I Aim for Pitch Wars

I’m a multitasker. I also believe in Plan B.

Last fall as I queried one manuscript, I entered another into contests. I had some success, but didn’t get an agent. So I stopped querying the one MS in early winter and started querying the other this spring. I also wrote another MS this spring, which I just recently finished. While I query that second MS, I’m revising my most recent one.  See, multitasking.

As for the Plan B part, before I’d even finished my newest MS, I’d already been planning to enter it into contests this fall (assuming I don’t get an agent with my second MS queries). I know Michelle Hauck, Authoress, and Brenda Drake host fall/winter contests…and my Plan B goal was to have my newest MS ready by then. I assumed late September/early October was a good goal, giving me and my critique partners ample time.

Well, I was a little wrong.

Yesterday, Brenda Drake posted on her blog that she’s moving her Pitch Wars contest to August. Submissions are on August 18. So. That’s 80 days from now. Not nearly as much time as I thought, but here’s my theory:

I wrote this MS in 53 days. I can totally finish revisions for it in 80 days…right? RIGHT.

I’ll need to write a query letter, which I’ve basically been doing in my head since before I even wrote the MS. It shouldn’t take much time to get that query down on paper and then I’ll have weeks to perfect it. I’ll also need to perfect the first few pages of the MS, which is doable. Of course, I’ll need to ready the rest of the MS by September 3—if I happen to get a Pitch Wars mentor this time—but that falls not too far off from my previous late September/early October goal. Definitely possible. I can do this.

Because see, the thing is, I want an agent. I want to publish a book. I’ve read a lot of success stories and many of them mention that the first MS they query isn’t the one that gets them an agent—it’s the second or third or fourth. This would be my third and they say three is a lucky number, right? Right.

So I’m aiming to finish my newest MS’s revisions in time for Pitch Wars.