Would You Read It Wednesday - The 47th Pitch And Then Some!

Hola, my friends! and Happy Fourth of July!!!

Thank you all for your patience while I was on vacation!  I missed you all dreadfully!

There is nothing like a week away from your desk to make you realize just how fast you can get utterly and completely behind, but being swamped upon return was totally worth 7 days of sun and sand, wind and waves, frisbee and family dinners and flashlight tag and feeding ducklings off the dock, Madagascar III on the only rainy afternoon and marshmallows roasted over a very sketchy-looking grill :)  Sometimes I'm really not sure there's anywhere on earth as beautiful as Nantucket...

... but then I get home, and it's so beautiful here too :)

... and I have two little friends who are very glad we're back :)  Woof :)

And I am glad to see you all again!

Before we get to our pitch today, I want to remind anyone who hasn't had a chance yet to please take a minute and check out the self-publishing mini-series.  Suzanne McGovern, Vivian Kirkfield, Patrick Milne, and Rita Borg generously shared a wealth of hard-won wisdom about their experiences self-publishing, and even more generously donated books for giveaways which you can still qualify for by commenting before Thursday July 5 at 11:59 PM EDT!

Now then, grab your Something Chocolate and get ready for Would You Read It! :)

Today's pitch comes to us from Carrie.  She says, I worked in educational software publishing for about 10 years, and wrote content (mostly nonfiction) for children as part of my job. It was wonderful and creative but left me little time or energy for my own writing. Like many parents, my real writing journey began when my son was born and I started reading to him. I started trying to write what I was reading to him, mostly picture books and poetry in magazines like Babybug. I committed myself to practicing as much as I could, took some classes, read some books, and started to submit some of my work to magazines. Four years later, my poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Babybug, Ladybug, and High Five magazines. I feel lucky to have found some fabulous critique groups and supportive communities like the 12x12 group that are helping me grow as a writer in so many ways.  Please pop over and visit her website :)

Working Title: Friendly Sam, The Ice Cream Man
Age/Genre:  Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  Sam loves dishing out ice cream to his favorite customers at the park each afternoon. But when a rival ice cream truck shows up on ‘his’ corner, Sam must find a way to out-sing, out-scoop, and out-serve the competition to keep his customers — and himself — happy.

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Carrie improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However, I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above.  There are openings in August, so you have time to polish :) for a chance for it to be read by editor Erin Molta!

Carrie is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!

And I am looking forward to Friday, the inaugural day of Summer Short & Sweets!!!  Are we going to have fun or what?!  I am SO tempted to show you the gorgeous SS&S badge that the awesomely talented Loni Edwards has made for us... SO TEMPTED!  But I will restrain myself (and by restrain myself I mean will someone please tie my hands behind my back!)

So tune in Friday - same bat time, same bat channel!!! :)