Hollywood is tapping a new source for movie ideas — blogs!  I have heard of other projects based on websites, but this latest one, being developed for Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, sounds like a real winner. Over on the deadline.com/New York site, Mike Fleming is reporting that Columbia Pictures has made a deal with blogger/author Ree Drummond for a romantic comedy, ”The Pioneer Woman.”

Drummond is known as ”The Pioneer Woman” who writes a popular blog with the same title,   http://thepioneerwoman.com/  The website description says she’s “plowing through life in the country  …one calf nut at a time.” Drummond is a self-confessed city girl who fell in love with a cowboy and is now making a lot of hay, ah, money writing and blogging about her life on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. 

 Last year Drummond’s cookbook, “The Pioneer Woman Cooks, recipes from an accidential country girl,” came out and became a New York Times bestseller.

Next Valentine’s Day, William Morrow will release, “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels,” Drummond’s story of love and adventure in the country. On her website, Drummond describes the book as “… the complete saga (to date) of the rip-roaring true story of how I met my husband, Marlboro Man, and how I went from spoiled city girl to domestic ranch wife in the blink of an eye.”

Spec script season in full swing

Some interesting spec scripts making the rounds of the production companies and studios lately. Literary manager Kathy Muraviov is shopping, “The One” by Stan Evans, according to the Spec Chaser site. This is a romance about a woman who gets the ultimate choice: one week with her “soul mate” or a lifetime with a man she cares about, but who is not “the one.”  

Also, spec scripts are being snatched up and bought. On the Spec Chaser, the spec screenplay “Ruthless,” by Cooper Layne, is marked sold!

“Ruthless” is a crime thriller about an ex-con who shows up suddenly in a small Louisiana town and begins to cause havoc by exposing the secrets of the town folks. The script sold to Double Nickel Productions.

A super opening for the latest teaming of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. The suspense thriller, “Shutter Island” debuted with an estimated $40.2 million this weekend at the domestic Box Office, to become the number one film in the country.

“Shutter Island,” set in the 1950s, is about the investigation of a murder and some bizarre medical practices at a hospital for the criminally insane. This is the film version of Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same title. Lehane’s novels,”Gone, Baby, Gone (1998),” and “Mystic River (2001)” were both turned into successful movies.  ”Shutter Island” is the fourth movie hook-up for Scorsese and DiCaprio. They also worked together on “Gangs of New York” (2002), “The Aviator” (2004),  and “The Departed” (2006).

As for the rest of the weekend contenders, the romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” came in a distant second with about $17 million. Last weekend, “Valentine’s Day” was sitting pretty in the top spot. No matter, in two weeks the star-studded comedy has raked in around $87.4 million at the domestic Box Office.

The blockbuster hit, “Avatar” landed in third, earning $16 million. The 10 week domestic total — $687 million! The adventure fantasy, “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” scored $15.3 million. And rounding out the top five,  the horror drama “The Wolfman” with $9.8 million. 

Director Steven Soderbergh’s action thriller sells to Warner Bros.

The sluggish Hollywood film script market is picking up. After some bidding, Director Steven Soderbergh’s movie project, “Contagion,” sold to Double Feature Films at Warner Bros. The budget $60 million. The script, written by Scott Z. Burns, revolves around a viral outbreak. Several top notch stars are attached to the project including, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, and Jude Law. More on the project and the bidding at Deadline.com/Hollywood.  

 Actress Tori Spellings has two books coming out in 2010

Tori Spelling is having quite a bit of success as an author. The book publishing website Galleycat claims Spelling’s two previous books, the adventures in celebrity parenthood “Mommywood,” and the tell-all memoir, “sTORI Telling” have sold nearly a million copies. Another Spelling adult book is due out in June and it’s tentatively titled, “Uncharted terriTORI.”

Later in September, Simon & Schuster is publishing the actress’ first children’s book, “Presenting… Tallulah.” It’s about a spunky little girl who discovers who she really is with the help of some special friends. More on Spelling and her books here.

Kathryn Bigelow’s star is rising — not the case for most Hollywood female directors and writers! 

“The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow is the favorite to win the Oscar for best feature film director at the Academy Awards next month. Lately, Bigelow has been showered with awards, accolades, and deal offers. All well deserved. Despite Bigelow’s success, 2009 was a “terrible year” for the majority of female film directors and writers, according to a report on The Wrap website. The stats are grim. Read it here.  

“Valentine’s Day” scores on a record breaking Presidents Day weekend

The new romantic ensemble comedy, “Valentine’s Day” is on a nice roll at the domestic Box Office. “Valentine’s Day” helped produce the biggest February weekend and biggest Presidents Day weekend ever. In four days, Friday-Monday, the celebrity-packed chick flick earned $63.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. “Valentine’s Day” now ranks up there with “Sex and the City” and “He’s Not That Into You.” Two other very different films debuted well last weekend, too. Details and analysis here.

Sooner or later it was going to happen. “Avatar” getting dethroned, but who suspected a chick flick would kick the sci-fi epic out of the top spot at the domestic Box Office. Yet, that’s just what occurred on this Super Bowl weekend. The military love story, “Dear John” trounced “Avatar” with an estimated $32 million debut to become the number one film in the country.

“Dear John” stars Channing Tatum as a U.S. Special Forces Army sergeant who falls in love with a college student played by Amanda Seyfried, however, their romance gets tested when the sergeant re-enlists after the 9-11 attacks. “Dear John” is based on the best selling novel of the same title by Nicholas Sparks, who has had four of his other books turned into movies as well: “Message in a Bottle (199),” “A Walk to Remember (2002),” “The Notebook (2004),” and “Nights in Rodanthe (2008).”

The mega-hit, “Avatar” slipped to second after seven weeks at number one with around $23.6 million, bringing its domestic take to a humongous $630 million. In third, earning $8 million, another new film, “From Paris With Love.” It’s an action/spy thriller shot in Paris, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

The Mel Gibson crime drama, “Edge of Darkness” came in fourth with $7 million, followed by the family comedy “Tooth Fairy” in fifth with about $6.5 million.

The recession and the tight job market have made the workplace even wilder and crazier for far too many overburdened employees. No matter how demanding or over-the-top the boss or office manager may be or simple-minded the job, quitting is not an option. Some of these workers need a place to vent and that’s where the website Please Fire Me comes in. It’s a site where workers can anonymously diss the jobs they can’t afford to ditch. 

I found the link for Pleasefireme.com in a post on the book publishing site GalleyCat. The “why you hate the job you can’t leave” site was created by literary manager, Adam Chromy of Artists and Artisans to promote his client, David Ellis Dickerson’s memoir, “House of Cards, Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions.” The book is about Dickerson’s adventures in corporate America as a greeting card writer at Hallmark.

If the book is half as entertaining as the Please Fire Me website then it’ll be a bestseller. I gotta tell ya, some of the worker gripes and boss-outings are throw-down-funny, in fact, I was screaming with laughter over a few of them. Some comments describe the strangest, the weirdest, and most ridiculous behavior in the workplace. While others were sad and poignant revelations about how workers are mistreated and exploited.  You know, a lot of it has the ring of truth. Whatever happened to professionalism in the office and all those legal and government regulations that are supposed to protect employees from abuse?

Here are some of the worker complaints:

“Please fire me. My boss sent an email asking me to find her a stuffed animal frog wearing pink high heels and order it online pronto. And she prioritized the email.”

“Please fire me. My boss gave me a one-hour lecture on the two most important things in life: a good mattress and good shoes. I feel bad that his wife and three kids didn’t make the list.”

“Please fire me. I just booked Valentine’s Day reservations for my boss at a restaurant that I’ll never be able to afford to eat because of how little I get paid. “

“Please fire me. I just caught my old boss copying down my goals from last year’s review and noting them as his own for this year.”

“Please fire me. I’ve been working here for a year. Since then, my last two bosses were fired and a high school girl who started last month just got promoted to be my new boss.”

“Please fire me. I’ve written four bestselling novels at my desk in the past two years and no one has noticed.”

“Please fire me. I work at NBC.”

For more revelations from frustrated workers click over to the Please Fire Me site.  Oh yeah, I’ve added this site to my favorites list.

Everette “E” Lynn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009)

Over the weekend, a number of tributes and obituaries for the late writer E. Lynn Harris, a pioneer in popular black fiction.

 Last week during a book tour for his latest novel, “Basketball Jones,” the bestselling author became ill at a Beverly Hills hotel. Harris died last Thursday night, July 23, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Harris self-published his first novel, “Invisible Life” and sold it out of the trunk of car, until he got a deal with big time publisher Doubleday in 1994. Harris created rich plots about the glamorous and complex lives of African-American professionals, both straight and gay. Harris is credited with being one of the first writers of mainstream fiction to portray male black characters living on the “down low,” in relationships with women, but secretively dating men.

Nine of Harris’ novels have hit the New York Times bestseller list, including “Just as I am: A Novel” (1994), “And This Too Shall Pass” (1996), “If This World Were Mine” (1997), and “I Say A Little Prayer” (2006). More than four million of Harris’ books are in print.

Harris was 54. So far, the cause of death has not been released.

Los Angeles writer/producer Jessica Brody is celebrating one of those milestones that makes one do the happy dance. Last week, Brody got the word her novel, ” The Fidelity Files,” had been optioned for development as a television series by Marina Grasic, the executive producer of the Oscar-winning film, “Crash.”

St. Martin’s Press released “The Fidelity Files,” Brody’s debut novel, last summer. The novel is about a young woman who goes undercover as a  “fidelity inspector” for suspicious wives and girlfriends who want their men put to the test. The novel focuses on the question women have been asking for eons: Is he cheating or not?  Brody says the story came easily to her: “The concept of cheating has always intrigued me. And the idea that you can never really know what someone does behind your back. So I came up with a character who will tell you exactly what happens when you’re not around.”

 ”The Fidelity Files” is 432 pages, but Brody says she still has tons of material that did not make it into the novel.  More than likely, she will get a chance to pitch some of those unpublished ideas for the small screen version of  ”The Fidelity Files.” Brody is attached as a consulting producer on the show.

A follow-up to “The Fidelity Files” called “Love Under Cover” is due out in November. The 29-year-old writer also has a young adult novel, “The Karma Club” coming out next spring. And she’s still writing and working on a number of other projects as well.

At the top of Brody’s to-do list is a final polish on the first book in a new YA series, which she hopes to get a publishing deal for very soon. In a few weeks, she plans to get cracking on another adult fiction novel, too. 

Brody was once an executive at MGM Studios, but she quit that full time job in May of 2005 to follow her dream: “I’ve always loved the mantra, ‘Do what you love and the money comes later.’ That was certainly true for me. I sold my first novel a year and a half after leaving the corporate world and struggling to pay the bills and I’ve never looked back or regretted my decision. Sometimes you have to just leap and trust that the net will appear.” 

 The novella, “Rape: A Love Story” (2003) by acclaimed bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates, is getting the Hollywood treatment. A film based on the work is scheduled to go before the cameras in June, according to the website Done Deal. The cast reportedly includes Maria Bello, Abigail Breslin, and Samuel Jackson. The screenplay was written by John Mankiewicz. Harold Becker is on board to direct the movie.

The story revolves around a woman who survived a gang rape only to be terrorized by her attackers again. Eventually, Teena Maguire gets help from a sympathetic cop as she fights to protect herself and a young daughter. Apparently, the movie version is going to get a title change. That’s good.  Although provocative, “Rape: A Love Story” is too much of a contradiction for me.

Joyce Carol Oates is a prolific author of essays, plays, short stories, and literary novels such as “Blonde,” “The Falls,” ”We Were the Mulvaneys,” “The Gravedigger’s Daughter,” and “My Sister, My Love.” Since 1978, Oates has been a professor at Princeton University as well.   

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is probably hammering away at a computer keyboard today as part of her new job, author. Several major media outlets, yesterday and today, report Rice has signed a three book deal with Crown Publishing, a division of Random House. According to the Associated Press, the deal is worth at least $2.5 million!

The 54-year-old George W. Bush confidant will begin with a book about her White House days: “Rice will combine candid narrative and acute analysis to tell the story of her time in the White House and as America’s top diplomat, and her role in protecting American security and shaping foreign policy during the extraordinary period from 2001-2009,” according to a statement released by Crown on Sunday. That book is due out in 2011.

Rice, who grew up in the segregated South, went on to become a top official at Stanford University before joining the George W. team and eventually taking positions in the Republican President’s administration. Rice will write about that personal journey in a family memoir, which will appear as a YA book as well. Those two books are scheduled for release in 2012.

“Slumdog Millionaire,” the rags-to-riches story produced on a mini-budget, has scored another huge victory among the top Hollywood awards. Last night, Simon Beaufoy won the best adapted screenplay honor for “Slumdog Millionaire” at the 2009 Writers Guild Awards. The film is based on the novel, “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup. The 2009 Writers Guild Awards were handed out simultaneously at ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.

“Slumdog Millionaire” focuses on an orphan from the slums who gets a shot at winning it all on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” “Slumdog” cost only about $15 million to make. Since its release in the U.S. 13 weeks ago, the movie has raked in $77 million. After winning a ton of major awards, it will be a surprise if “Slumdog” doesn’t take home the big prize of best picture at the Oscars later this month.

 ”Milk,” written by Dustin Lance Black, is a film about San Francisco gay activist Harvey Milk; and it won the best original screenplay trophy at last night’s WGA Awards.

The WGA Awards honor outstanding achievements in writing for the screen, television, radio, news, promotion, and video games. A complete list of the winners is on the WGA West website.

A film version of the bestselling novel “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” is coming to a theater near you in the not too distant future. Earlier this week, Universal Pictures bought the rights to the David Wroblewski novel – his first.

“The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” reportedly has spent  at least 30 weeks on the bestseller lists since being released last September. It was selected for Oprah’s Book Club. Also, Oprah’s Harpo Films will be producing the movie adaptation of the novel along with actor Tom Hanks’ company, Playtone.

“The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” is a touching and captivating story about a mute boy and his dogs who flee into the wilds of Wisconsin after their home life is shattered by the arrival of a relative.

Today on the Barnes & Noble website bestseller list “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” is holding down the number 19 spot. It’s number 15 over on Amazon.

Movie inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story.

Voters for the 81st Annual Academy Awards were apparently dazzled by the journey of a man who ages backward in ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” When the Oscar nominations for 2008 were announced bright and early in Beverly Hills today, this film was mentioned 13 times — more than any other. For some 13 is an unlucky number; not in this case.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is inspired by a short story written in the 1920s by one of the 20th Century’s best known writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was nominated for best picture and best director, along with “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” and “The Reader.” 

Brad Pitt who stars as Benjamin Button was nominated for best actor with Richard Jenkins “The Visitor,” Frank Langella “Frost/Nixon,” Sean Penn “Milk,” and Mickey Rourke for “The Wrestler.” Best actress nominations went to Anne Hathaway for “Rachel Getting Married,” Angelina Jolie “Changeling,” Melissa Leo “Frozen River,” Meryl Streep “Doubt,” and Kate Winslet “The Reader.” Streep has won two Oscars, Jolie one Academy Award.

“The Dark Knight,” a favorite with many moviegoers, picked up 8 nominations, but only one in a major category. The late Heath Ledger who gave a remarkable performance as the Joker scored a nomination for best supporting actor. Ledger is up against Josh Brolin “Milk,” Robert Downey, Jr. “Tropic Thunder,” Philip Seymour Hoffman “Doubt,” and Michael Shannon “Revolutionary Road.”

For best supporting actress: Amy Adams “Doubt,” Penelope Cruz “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Viola Davis “Doubt,” Taraji P. Henson “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and Marisa Tomei “The Wrestler. Tomei won an Academy Award in this category for her performance in “My Cousin Vinny” (1992). 

Best adapted screenplay: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Doubt,” “Frost/Nixon,” “The Reader,” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” Best original screenplay: “Frozen River,” “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “In Bruges,” “Milk,” and “Wall-E.”

 The Oscars will be handed out to the winners during a live broadcast at the Hollywood Kodak Theatre on Sunday, February 22, 2009.

Two agent/bloggers are showcasing query letters from authors that grabbed their attention. The authors who wrote these knockout queries got requests for their manuscripts and later representation. Last Friday Kristin Nelson, on her Pub Rant blog, discussed one of her client’s boffo queries.

 Also, over at the BookEnds, LLC – A Literary Agency blog, Jessica Faust is posting a series of successful author query letters. Faust not only points out what works in these queries, but also what she thinks would improve and make them even better. Very helpful posts for authors serious about hooking up with an agent.

In these troubled and shaky financial times who doesn’t need some professional advice on money matters. Along that line, talk show host and mega-successful entrepreneur, Oprah Winfrey, is offering one of the best bargains around.

Right now, at www.oprah.com readers can download a free copy of “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan.” Orman is a top notch finance guru and the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers. A lot of folks are buying Orman’s latest book as well. Today “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan” is number one on the Barnes & Noble website. Orman’s book of tips and plans for weathering the turbulent financial scene in 2009 is ranked number 5 over on Amazon’s bestseller list.

The Oprah free download of Orman’s book ends next Thursday, January 15. Also on that date, Orman will be answering money questions in a live webcast — details on the Oprah website.

Sean Penn stars in “Milk”

Today the Writers Guild of America disclosed the list of its nominees for “outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during the 2008 season.” The writers are being honored for a variety of projects, from major motion pictures to documentary films.

In the original screenplay category the nominations went to Joel and Ethan Coen for “Burn After Reading,” Dustin Lance Black for “Milk,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” by Woody Allen, “The Visitor” by Tom McCarthy, and “The Wrestler” by Robert Siegel.

For best adapted screenplay John Patrick Shanley for “Doubt” based on his stage play, Peter Morgan for “Frost/Nixon” based on another stage play, “Slumdog Millionaire” by Simon Beaufoy and based on a novel, “The Dark Knight” by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, story by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, based on DC Comics characters and Batman created by Bob Krane, and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by Eric Roth, screen story by Robin Swicord and Eric Roth based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Those nominated for documentary screenplays are Stefan Forbes and Nolan Walker for “Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story,” Brett Morgen for “Chicago 10,” Johnny O’Hara for “Fuel,” Alex Gibney for “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson,” and Ari Folman for “Waltz with Bashir.”

The 2008 Writers Guild Awards will be handed out at ceremonies simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York on Saturday, February 7, 2009.

“Romeo and Juliet”  by Sir Frank Dicksee (1853-1928)

The publishing industry has been buzzing for months about Danish author Anne Fortier’s “Juliet.”  In the  novel a woman discovers she may be related to the star-crossed lovers who inspired the classic, “Romeo & Juliet.” Today, there are a flurry of reports about Universal Pictures picking up the movie rights for “Juliet.”

Director/producer James Mangold is attached to the project along with his producer wife Cathy Konrad. Mangold and Konrad were involved in the 2007 remake of the western, “3:10 to Yuma,” and are developing the time-travel thriller, “The Archive.”

Last September, “Juliet” sold in a seven figure deal to Ballantine over at Random House. Fortier’s agent Daniel Lazar says the book is that “rare combination of commercial and literary.”  The Hollywood Reporter estimates book rights deals for “Juliet” now stand at around 21 with many foreign rights agreements in the six figure range. ”Juliet” is set to be published in 2010.

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The President is still hoping for a deal, but his wife Laura Bush has signed on the dotted line to write a memoir. Several publishers were interested. Yesterday, a deal was announced with Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The Laura Bush memoir is scheduled to hit the market in 2010, according to Publishers Weekly.

No one is talking about how much the deal is worth, however, the publisher did say it will ”provide a candid and personal perspective,” and include the eight years in The White House. President Bush has made no secret of his desire to write a “set the record straight” book after he leaves office. So far there are no takers, due mostly to the President Bush’s dismal approval rating with the public.

This is not Mrs. Bush’s first book deal. Last April, HarperCollins published a children’s book by the First Lady and daughter Jenna Bush called, “Read All About It.”  The classroom adventure for young kids has not been a hit. Today it ranked 17,157 on Amazon and 4, 894 on the Barnes & Noble website. Perhaps, Mrs.Bush will have better luck with her memoir.

FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove

Story Analyst/author Billy Mernit chatted with writers and signed copies of his book, “Writing The Romantic Comedy,”  last month in Brea.

Actor Hugh Grant has had some of his best film success with romantic comedies so he knows a thing or two about the genre. Back in 2003, Grant explained the problem with most romcom scripts in a BBC interview: “The reason I turn down 99% of a hundred, I mean a thousand, scripts is because romantic comedies are often very romantic but seldom very funny. The writing isn’t up to scratch and the lines aren’t funny.”

Story Analyst/author Billy Mernit mentioned the same problems during his talk to the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America on December 13, 2008. Nevertheless, Mernit focused on what writers can do to give their rom-coms a better chance of receiving a recommend instead of a pass from script readers such as himself.

Mernit tossed out a number of script fixes and suggestions including: making sure your screenplay is about something, write the chemistry between the couple on the page, show why “they belong together,” put a new spin or different execution on the rom-com formula, and kick up the humor wherever possible. During his presentation, Mernit came across as witty and funny without trying too hard, which is sort of like what a good romantic comedy should do.

Mernit has an extensive writing background, which he admitted to the group includes a stint, years ago, as an author of romance novels under a couple of pseudonyms. Besides his screenplay textbook, “Writing the Romantic Comedy,” Mernit has a literary fiction book out called, “Imagine Me and You: A Novel.”

 Mernit works as a story analyst/script consultant at Universal Studios. Also, he teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

The most detailed ever biography of superstar crooner Tony Bennett has been bought at auction by publisher, John Wiley & Sons. Publishers Weekly reports David Evanier’s “Keeper of the Flame: A Biography of Tony Bennett” is set for release in 2011 to mark the singer’s 85^th birthday. 

He was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926. The singer’s career got a big break when Bob Hope asked him to join his stage show. Also, the comedian suggested a name change to Tony Bennett. In 1951, Bennett’s first hit, “Because of You,” topped the music charts. In 1962, Bennett recorded, “I left My Heart In San Francisco.” This salute to the City by the Bay became a classic and his signature song.

 He has won an armful of grammys and a number of other awards. Several decades after his first hit single, Bennett is still performing and recording; a rare artist whose voice just keeps getting better and better.

Really bad wintry weather (snow, ice, sleet, and rain) is derailing holiday plans and travel itineraries for people all across the country. The airlines have canceled hundreds of flights in the past few days. You can understand that, but apparently many of those passengers affected by the cancellations can’t get on another flight before Christmas.

Gee, bad weather happens this time every year. You’d think the airlines would have added extra flights during the holidays. The airlines will probably be the next companies asking for a chunk of that bailout money because of their wrong-way thinking management.

One literary agent’s blown holiday getaway has created a sweet bargain for writers. BookEnds agent Jessica Faust made an announcement on the agency’s blog on Friday, December 19. BookEnds, a successful East Coast agency, would be closed for vacation from December 22 through January 5. Faust offered a very valuable Christmas gift to readers. She would randomly critique some writer book pitches posted on the BookEnds blog during the vacation. You have to follow the instructions on the blog to get a chance at the free pitch paragraph critique. That’s a great deal, but it got even better.

Once Faust realized she would be staying home for Christmas she offered to review even more pitches. This is a great opportunity for writers to learn what it takes for a pitch to grab an agent’s attention. Faust deserves applause and cheers for turning her “bah, humbug” situation into something wonderful for writers.