{"id":1067,"date":"2020-09-21T21:40:03","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T01:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2020-09-21T21:46:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T01:46:45","slug":"pitch-wars-advice-blog-hop-just-keep-swimming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/pitch-wars-advice-blog-hop-just-keep-swimming\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch Wars Advice Blog Hop: Just Keep Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi there!\u00a0<\/span>I’m Nicole. If you\u2019re reading this, you are probably about to submit to Pitch Wars 2020, and I salute you.\u00a0I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Pitch Wars mentee in 2017 with my novel Tidepool<\/i>. I was not chosen in 2019, so I\u2019ve been on both sides of this particular fence.\u00a0Whatever happens,\u00a0<\/span>I cannot recommend the experience enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you get in?<\/b> Congratulations! Tell everyone in your life about this awesome thing you got into, and take a day to celebrate before the hard work begins. And make no mistake: it\u2019s going to be work<\/i>. I nearly fell asleep in front of my computer during revisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it was also fun. My 2017 mentor, Peter McLean, really got Tidepool<\/i> and understood exactly what needed to be done to make the story strong. (Indeed, even the novel\u2019s current title was his idea.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And remember: If you get into Pitch Wars, working with your mentor and making friendships in your mentee class are the real\u00a0prizes. Anything after that\u2014agent requests, offers of rep, book deals\u2014is gravy. But none of it’s\u00a0guaranteed. Take time to savor the experience while it\u2019s happening.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the showcase gets close, have a plan for what you\u2019re going to do with your PW manuscript if you don\u2019t get any agent requests, or if none of those requests leads to an offer. And think about what you\u2019re going to write next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I had to do after the agent showcase in 2017. I got 16 agent requests\u2014which was about 14 more than I\u2019d expected\u2014but none of them turned in to offers of rep. I\u2019m not gonna lie; watching some of my PW classmates field\u00a0multiple offers of rep while I was getting either rejections or complete silence was hard. Really hard.\u00a0I was thrilled for them, but I was extremely bummed out\u00a0for myself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, I\u2019m turning into a woman who\u2019s just too damn stubborn to give up. I continued submitting Tidepool<\/i> to agents, and I wrote another novel, and then another one, and I attended writing conferences and applied what I learned to my existing\u00a0work, including Tidepool<\/i>. In 2019, Tidepool<\/i> finally found its home with Parliament House Press thanks to #SFFPit. You\u2019ll be able to read my book baby for yourself in 2021.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t get in?<\/b> Take a day or two to feel sad, pissed, both things, or whatever other way you need to feel. Slam doors, stuff cake in your face, and\/or bingewatch your favorite series. It\u2019s OK!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But after that,\u00a0pick yourself up and keep going. Don\u2019t assume you didn\u2019t get in because your manuscript sucks<\/b>. Pitch Wars is wildly competitive and gets more so every year. There are fewer mentors and far more submissions these days than there were in 2017.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What I said above about post-PW planning? It applies here too. Have a plan for what you\u2019re going to do with your PW manuscript if no mentors pick it. Having a way to move forward will help lessen any remaining sting from not being chosen.\u00a0Summon up all that badass preparation energy you used to get ready to enter Pitch Wars, and redirect it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Make friends with other aspiring Pitch Warriors on the Twitter hashtags and maybe swap chapters or manuscripts. Start compiling a list of agents you\u2019d like to submit to. Open up your drafting software of choice and plot\u00a0your next novel. Never forget that Pitch Wars is one potential path to publication, but as wonderful as it can be, it\u2019s far from the only way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Feel free to drop me a line in the comments or find me on Twitter at @insomnicole if you have any questions or just want to make a shiny new writer friend. One of the best things about Pitch Wars is the community you\u2019ll be part of the minute you decide to enter. Best of luck to you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi there!\u00a0I’m Nicole. If you\u2019re reading this, you are probably about to submit to Pitch Wars 2020, and I salute…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,61,4],"tags":[14,39,5,19,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1067"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicolewillson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}