So you’ve entered
Pitch Wars?
And now you’re
waiting.
Hold on tight and
get ready for the ride of your life.
I write this with
a mischievous smirk because I know what the waiting is like. The anxiety, the
pacing, the sweaty palms, the restless nights, the double portions of ice
cream, the worry that you misspelled the last name of your main character. All
these feelings are agonizing and real. And they’re okay, everything will work
out okay.
So a bit of
backstory here. I first entered Pitch Wars in 2016. I had a shiny manuscript,
polished and ready to take on the world. This book had been through beta
readers and even a couple of professional edits. I’d self-published a few books
years prior so I knew what I was doing. I was good at this writing thing, I was
confident. I, I, I. Me, me, me. Not chosen, not chosen, not chosen. That’s
right. I didn’t get into Pitch Wars in 2016 and I felt every emotion the day of
the announcement. I might have even cried, though you didn’t read that on this
blog. This many years later, I can admit that I thought about giving up writing
that day. But I didn’t. Which is why I’m here. Stay tuned and I’ll explain.
In 2017, the
Pitch Wars chatter started up again on my Twitter feed. People I followed were
excited to enter, they were polishing their manuscripts and preparing for the
grand entry. Excited future applicants were posting their queries and pitches
and first pages on the forum. There were a lot of fantastic posts and the eagerness
was palpable. I wanted to be a part of that, I wanted to fit in. Writing can be
lonely and this was my chance to be a part of something special, although I
felt especially secluded that year because I didn’t have a finished manuscript
and was spending all of my time writing and revising, rather than joining in on
all of the fun. So I posted when I could and kept working hard.
Then I did it,
submitted my entry and waited.
And waited.
Waiting is the
hardest part.
Yeah, I agree.
Because this is a
big deal, we want to think that having perfection on the page is the key to
getting chosen by a mentor. Our careers depend on it, our lifestyles want it. No
agent or editor will touch my book if I don’t get chosen. Pitch Wars is life!
Yeah, no. Sorry
to disappoint, but life will go on if you’re not chosen for Pitch Wars. It
will.
Remember how I
wasn’t chosen in 2016? I didn’t give up like I wanted to. I told myself that
the book was the problem, not me. I want you to remember that because it’s so
true. I’ll repeat it. The book was the problem, not me. When I found out I
wasn’t chosen as a mentee is 2016, I immediately started on another manuscript
I called SARAH’S BREATH. It was like therapy to me. This book was everything my
Pitch Wars entry wasn’t and it helped me escape the doldrums of what I
considered failure at the time. I dabbled with it, plotted some chapters, wrote
some more, and then got bored and let it sit on a shelf. This wasn’t the book I
needed to write. But my Pitch Wars entry from 2016? What if I fixed it and
revised it some more, changed the main characters favorite color, moved around
some scenes, alternated POV’s, added less supernatural? That would fix it,
right? No, none of those things. Remember what I mentioned about the book?
So, you’re wondering
what to do, right?
You’ve submitted
your entry and want to occupy your mind.
Good news! This
is a rare opportunity to feed your creativity. Don’t touch that manuscript you
submitted, don’t you dare. It’s fine where it is. Go do something else. Read,
watch a movie, go outside and re-introduce yourself to your loved ones. Find
that spark that keeps you writing because if you are chosen as a mentee, all
that time is going to disappear. Know that. Expect that.
The time waiting
should not be spent second guessing every word you submitted because those specific
words don’t matter.
What? Yes they
do, every word matters. You might be worried that if you misspelled your main
character’s last name on page six, you’ll never get chosen. Believe that if you
want, but it isn’t true. Mentors will fall in love with your story first and
then decide if they can help it. A wrong word here or there, a misspelling? Those
are tiny details that won’t matter at this point of the process. What matters
is that your story is well conceived, well written, and well received.
That’s right,
well received. Take a moment now and think about your favorite song. What’s the
title? Who wrote it? Who’s the artist? What album is it on? Can you sing it on
demand? Will people throw books at you if you sing it on demand? Now answer
this question: is that same song everyone’s favorite song? Why not?
Art is subjective
and because of that, not everyone is going to love your creation as much as you
do. It’s not your fault and it isn’t theirs. Think about that favorite song
again and imagine that you were given a list of 150 songs to choose from,
including that one, and were allowed to pick only one as your favorite again.
Would you pick the same song? Would that make the other 149 songs bad? It’s not
a rhetorical question. The answer is no.
Chances are, you
chose a particular song as your favorite because of some sort of connection
you’ve made with a part of the song, its tone, the lyric, the artist, and the
album, whatever. That process of choice is going to be the same for the Pitch
Wars mentors. Right now as you’re reading this, they are agonizing over many
great manuscripts and trying to decide which one will become this year’s choice
for them. They can only pick one.
It could be your
book.
I believe that
hope and a positive attitude are powerful. Despite not having any sort of
control over the fate of your Pitch Wars entry, believe that you have 100%
control over the fortune of your writing. The same creative habits that helped
you finish a manuscript and edit it will be useful as you venture into the
querying world. Chosen for the contest or not, you’re going to need a catchy pitch,
a well-written query, a professional synopsis, and a polished manuscript. That’s
what agents and editors will be looking for, and that’s what we’ll all need to
prepare.
Get ready to work
hard.
If you’re chosen
as a mentee, please have your schedules clear for many writing/editing sessions
in the coming months. Some of you might re-write your book, others might change
the POV, and still others might cut/add significant portions of your
manuscript. That takes time and willingness to adapt. The mentors aren’t going
to do the work for you which means all this time you’ve been preparing to send
work to them was good practice for the much harder work ahead. While I didn’t
keep track of all my time spent, I remember spending at least 20 hours one
weekend finalizing edits. Most of that was one scene. ONE SCENE! I sometimes shiver
with dread thinking back on it. That was a lot of work.
There’s a
community of support.
You’ve heard it
plenty and I’m going to add to the chorus of voices that cry out “Pitch Wars is
about the relationships you build.” Because it’s true. If you accept it,
there’s a large family of writers ready to support and guide you along this
publishing journey. They will cry with you, cheer you on, praise the pictures
of your pets, beta read, offer feedback, brainstorm ideas with you, help with
pitches, send you encouragement, and so much more. Those who embrace the
community find that the value of the contest is gauged by their willingness to
become a writing partner and friend. Everything else becomes secondary. Chosen
for the contest or not, friends will still be there. Relationships will still
exist.
Praise and
Progression.
Admittedly, my
expectations were low after rejection in 2016 which meant that finding my name
on the mentee list in 2017 was a surprise. I was shocked at how much my mentor,
Destiny, loved my book. Her vision for the story was exactly what I had planned
to do but had been afraid to put on my submitted version. Her edit letter,
which was 10 pages, made me giggle because I was excited to discover that
someone fell in love with my project and was willing to help me improve it. That
was a fantastic feeling. In fact, it still feels great.
That said, be
ready to find out that your book isn’t perfect. You might get some tough love
and it could hurt a bit. Be ready for that. Remember that your potential chosen
mentor is going to be in love with your book and it’s their job to help you
improve it. I learned long ago to wait a day before responding to an edit
letter. Your emotions are tied into the book, it’s your baby. How dare someone
claim it needs fixing. Let your emotions simmer for a bit after you get your
edit letter, then think about the changes and how you can best implement them. Talk
to your mentor and establish a relationship built on trust. If you fire back a
hastily written response, you might come across as combative and difficult, which
might not be your intention.
Enjoy the
journey.
During the agent
round in 2017, I was a bundle of nerves wound so tight that the slightest of
things set me off. That year, we were able to see comments on everyone’s posts
and the initial reaction to mine was nothing but silence. Take the feelings
while waiting to see if you’re chosen as a mentee and multiply that by 100 and
that’s what the agent round could be like if you don’t take a step back and
enjoy the fact that you succeeded. Regardless of how agents react to your book,
you’ve accomplished something great and there’s a future for you. Because of
market trends and editor requests, demand might be high for certain books over
others. It’s not about the authors or the mentors, but rather the market that’s
building an expectation for certain subjects and genres. Don’t let that stress
you out. It’s out of your control.
Who are you
again?
It’s been two
years since my Pitch Wars experience and you might be wondering where my book
is, or who I am. I'm Jamie, a writer. My Pitch Wars book is alive and well, looking for a home. All these feelings, all the emotions of waiting to see if
someone likes your work is still happening, only there’s some finality with
every response. I’m happy to have an agent who manages the business part of
things because that means I get to keep my mind on writing, which is what I’m
good at. Recently, my agent and I had a long conversation about my current
projects (there are 6 of them). We ranked them in order of potential value.
Third on the list is SARAH’S BREATH, that book that I started way back on the
day after not getting selected for Pitch Wars 2016. Sometimes it feels good to
receive validation and hearing my agent tell me that she loved the concept of
that story made me realize that I had made the correct choice back then, that
writing is my journey.
Rejection can be
hard, but the way we push on determines our future success.
I believe that. I
live it. Oh, if I had more time to share stories—I could go on forever. Anyway,
here’s My 2017 Pitch Wars Entry from the Agent Showcase. It always makes me
smile.
Happy Reading.
~ Jamie
