Donna Ho

Success! I got my manuscript below 90k and I don't hate myself!

Now, #litagent question: Update outstanding queries about reduced word count? Or no?

That is so sweet! I got my book yesterday and it’s SO BEAUTIFUL! I had to take it to soccer practice to show my friends. PS-I also shared it with my book club. They love cozy fantasy!

Dear white people:

Please teach your kids that saying someone has "chinky eyes" is just as racist as calling them a "chink".

Regards,
an Asian Dad

I totally agree. I have two half-Asian kids.

A ghost-blue teenage boy on the left and a blonde teenage girl on the right face each other in profile against a dark, misty background. The boy looks sad and longing; the girl looks shocked and breathless. Center text reads “Snippets from: In Between.” Beneath that is a romantic quote about him wishing he could kiss her, and her heart feeling like it might melt. Header text at the top says “96K | YA Paranormal Romance — a standalone with series potential.”

Thoughts on this format for pitch events? Or just sharing about my WIP and Querying projects?

#writesky #amquerying #amwriting

What always hooks me when I’m reading blurbs, pitches, etc., is when I can connect to the protagonist from just that small bit. I’m so much more likely to add something to my TBR if I’m already interested in the protagonist and what’s at stake for them right away.

From my query letter:

In Between, a YA PR with gothic mystery and romantic elements, is complete at 96,600 words. It is a standalone with series potential. It will appeal to readers of If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun, Belladonna by Adalyn Grace, and The Library of Shadows by Rachel Moore.

From my query letter:

In Between, a YA PR with gothic mystery and romantic elements, is complete at 96,600 words. It is a standalone with series potential. It will appeal to readers of If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun, Belladonna by Adalyn Grace, and The Library of Shadows by Rachel Moore.

It sounds intriguing, but I’d love to get an idea of who the protagonist is and what’s at stake for them personally.

too late to return Will to his body, too late to stop the resurrection of a 300-year-old Puritan warlock hungry to claim the souls trapped in Hawk’s Mill, and too late for Annabelle to pretend she isn’t falling for a boy who might not survive.

With the help of two unlikely allies—a pair of supernaturally gifted twins who offer way too much advice—Annabelle and Will race to unravel what happened to him before it’s too late:

Sixteen-year-old Annabelle Croft wants everyone to leave her alone—especially the dead. But when Will, her golden-boy lab partner, goes missing and then returns as a ghost, this prickly medium has to figure out what happened—if only to get him to go away.

#FiFrevpit #mockpit

The light from the moon, tinged red due to the eclipse, cast the graveyard—cemetery, she corrected herself—in an eerie glow.

Original: The deeper she ran into the cemetery, the darker it grew. The towering trees loomed overhead, their branches pressing down like twisted fingers. The clouds seemed to drop from the sky and settle around the weathered headstones.

Wordle 1,602 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟨🟩🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Been a minute since I played.

#WIPSnips #writersky

The clouds seemed to drop from the sky and settle around the weathered headstones. She ran deeper into the cemetery, into the darkness gathering around her. Trees loomed overhead, their branches pressing down like twisted fingers trying to catch the moonlight, fracturing it and casting the graveyard—cemetery, she corrected herself—in an eerie, red-tinged glow.

Oooh, instead of working on Book 2 WIP, I went back and tweaked some on IN BETWEEN.

#amquerying #amwriting #WIPsnippets

This sounds fantastic and heart-wrenching!

Congratulations!

Spooky pastel sapphic Florida you have my whole heart!! 💖👻

Exsanguine Cryptids Dahlya Byrne a YA supernatural sci-fi apocalypse

PitchA vengeful government set on reasserting its authority through violence and misinformation disrupts the life of 19 year old Xiomara. Armed with nothing but the determination of an eldest daughter, she travels across the US facing folkloric monsters and government agents alike, to reunite with her estranged younger sibling. Along the way, she becomes the unwilling leader to Jada, an old classmate she can’t quite seem to get a grasp on (or out of her head) and Rally, an older, yet surprisingly well equipped, woman with an affinity for conspiracies and substances of all kind.

Eight O'Clock in the Morning Ray Faraday Nelson *Subliminal Messages, Propaganda, Lizard People Veil Haven by Anne M. Kelley * Cryptids, Lies & Secrets, LGBTQ+, Diverse The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro *Mexican Folklore, Family Secrets, Generational Trauma

I walk with my hands stretched out before me. One step. Two steps. Three steps. No wall. Four steps. No wall. Five steps. Nothing. The air feels different. Warmer. Yet, a chill runs through me, prickling from inside my skin. My neighbor had a dog I often walked, Pancho. She didn’t pay much for how bad the dog was. It pulled and pulled on its leash, if not for being the size of a shoebox, it likely would have dragged me along with it, taken off on the hot streets of New Mexico. Dragged me past the dirt roads and onto the concrete sidewalk on the way to the park. My neighbor was old, she didn’t often get to grooming the dog. It was scraggly, fat, with long long nails. Often I would close my eyes as we walked, listening to the birds, wind, and scratching of Pancho’s nails against the floor. The sound emanating from the murk of this alley was strikingly similar. A sixth step forward is not an option. But would the wall behind me still exist? The warmth ahead of me grew to a heat that roasted my skin and made each breathe an effort. Sweat dripped down my face and pooled on my upper lip. How long have I stood here?I’m reminded of the summer heat wave I spent locked outside. I often laid in the yard, too tired, too hot, too thirsty, to move even to the shade of a nearby bush. It grew flowers of a pale pink and muted red. Before that week, me and my mother often picked these flowers to make into tea. I didn’t mind that she would throw my picks to the side, as I could collect them to decorate my dresser top, enjoying the scents every morning until she scolded me for bringing garbage inside and hoisted them out. Maybe the flowers were purple, actually. Yes I remember, the flowers were a deep purple, just like the vase I threw at her head. Just like the blood that spilled out of it. The air was hot like the blood that spilled out of it. It was so hot. Like the air during the heatwave, like the blood of the vase, like the purple of my mother’s head. Like the- I hear a scream I…

Exsanguine Cryptids
She must face danger, folkloric monsters, and the government agents responsible for releasing them in order to reunite with her younger brother before the country collapses- or one of them dies.

🥰sapphic romance
Stranger>Friends>❤️‍🔥
💕slow burn
🚗 road trip
#questpit #W #YA #PR #SF

Experience a vision of transformation through the ruins of the former US.

Using the power of meditation, archaic tech, and ancient survival skills, an empath-scholar's quest to save her people is a narrative guide on how to thrive in civilization’s aftermath. 🌱

#A #Q #S #SFF #questpit #clifi

a Death tarot card I drew titled "What rises from the ashes" with death on a moped, a sun tarot card, a lovers tarot card, a color Hermit tarot card (I did all the art) quotes: "Every end is a beginning" - Tai Gong Diao "Light shines brightest in the deepest dark!" - Jim Butcher a variety of photos from my travels (+one dilapidated shack I did not capture myself) of reflective water in various landscapes and urban decay and plants growing through, swamp, fire, bridges, a map of the US with shrunken coastline over a sunset sky with leaves growing from dead branches elemental magic visions survival skills climate fiction #clifi indigenous futurism plant medicine meditation wilderness permaculture neotribalism community backpacking post-apocalyptic hopepunk

🔥 WHAT will GROW from the ASHES of our fallen civilization?

🕸️ a post collapse adventure of psychic powers and nurturing community

🔮 journey through the tarot across the former US, with unexpected twists

🌱 Clan of the Cave Bear x A Psalm for the Wild-Built

#A #Q #S #SFF #questpit #hopepunk #clifi

She's an event planner up for a promotion. He's a firefighter, and her dad is his chief. Together, they're planning the fire department's holiday gala. They're about to find out how complicated "casual" can be.

THE SLOW BURN is an 82k word contemporary romcom featuring:

🔥 Slow burn
🤷 "Keep it casual, and no one gets hurt"
🏘️ Small town
🚒 MMC in uniform
💜 Found family
🎄 Holiday vibes

#questpit #q #a #r #amquerying

A quiet New England street in autumn. White houses and a church steeple line the road under bright red and gold trees. In the bottom right corner, a small cartoon dog sits calmly at a table with a coffee mug.

IF I HAVE TO BE HAUNTED x BELLADONNA

Hawk’s Mill looks like a normal New England town…
but it’s actually a deathtrap with a body count & a ticking clock ⏳
Annabelle’s gift might save the town… or destroy the boy she loves 💔

Check out my pinned post!

#QuestPit #YA #PR #Q #thisisfine

👀

The Slow Burn photo grid featuring atmospheric images of a small town and a couple

THE SLOW BURN (82k words)

She’s an event planner up for a promotion. He’s a firefighter and her dad is his chief. They’re planning the fire dept’s holiday gala and agree to a no-strings fling.

Small town
Holiday romance
Found family
MMC in uniform
Slow burn

#amquerying #questpit #a #r #q

Silent Hill? Heck no, get me outta here. Breath of the Wild? Yes please!

A collage of pictures, with a young male hand reaching out to grab them: a sword and knights helmet, someone casting a fire spell, an inviting path into the woods, a knight holding a sword, a mountain behind an old-fashioned house, a cloaked magic user, a white horse galloping, and a mountain range.

THE DARK CURSE
Middle Grade Fantasy 84k words

If you could wake up in your favourite video game, would you want to?

More to the point, would you ever want to leave?

#questpit #MG #F #LGBT #Q

A foggy cemetery at dawn. A stone lamppost shaped like a cross glows with warm light in the foreground. Fallen leaves and wet stones line a narrow path. More lamps and blurred gravestones fade into the mist in the distance.

IF I HAVE TO BE HAUNTED X LIBRARY OF SHADOWS

A missing golden boy returns as a ghost 👻
and the only way to save him is to stop the resurrection of a Puritan warlock hungry for souls 🩸

#QuestPit #YA #PR #Q