Our mentors are editing, our mentees are revising, and we hope you’re making progress on your own manuscript! While we’re all working toward the Agent Showcase on November 3rd-9th, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2016 Pitch Wars Teams.
And now, we have . . .
Katie O’Shea – Mentee
Twitter | Blog | YouTube | Facebook
Nikki Roberti – Mentor
Katie: Why did you choose Nikki?
I submitted to Nikki last year with a different MS so I’ve known how awesome she is for awhile now. This year I thought she would be a great fit for my new MS and it matched up with her wish list. I could also tell from Twitter and the live shows that Nikki and I would get along really well and it seemed like we had similar interests and tastes. Plus I had heard from so many people how amazing Nikki is. I’m so glad that she chose me to mentor and I can’t wait to work with her!
Nikki: Why did you choose Katie’s manuscript?
I love a good laugh, and Katie’s first chapter had me hooked from start to finish. Her characters were so funny and so developed early on–I couldn’t help but want to read more. I feel like lighthearted, funny YA is a rare find these days, so I was extra excited to get my hands on something so fun. Also, as I read, I was instantly having ideas and wanting to share things I’ve learned recently through my own revisions. It was that vision for it that made me decide Katie & her MS were “the one.”
Katie: Summarize your book in three words.
Funny summer love
Nikki: Summarize Katie’s book in three words.
All Good Feels
Katie: Tell us about yourself. What makes you and your MS unique?
I’m a lawyer by day and I had a penchant for starting to write new novels during law school finals time. I wrote three books during law school, including the first draft of my Pitch Wars book THOSE SUMMER NIGHTS. My book is a sweet and funny YA Contemporary set in an Island town off the coast of Georgia during the summer. It’s a funny and relatable story about a boy who’s hopelessly in love with his best friend and trying in all the wrong ways to try to get her to realize how he really feels about her. This MS is a book of my heart and I wrote it for myself and for my best friend, Megan. A lot of the things in the book are references to real-life jokes or experiences. Not surprisingly, my bestie describes reading the book as “sharing an inside joke with your best friend.” I’m just thrilled that people other than us have enjoyed it so far too!
Nikki: Tell us about yourself. Something we might not already know.
Hmm…I’m pretty much an open book online so I’m not sure I have many secrets left. OH! I was am amateur puppeteer for 9 years and used to practice ventriloquism. I taught myself with a VHS tape as a kid and my first ventriloquism dummy was a bunny hand puppet that my grandmother sewed legs to out of stuffed old towels.
Nice to meet you both! This book sounds sweet and funny, and I want it to be published soon so I can read it!
You got this Katie!
Katie – your book sounds fantastic! I’m always up for books that make me laugh! (I’m always looking for more of them too!) Nikki – you are constantly full of surprises!! I would love to see a picture of you as an amateur puppeteer with your hand seen bunny hand puppet. You’re awesome! Good luck ladies!