Agent Critique Opportunities and More in the Pens for Paws Auction!

Last year, I was looking for a way to help the no-kill sanctuary I volunteer at, Fat Kitty City, and hit upon the idea of using my writing contacts to run a fundraising auction. The Pens for Paws Auction launched and raised over $2,600 for rescued cats and dogs, and this year it's on again!

Here is a sneak peek at the items that will go up for auction March 12-16, but you'll have to tune in to the Auction for when they actually post. The best way to keep up with the auction items is to follow @pensforpaws on Twitter or subscribe to the blog posts in the sidebar of the Pens for Paws site.

• Signed copy of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, with a doodle especially for Pens for Paws
• Signed copy of Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger, with bonus Steampunk Swag
• Picture book and query critique by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
• Query, synopsis, and first chapter (up to 15 pages) critique from Pam van Hylckema Vlieg of Foreword Literary
• Query and first 10 pages critique from Sara D'Emic of Talcott Notch Literary 
• Critique of 50 pages by Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency 
• 5 chances at a query critique by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary
• Signed copies of the 1st three books in the Elemental Series by Brigid Kemmerer (yes, that includes an ARC of Spirit!) 
• Signed copy of Interred by Marilyn Almodovar
• Signed copy of The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
• Books by Kelley York, plus a 20-page critique 
• Query plus first chapter critique by Sarah LaPolla of Curtis Brown Ltd 
• 2 (!) signed copies each of Jeff Somers's Trickster and Sean Ferrell's Man in the Empty Suit 
• A fabulous package with critiques and items donated by the Operation Awesome crew
• Critique and swag from author Rachele Alpine 

Did you catch that there will be a fabulous package from Operation Awesome???

Critiques:

• Query and first 5 pages from Angelica R. Jackson (me!)
• First 5 pages from Becky Mahoney
• First 5 pages from Angela Townsend 
• 10 pages from Kell Andrews
• 20 pages from Abby Annis
• 20 pages from Katrina Lantz
• 30 pages from Toni Kerr

Books:

• E-book of  Venture Untamed by R. R. Russell(donated by the author)
• Freedom Pen by Dionna L. Mann (donated by Kell Andrews)
• Signed copy of When Blue Met Egg by  Lindsay M. Ward (donated by Kellie DuBay Gillis)
• Signed copy of I Haiku You by Betsy E. Snyder (donated by Kellie DuBay Gillis)
• E-books of To Trust a Thief and A Bandit's Stolen Heart** by Michelle McLean (donated by the author, along with bookmarks for To Trust a Thief)

**A Bandit's Stolen Heart releases March 18, so we weren't able to link.
Don't forget to tune in tomorrow to Pens for Paws, and new items will be posted everyday through the 16th. See you in the comments for bidding!

May's Follower Appreciation Giveaway of Awesome!

No worries, we have lots more Mystery Agent contests coming up. But for this month, we thought we'd change it up a bit and do another Follower Appreciation Giveaway :) We always enjoy giving our awesome followers a little love, and fun goodies of course, and since it's been a while, we thought now would be a great time to do another giveaway.

Now, several of us are trying to get back into writing mode and are having a bit of difficulty. And since our contests generally center on finished manuscripts, today we want to have a little fun (and kick procrastination to the curb), so we thought we'd have fun with our WIPs today :D

We want you to open those WIPs and tell us the first line that you wrote today :D If you don't have a WIP, today is the day to start one! Get those creative juices flowing :)

Le Rules:

1) Leave a comment below, on this post, and share with us a line of your WIP
2) Be a follower :)

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 EST tomorrow, Wednesday May 2nd. The winners will be announced on Thursday May 3rd. Be sure to check back on Thursday to see if you've won. Any prize not claimed by Friday May 11th will be awarded to someone else.

We've put together three awesome prize packs!

Runner Up #1 will receive:

• a $10 Amazon gift card
• a query crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
• a first chapter or 10 page crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
• and a pre-order of Rachel Hartman's Seraphina 

Runner Up #2 will receive:

• a $10 Amazon gift card
• a query crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
• a first chapter or 10 page crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
• and a copy of Jennifer Carson's Hapenny Magick

And one Grand Prize winner will receive:

• a $15 iTunes gift card for an ebook of the winner's choice
• a query crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
• a 1,000 word crit from the awesome Bookshelf Muse (who we'd like to send a huge shout out and thank you to for her generous donation! Thank you so much!!!)
• a copy of Leah Cypress's Mistwood
• and the first four books in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series

So crack open those WIPs and let us see what you're working on! Good luck to everyone and happy writing!!

(in response to a few comments we've had - yep! Rewrites, edits, revisions, brand new wordage - it all counts! :D )