The Writer's Voice Contest

Below are my query and 250 words for The Writer's Voice contest. Doing my best to make the font easier to read, but blogger has been giving me problems. I'm still not sure why some it is showing up in black and some of it is white. Sorry guys! I added a background color. Hope that helps.

Podium Finish
76,000 words
Young Adult

Dear Judges,

Told in alternating first person narratives, Podium Finish, a YA novel of 76,000 words, is the story of 17-year-old Olympic hopefuls and best friends Alex Abrams and Harper Kavanaugh.

Alex Abrams comes from a family where being anything less than the best is unacceptable. Alex used to be the best. She was a two-time Junior National figure skating champion. Then she moved up to the senior level and finished 12th at Nationals. With two years until the Olympics, Alex's Dad pressured her to switch disciplines in order to keep her Olympic dreams alive. Now six months before the Olympics and partnered with former World Championship bronze medalist Ace St. Pierre, Alex's father is micromanaging her career, something Ace can't stand, and worse still, Ace is keeping secrets from her. When these secrets come to light, Alex must make a choice. She must choose between her father and Ace. She chooses Ace. More importantly, she chooses to make the Olympic team her own way.

With six months until the Olympic Games, Harper is living the life she's always dreamed of. She's fighting for the starting spot on Team USA Women's Hockey, and for the first time ever, she has a crush on a guy who likes her back. Things couldn't be any better, but they can, and do, get worse. In an effort to seal up the starting spot for good, Harper runs a risky play at practice and breaks her knee. After six weeks in a cast, she learns that Coach Graham is picking the Olympic team earlier than originally planned, and two girls won't make the cut. Harper pushes herself harder than ever, but will it be enough?

Author Bio: Beth Pond graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Hendrix College in 2012. Pond recently earned her black belt and was a five-time DIII varsity letter athlete in soccer and track and field. Pond is currently working toward earning her MFA in creative writing at the University of British Columbia. In 2013, she will travel to South Africa, where she will teach high school English as part of a nine month Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Grant.

Thank you for your interest.

First 250 Words

Alex

            Skype is open on my laptop with my parents huddled together so they can both fit on the screen. We do this every Saturday afternoon, a Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center to Connecticut Skype date, and they always look so stiff, like they’re doing a webcam interview for a talk show. Closed off body language. Total statues. Dad should put his arm around Mom’s shoulder. They’d look more comfortable that way, like they’re actually in love.

            “Ace and I are doing our Romeo and Juliet routine on the ice for the first time this afternoon,” I say. Mom’s melon colored lips curve into a wide, tooth-bearing smile. I knew she’d like the theme. She danced for a ballet company in New York before she met my dad, which makes her the only other person in my family of five who can appreciate art for art’s sake.

            “Can’t wait to see it,” she says.

            I’m excited to get out of the dance studio and try the routine on the ice—it’s like a ribbon cutting ceremony, announcing the Olympic season has officially begun.—but I’m not exactly as thrilled about the Romeo and Juliet theme as I should be, as Mom is. Everybody does Romeo and Juliet. Hell, Ace did it four years ago with his former skating partner, Sophie DuBassin, which means I have big, albeit bitchy, skates to fill because Ace and Sophie were third at World Championships before they called it quits.