Have questions about submitting to Pitch Wars or just want to know what it is? Start here!

Blog

PW #206: Middle Grade Contemporary: OLD-FASHIONED NEWFANGLED GIRLS

Thursday, 3 November 2016  |  Posted by Heather Cashman

Manuscript status: Finished

Mentor Name: Joy McCullough
Mentee Name: Faith Hough
Title: OLD-FASHIONED NEWFANGLED GIRLS
Category: Middle Grade
Genre: Contemporary
Word Count: 55,000

Pitch:

When their best friend Clara moves to Argentina, sisters Georgie and Penny hope working together to buy the horse the three amigas always wanted will salvage their own friendship—and maybe bring Clara back. Unfortunately, Georgie’s obsession with old-fashioned living clashes with Penny’s taste for technology, turning their mission into all-out war.

Excerpt:

The one advantage to having five little sisters, Georgie Coleman thought, was that you never ran out of funny stories to tell your best friend, even when you wrote her a letter every other day. If Connie and Cherry hadn’t accidentally dyed the cat’s hair magenta that morning, for example, her current epistle would be a meager seven pages. As it was, she had just hit lucky page thirteen.

A tap, tap, tap against her bedroom window jolted Georgie from her work. Ink splattered from the nib of her quill pen and speckled her paper with cerulean blue.

“Blast!” said Georgie, sopping up ink with an already stained handkerchief. This was the third bottle Mama had ordered for her in a month. If she didn’t stop spilling, she’d be forced to go back to ballpoints for her correspondence. Or worse: e-mail.

Georgie threw open the diamond-paned window to find a chicken standing on the sloped roof beneath the gable. Its sleek, golden head tilted inquiringly to the side, wattle swaying.

“Daffodil dearest, I’m rather busy,” Georgie said. “I’m trying to write a letter to Clara before the mailman comes.”

Daffodil scratched at the roof tile.

“You’d better be quiet,” Georgie warned. “If Mama finds out I’ve been going on the roof, she might forbid me. There’d be no more midday cereal snacks for you.”

The chicken pecked at the windowsill insistently.

“I suppose I can’t refuse the world’s only tree-climbing Buff Orpington,” Georgie sighed.

Filed: Pitch Wars

12 Comments
  • Brent Taylor says:

    I absolutely love the voice here—it’s right in line with the middle grade that I’ve been reading and loving recently. I’d be so delighted to consider this as a full manuscript submission. Please send as a Microsoft word doc with “Pitch Wars request” in the subject line, with your query letter pasted in the body of the message to brent [at] triadaus [dot] com. Eager to dip in!

  • This is lovely! Please send the full manuscript (as well as a synopsis if you have one) to lauren@triadaus.com with “Pitch Wars: [YOUR TITLE]” as the subject line. Please also include your query in the body of the email. I look forward to reading!

    -Lauren Spieller, TriadaUS

  • renarossner says:

    I’d love to take a look at this full manuscript! Please send the query pasted in the email and the manuscript attached in word to rena (at) thedeborahharrisagency (dot) com

    Thanks!

    – Rena Rossner

  • Jim McCarthy says:

    I’d love to have a look! Please send the full along for my review. A Word attachment is most preferable if possible. jmccarthy@dystel.com. Thanks!

  • I was pulled in by Georgie and the writing here and would love to read more! Please send a query, synopsis and first 50 pages to chquery@mcintoshandotis.com. Please mark “Pitch Wars request” in the subject line. –Christa Heschke

  • I would love to see more of this! Please send the full manuscript as a Word doc or PDF to melissa@rpcontent.com, and be sure to include “Pitch Wars” in the subject line. Please also include your query in the body of the email.

    Thank you!

    Melissa Nasson
    Rubin Pfeffer Content

  • I would love to see more of this! Please send a query (in the body of the email) plus the first 50 pages as a Word doc attachment to patricia@marsallyonliteraryagency.com, and make sure to put “Pitch Wars Request” and the title in the subject line.

    Looking forward to reading!

  • Susan Hawk says:

    Got such a kick out of this! Please send the complete manuscript and query to me at: kidsqueries@thebentagency.com; please include PITCH WARS in the subject. Can’t wait to read!

  • Amy Jameson says:

    Delightful! I’d love to see the full manuscript. Please send as a Word document with the title as the subject line to amy (at) aplusbworks (dot) com.

  • Pete Knapp says:

    This is great! I’d love to keep reading. Please send the full manuscript attached as a Word document to queries@parkliterary.com with “Pitch Wars – Pete Knapp” in the subject. Looking forward to reading! – Pete Knapp

  • Roseanne Wells says:

    Hi Faith–What terrific voice, and I can’t wait to meet Penny! Please send me the full manuscript and a synopsis as Word doc attachments to queryroseanne@gmail.com with Query and Pitch Wars in the subject line. Thanks!

    Roseanne Wells
    The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency

  • I’d love to read more! Please send the full manuscript to whitley@inklingsliterary.com with “Pitch Wars: [TITLE]” as the subject line. And if you wouldn’t mind, could you please include your query on the first page of the word doc?. I look forward to reading!

IMPORTANT!
We're thrilled at the different ways those in our Pitch Wars community are giving back—and we encourage them to do so. However, please keep in mind that Pitch Wars is not affiliated with any of these various contests, promotions, etc., including those of our mentors and mentees. Promoting any such opportunities via our social media channels doesn't imply endorsement or affiliation. We encourage you to do your research before participating.

Pitch Wars takes a stand. ANTI-BULLYING. Click here to review our policy

Pitch Wars 2021

Blog Archives

Blog Categories

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.