The perfect romcom escape for fans of Lynn Painter and DCOMs like Camp Rock and Lemonade Mouth! 💚Summer band camp for adults 🩵Second chance romance 💚Found family 🩵Mental health rep 💚Secret summer fling 🩵Coming of age in your 20’s 🎸 EDITORS interact if you're interested ✨ #QuestPit #AG #A #R #OS

Them: Omg I wish there was a Dancing with the Stars romcom. Me: Hold my beer THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL ✨ 💜Showmance 🪩Sunshine female competitor x Grumpy male pro 💜Nanny x Single dad 🪩Ballroom, studio, and country dancing 💜Mutual Pining 🪩Dual POV #QuestPit #A #R #AG #W

Dancing With The Stars meets THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center and Elsie Silver's HEARTLESS Live-in nanny Taly thought she was pretending to fall in love for TV ratings until her jaded pro partner—and his secret preteen daughter—start making things feel a little too real. #QuestPit #W #AG #A #R

status update: I signed with an agent and am officially on sub with my nerdy new adult romcom BAND CAMP!! crazy how wild life gets in only 3 months 🥹

Too many book ideas, not enough hours in the day (said in the vocal style of the old space bags infomercial “too much stuff, not enough space”)

The federal minimum wage is still $7.25/hour. Think about what eggs cost. Think about what parking at a parking garage costs. Now how can you think that $7.25 is an adequate wage for an hour of someone’s labor. It’s not.

rewatching mamma mia and I'm chomping at the bit for a romance book with a scene as teasing and squeal-worthy as the "lay all your love on me" number!!!

FINALLY revamped my author website (myself🥹). If you need a brain break...maybe click the link, scroll through, and tell me that it doesn't suck? 🤭 Cheers to balling on a budget! www.sydneyapplegate.com

If I ever become a full time author and get to quit my day job, the FIRST thing I’m going to do is dye my hair whatever color I want! It’s 2025, what do you mean I can’t have purple streaks in my hair as a grown adult with adult money? I work in digital marketing 😭

My husband may not have gotten me anything for Valentine's (*that I know of*), but the Dallas Morning News sure did! 🏹💘🗞️

BAND CAMP - 88k - NA/A Romcom After her therapist-recommended summer music program is crashed by her ex-boyfriend, Haven must prove to him, her new friends, and herself that she's been doing just fine since he left—all while avoiding her lingering feelings 💚🏔️🥁🤓🎷🫶🏻 #questpit #R #A #Q #amquerying

DWTS🪩 meets THE ROM-COMMERS💜 and HEARTLESS💋 After being slated for a popular dance competition show, Taly and her jaded pro partner form a showmance to amass more audience votes, only the lines between real love and reality tv start to blur the further they advance #QuestPit #A #R #W

If anyone for MSWL Day is looking for laugh out loud romcoms with emotional depth and a fresh twist on band geeks or Dancing with the Stars, I’M YOUR GIRL 💜🫶🏻 #mswlday

When someone asks me for book recommendations (I literally write books)

Hey so, that Microsoft Word subscription price hike email you just got? That refers to an AI-heavy version of MS which you can absolutely opt out of and maintain your current, “classic” subscription at a lower price. Thanks @lzats.bsky.social for the tip!

Born to write romcoms, forced to work in marketing for a male industry (I'm just a girl!!!)

Can I self edit 5 chapters in 2 days? Let’s find out

add in my “thinking cap” and I’m ready to roll post lunch break

Wore my lover cardigan to work today and I'll tell you what, something about donning taylor swift merch to the office makes me feel 1000x more productive 🩷

There's a lot of pitch events here at the start of the year, so it's pretty hard to keep track. Here's a list of the ones we know of and when they're happening! #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Writers #AmQuerying #AmWriting

Went to the Fort Worth rodeo and stock show this weekend and MAN do I have a new respect (and undying love) for cowboy/western romances

So like...what do I do while I wait for my requests to respond ( besides write my next book, bc I'm already on it haha)??? I need distractions, or else any free moment I'm over here like

Squid Game x TBOSAS 🌲🔪⌛🩸✨ To find her sister, Tate lies her way onto a deadly televised tournament of hide&seek where players are injected w/magic chosen by the audience. Survival depends on working w/the enemy. He might save her life - if he doesn't take it first.

 #YA #F #Q #YouDeservepIt

After her therapist-recommended summer music program is crashed by her ex-boyfriend, Haven must prove to him, her new friends, and herself that she's been doing just fine since he left...even if it means denying feelings that never truly went away. 💚🏔️🥁🤓🎷🫶🏻 #YouDeservepIt #A #R #Q #amquerying #romcom

#P2Ppit and #litagents, here's a glimpse into my current romantasy thriller wip, CARNAVOYEUR 🩸 🔪 Fatal tasks ❤️‍🔥 Cunning FMC ⛓️ Reluctant alliance 👀 Voyeuristic, unseen villain 🔍 Mortal girl in a dark fantasy realm ‼️ Rescue mission 🫀 Mind games 🖤 Doomed romance #A #W #RF #T

Hey #P2Ppit pals and #litagents! Here's a glimpse into my nerdy new adult romcom BAND CAMP that I #amquerying and is complete at 88,000 words 🫶🏻 HAPPY PLACE + NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES Perfect for ages 17-27, music lovers, and fans of Ali Hazelwood and Christine Riccio #Q #C #R

Tigerlily must cross through a mansion’s series of sadistic mouse traps before sunrise, or die trying. But more precarious than her dwindling odds of survival is the voyeuristic game master’s growing fascination with her… Let the bloodlust begin🩸☠️ #P2Ppit #W #RF #T #H #UW

One of the reasons David Lynch's work meant so much to me is that he promised that no matter how ordinary-seeming the space you occupy, you contain an unmeasurable quantity of weirdness that deserves expression. I am promising myself that from here on out, I will try to write even weirder.

Your story won’t resonate with everyone, and that’s okay. It only needs to resonate with the right ones.

You mean I have to make it through the rest of January before we get it to this? *Sigh* the horrors persist, but so do I 🥲 This is so exciting!

I promise you, once you free yourself from the notion that other writers are your competition and start viewing them as your fellow weirdos who share similar special interests as you, your life in publishing will become so much easier.

The Latest Episode of The Literary Lens is OUT NOW 🎧 Listen if... ✨You want to query in 2025 ✨You THINK you're ready to query now ✨You're researching agents to send to ✨Your book is 100,000 words or more ✨You're working on your query letter

My poor feeds is going to be the same mood boards over and over for different pitch contests lol. I’d like to apologize to my followers now 🥲

Them: Omg I wish there was a Dancing with the Stars romcom. Me: Hold my beer SHOWMANCE ✨ 💜Real love vs Reality TV 🪩Sunshine female competitor x Grumpy male pro 💜Nanny x Single dad (kinship care) 🪩Ballroom, studio, and country dancing 💜Mutual Pining 🪩Dual POV #BluePit📖 #WF #A #R #W #amwriting

Put a finger down if you like ❤️‍🔥 Final girls 🔪 Squid Game 🩸 Rocky Horror 🪦 Phantasma ✨ Eerie mansions ‼️ Mind Games 😈 Saw x Clue ⛓️ Allies to lovers 🫀 High stakes 👀 Being watched If you have four or more fingers down, you should read my romantasy thriller CARNAVOYEUR #BluePit📖 #R #T #F #W #wip

Haven: So...going to an adult band camp should pull me out of my personal funk? Her therapist: Yeah! It's foolproof! Haven: Okay! Sponge Bob narrator: A few hours later... *Haven's ex bf sees her for the first time in 3 years while she's kissing his roommate* #BluePit📖 #A #R #romcom #Q #amquerying

What if meeting someone once upon a dream wasn’t happily ever after, but a death sentence? 🩸 This Sleeping Beauty retelling follows a ruthless young king after he dreams of a girl plotting to 🔪 him…dually narrated by two villains ❤️‍🔥 #BluePit📖 #IN #P #R #F #A

BAND CAMP🏔️🎷🎹 After her ex-boyfriend shows up at the summer music program her therapist recommended, Haven tries to fight her lingering feelings for him by forming a rock band, learning the oboe, and indulging in a summer fling that might be more detrimental than distracting. #BluePit📖 #A #WF #R #Q

In efforts to save her queen, Pandora allows a masked assassin to abduct her in the night. But when she learns of her captor’s infatuation with her—and dark secrets about the family she swore to protect—she must decide between honoring her bloodline or following her heart. #BluePit📖 #A #IN #R #F #P

THE CRUEL PRINCE + THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US After the villainous King Jericho has a prophetic dream about a mysterious girl, he must figure out why before she pulls off her secret plot to revenge 🔪 him. Luckily, falling in love might just buy him some time. #BluePit📖 #A #IN #P #R #F

After being slated to compete in a dance competition show, Taly and her jaded pro partner, Sanya, agree to form a showmance to amass more audience votes. But the closer they advance to the winning cash prize, the more the lines between real love and reality tv start to blur #BluePit📖 #A #WF #R #W

PHANTASMA + Squid Game + Rocky Horror After mistaking a death trap for one of her boss’ brainteasers, criminologist assistant Tigerlily Fowler must fight her way through a sadistic fortress run by an elusive master in order to save herself and her boss from certain doom. #BluePit📖 #A #R #T #D #W

Final shameless plug for all my #BluePitHype peeps. I'm Sydney, and thrilled to pitch quite a few projects for tomorrow's event, including...🥰 2 self pub romantasies 2 romcoms (1 wip, 1 #amquerying) & 1 romantic thriller/horromance wip I'd love to swap support for writers in any of these genres 🫶🏻

So excited to participate in #BluePit tomorrow, and I want to support as many writers as possible! Please ❤️ this post or leave a comment if you're pitching a writing project in romance (any subgenre), fantasy, dystopian, and/or thriller. I would love to swap support! 🫂 #BluePitHype

Here’s a look at the vibes for my new adult romcom BAND CAMP—which follows Haven as she throws herself into everything her unorthodox summer music program has to offer in efforts to prove to her ex boyfriend that she’s doing just fine without him (but is she…?) 🤪 #amquerying #A #WF #R #BluePit📖

as LA is burning, a swath of the country is recovering from an ice storm, Alabama is preparing for up to 6” of snow and I’m praying for the TX power grid, a reminder: we don’t need climate action just for future generations, we need it now. the climate crisis is here, all around us

Hi there #BluePitHype friends! I’m Sydney, and I write romance and fantasy for both NA and YA audiences☺️ While I published a romantasy duology in 2024, I’m currently deep in my romcom writing era and #amquerying a story about post grads getting to experience band camp again 🎷🫶🏻🏔️

Y'all, discoverability is harder than ever. With Twitter all but gone and publishing being --in a mood-- your favorite authors are floundering. We don't know how to reach our fans or find new readers. Telling someone about a book you love is a really big deal. That's the #1 reason people buy books!

TAH DAH! Here's my official Agent's Guide for my new adult commercial romcom BAND CAMP that I currently #amquerying 💚🎼🥰🎷 🥹 Coming of Age in your 20's ❤️‍🩹 Mental Health Rep 🛶 Small Town 💋 Second Chance Romance vs Summer Fling 🫂 Found Family #writingcommunity #litagents #agentguide

The way I see it, there are stories I've written that I think could do well in the traditional market, and I either hold onto them or query them. But there are also stories that I love and want to use to get my name out there while I wait on my other stories to snag an agent, and those go indie 💛