Step 45: Get Stuff Done

ICYMI in my last post, I was picked to be a 2016 #PitchWars Mentee!

I was saving this .gif for when I got an agent but I think its use is warranted here!

Pretty sure I cashed in the last of my karma chips because the odds were fairly steep. Like, Han-Solo-successfully-navigating-an-asteroid-field steep.

Maybe I should go out and buy a lottery ticket or something.

As exciting as it is to be selected, I know this is but a single battle in a much longer war. Many awesome people have made posts varying from how literary contests are just one avenue toward authorship, to even hindering their publication timelines. Pitch Wars does not guarantee me an agent in November. I repeat: Pitch Wars does not guarantee me an agent in November. In fact, it doesn't guarantee me anything at all, but I suspect my awesome mentors Sonia Hartl and Jennifer Hawkins will utilize the next two months wisely and help me whip my manuscript into steroid-induced swoleness.

My word count just increased by OVER NINE THOUSAAAAND

To say I am nervous is an understatement. I haven't received my edit letter yet, but I've spoken to another mentee who told me her mentor asked her to basically rewrite her entire book from the ground up. I think I know where the weaknesses in my manuscript lie, so I fully expect my mentors to poke giant ego-deflating holes in those delicate spots, but I'm also aware their suggestions might make me see my MS in a whole new light. And that--for better or worse--is not something I can completely prepare for.

I bet you thought you'd seen the last of these rewrites.

But getting an agent at the end of Pitch Wars was never the goal. The goal was to take my book and make it into something great. If I have something stellar on my hands, the rest of the pieces will (hopefully) fall into place. And a secondary goal was to connect with others in the literary community and to locate my tribe, which I've found in spades. Sonia has taken on three mentees in total, and we've already become acquainted with one another. We even have a name--with our powers combined, we form to become #TeamBossBitches!

It might take 20 cases of Two-Buck Chuck to get me through to November, but I will persevere! #apologiestomyliver