her house shoes. Where are they? She hopped to the floor and lifted the duvet. Not finding them, she pulled on her robe and hobbled on the heels and balls of her bare feet keeping her toes pointed upward, trying to avoid the icy cold hardwood floors. She found them right where she’d left them inside the bedroom closet, and slipped them on.

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Title: Adi and the Little Visibles
Word count: 44,000 words
Genre: Middle Grade fantasy

Pitch:
Are all shadows bad? That’s what 11 year old Adi must face as she moves into her latest foster home. When Adi and her new friend Rupe are chased into a world of energetic shadow-like figures known as Littles, Adi’s home troubles become muted. She learns dark Shadows are overcoming the glimmering dreams Littles unearth in the form of gems from the forest. Nightmares will soon overshadow dreams everywhere. Adventuring through night gardens in this fairy tale world, Adi must choose bravery, trusting in new friends as she dares rediscover a bright future in this tale reminiscent of The Graveyard Book.

Excerpt:
The first leaves would fall soon. Adi looked into the sky through the canopy as they quivered and swayed in the morning breeze, which she inhaled deeply. Fall has a fresh, comforting smell.
She lay sprawled out like a star, a four angled one, and traced nearly all the points she could see in the leaves above. Some drew maps. The kind that became obviously apparent while looking longer at the same orangey shape. Others, she saw happily, were more shy about moving this way and that before she could make out any lines on them at all. That was how she felt, too. Shy, but not really too shy if someone paid attention for long enough.

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