Step 43: Prepare For War

I know it's been forever and a day since I've posted on my blog, but it's for a very good reason I can sum up in two words: Pitch Wars.

It's something like that.

When I first heard about the #PitchWars hashtag a few months ago, I noted it in my calendar along with the rest of the Twitter literary pitch events. Little did I know that it would consume my entire month of July.

BRB SLEEPING FOREVER TT_____TT

In a nutshell, #PitchWars is a contest that pairs up aspiring authors with published "mentors" who spend two months helping you rip apart your manuscript and piece it back together stronger than it was before. An agent window then opens in November for mentees to parade around their newly polished and publication-ready books.

It's a ridiculously amazing opportunity to be brought under the wing of people who have been in your shoes and understand the hard work that goes into taking a good MS and making it great. The catch? Last year, 1600+ entries vied for approximately 150 spots, and this year is expected to garner even more entries.

I spent the entire month of July dusting off my old Twitter account, getting to know potential mentors, and swapping query and first chapter critiques with fellow #PitchWars hopefuls. After several weeks of reading and re-reading my MS until my eyes bled, I finally took the plunge and submitted my beloved brainchild to six carefully-selected mentors.

Now what?

With the excitement of the submission window closing on Saturday night wearing off, I am beginning to temper my expectations. There's a lot of things you can do to up your chances of being selected as a mentee--picking the right mentors who are asking for exactly what your book has to offer, perfecting your grammar and prose in your MS, etc.--but what it really boils down to is sheer luck. Imagine, if you will, perusing a bookstore; sometimes you're in the mood for a corny romance, and sometimes you're in the mood for something more fantastical. #PitchWars works in much the same way--your best shot at getting selected is having something that just happens to align with a potential mentor's hankering at just the right time.  You can have the next A Song of Ice and Fire saga on your hands, but if your chosen mentor is dying for a good vampire fic, them's the breaks.

That's not to say I haven't gained anything from this experience--on the contrary, I am infinitely happier for having participated. Sure, I'll be as disappointed as the next person if I don't get picked, but realistically speaking, I might as well be disappointed in not winning the lottery. What I have acquired from participating in #PitchWars has been invaluable: I've connected with people in the writing community that I would not have otherwise met, and I've made my MS even better than I ever thought it could be. Ultimately, though, I've learned an important lesson in perseverance, because not winning #PitchWars does not equal defeat. Whether I get into #PitchWars or not has no bearing on the potential success of my manuscript, and pushing forward in the face of staggering odds is what makes or breaks a writer.

To Brenda Drake and all of the amazing #PitchWars mentors: I salute you!