Would You Read It Wednesday #116 - The Witch's Brew (YA)

Happy New Year Everyone!
(Which I'm saying again because I don't think too many people were here on Friday.  After all, even I wasn't really :))

I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

I thoroughly enjoyed mine.  The only hard part was sending all the kids back to school - I hate to see them go :( - and, oh, yeah, getting back to work!

As you know, I took about 2 weeks off.  I didn't think I could do it, but I did.  It turned out to be easier than I thought :)  I spent lots of time with family, which was really wonderful, and I even got to read a couple books!  I admit it.  I'm a die-hard Jack Reacher fan - not the movie (I'm sorry, but Tom Cruise cannot pull off fair-haired, blue-eyed, 6' 5" and 250 lbs!) - but the books.  The whole time off thing was a real treat.  And now I'm finding it a little harder than I expected to get back in the groove :)

Since the Holiday Contest (and my time off) kind of took over December, a few things fell by the wayside.

I'm pretty sure I never announced the winner of the November Pitch Pick, so, without further ado, it was Steve with his pitch for Rashad Saves The World!  Congratulations, Steve!  You had some tough competition!  (And if I DID announce that before and just forgot, let's all pretend I didn't and be excited for Steve!  And let's also all pretend I'm not going prematurely senile :))  Steve, your pitch is in Erin Molta's inbox (yes, it really is - I did actually remember that :)) and I'm sure you'll hear from her shortly.  Congratulations to the other brave pitchers as well because they all gave excellent pitches for stories which sounded terrific!

I also don't think I ever announced the winner of Sharon Stanley's lovely book The Little Dog In The Middle Of The Road and the accompanying stuffed toy!  So without further ado, the winner, as chosen randomly by random.org, is Diane Tulloch! :)  Diane, I will put you in touch with Sharon so you two ladies can work out mailing the goodies :)

Also, I didn't get a chance yet to tell you about Elaine Kearns's fabulous new website for writers - KidLit411!  It's got everything!  You should definitely go check it out!  But after Would You Read It, please, because once you click over there you're going to want to explore and it might take you awhile :)

I'd also like to remind anyone who might be interested that Meg Miller's ReViMo is coming up next week - January 12-18.  It will be a full week to work on picture book revisions in the company of other picture book writers with prizes and everything!

It seems that everyone else is posting inspirational messages about their word for the year, their goals, their aspirations.  I have goals and aspirations too, but as you all know, I am not that organized.  So for now, I'm just going to sum up my goals for 2014 as Get Stuff Done :)

I think there was something else I forgot but, I forget... :)

You know what's helpful when you forget things?

Something Chocolate!

How about cake?

courtesy of OMG Chocolate Desserts - recipe here

It doesn't help you remember, but it makes you not mind that you forgot :)

If any of you all think of something else I've forgotten, please feel free to remind me!

Now then, enough with the catching up.  Let's get on to Would You Read It!

Today's pitch comes to us from Rena.  Rena J. Traxel writes silly picture books for kids and murderous novels for teens. Find her on twitter @renajtraxel or on Facebook

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: The Witch's Brew
Age/Genre: YA (mystery/legal thriller/fractured fairy tale)
The Pitch: When the body of Gretel is unearthed the residents of Rosia are ready to burn the candy Witch everyone except 16-year-old Amy Faye. Fuelled by her own false arrest, Amy—lawyer in training— is willing to risk her reputation, her family and maybe even bend a law or two to prove her crush’s mother isn’t a murderer. But will the truth set the Witch free or will she be rightfully executed alongside Amy’s reputation. Grisham’s The Accused meets Willingham’s Fables.

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 Rena 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 February so you've got a little time to polish up your pitches and send yours for a chance to be read by editor Erin Molta!

Rena is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday for Perfect Picture Books.  And now that this post is done, don't forget to go check out KidLit411 and ReViMo!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone! :)