Thanks, Patricia, for having me as a guest blogger. The past few months have been crazy busy as WriterPitch.com prepares to host its first ever event. For those of your readers who don’t know what WriterPitch is let me divulge:

At the beginning of this year I, along with my wizard web developer brother, created a site that brings together writers and literary agents. A wonderful community has been growing and I feel honored to be a part of it. The site is host to many useful tools and ways to connect. Writers are able to post pitches for agents to read and make requests from, blog, critique, question and grow. I cannot stress enough how much I love our WriterPitch family! The event I’m talking about is called Pitch to Publication, and we hope it’s just that. June 29th is the start of the submission window, in which writers have the chance to pitch their finished manuscripts to freelance editors who in turn choose one writer to work with at polishing their manuscript by August 31st–the literary agent round.

During this round agents will make requests and must have a yay or nay response for the writer by September 21st. The manuscripts that make it to agented are then available for the acquisition editor round. This is where large publishing houses will make requests for materials. After this point it’s between the writer, agent, and publishing house what happens. So, hopefully there will literally be pitch to publications that take place. I have begun to list information on the freelance editors taking part in this event at sfountain.com and WriterPitch.com.

As busy as I’ve been on my blog and interacting with all the amazing writers who are part of WriterPitch, I’ve finally settled down into research mode for my third manuscript. I’ve dug deep into the grimy world of suburban sex trafficking, a horrific type of slavery. My characters are developing and I’ve let myself get the first page typed out. Those words were ready to explode from my head so I had to let them out. Now I’m back to the nail biting documentaries on this subject. I have a pretty good grasp of where I want the story to twist and turn, but I’m a self proclaimed pantser and proud of it. I don’t mind a bit of plotting, but too much leaves me feeling confined. Being a pantser really allows me to feel like the first reader of the story, which if you think about it, that’s pretty darn special.

I’ve also been working on taking my own advice, which is harder than it sounds. It’s easy to tell someone that to become a better writer the best thing to do is read and read widely. As my life has become more and more busy, including chasing a very rambunctious, very loving four-year-old boy, I find that if I want to read I have to plan it. Long gone are the days when I could take a long bath spending every second submerged in warm water, devouring a book. I’m working on being okay with fifteen minute reading spurts! 🙂

I’ll be keeping an eye on Patricia’s blog for any questions that might pop up from writers about Pitch to Publication, or whatever you want to ask me. You can also contact me via my website or Twitter, which I frequent far too much. My handle is @FountainWriter and I LOVE meeting fellow writers, so please come say hi.

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Samantha Fountain is a young adult author who focuses most of her energy on the paranormal genre. That’s not to say there isn’t an insane amount of horror, romance, and suspense thrown in for good measure. Her debut novel is a fast paced paranormal tentatively titled, THE DARK INTRUDER. She is currently working on the third manuscript in the series featuring seventeen-year-old psychic Charlotte Kane. Samantha’s full time job is most enjoyable. She spends her days with her four-and-a-half-year-old, Wallace. Nap and bedtime are Samantha’s allotted time to write…to create worlds both beautiful and mysterious. FYI, Samantha thinks whipped cream should be a table condiment.

Learn more about Samantha and her projects at her website. She can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.