#PitchMAS Success Story #3: Angela Parkhurst

Check out Angela's awesome #PitchMAS success story of how she connected with her dream agent, the wonderful Pam van Hylckama Vlieg! 

"When I started writing Cinderella’s Glass Stiletto, I knew something was different. I had that “feeling” and my girls went crazy over it. Then I got pregnant and polished CGS and queried the hell out of her. This time around I also entered contests. TONS of contests and I’ll say, I got really, really lucky because contests got me A LOT of requests.

In December 2012, Feaky and Jessa had a contest called PitchMAS. I was hesitant at first because I’d done so many contests already and most of them had the same agents, but I entered anyway, mostly because these weren’t the same agents I’d already queried. And boy, am I glad I did. I received a couple requests, one of them from Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary Agency. A partial turned into a full.

Then 2013 hit and the craziness came in full force. On January 9th I was admitted to the hospital, 5 weeks away from my due date. Long story short, my little boy who was supposed to be born the day before Valentine’s Day was going to come now. I had him January 10th and we spent the first two weeks in the NICU.

Fast Forward, Mason finally is home and I get a Tweet from Pam that she emailed me.  I couldn’t get to the computer fast enough. She loved CGS and wanted to talk to ME about revision ideas. Apparently I was way denser/blonder than my CPs, who were certain she was going to offer representation. I didn’t get my hopes up. This business is way too tricky.

It still seems like a blur to me, especially with all the madness of having a brand new baby (FYI, Babies are totally lucky!!), but after giving me her thoughts and ideas on CGS, she offered and I was totally speechless, because, like I said before, I really wasn’t expecting it. I thought we’d do an R&R. But Pam is awesome and she loves my book, so that makes her even better!!  After nudging other agents and with a lot of thinking and praying, I ACCEPTED.

After going through a round of revisions, CGS is going on submission. Woot, Woot!! I owe it all to Pitchmas! If you are hesitant or haven’t entered contests before, do it. It is the best way to go around the slushpile!! Plus they are fun and a great way to meet other writers and see what is out there."

Thanks so much for sharing your story, Angela!

You can follow Angela at these links:
Blog: angelafrancis.wordpress.com
Twitter: twitter.com/angela_francis
FB: Facebook.com/angelawrites