Beyond Pitch Wars

Two things about Pitch Wars are making me go, “Uh oh.”

The First Thing: My attention is wandering from FOR PARIS, FOR LOVE.

I’ve been querying this novel since September. The last blog where I posted my stats on that query? They haven’t changed much. I’ve sent out a few more, but it’s a holiday week and I’ve received no further responses. Plus, this whole Pitch Wars thing? I’ve decided I’m entering WORLD’S EDGE and since I made that decision, I’ve thrown myself into prepping the query, first five pages, the rest of the pages (just in case), and a synopsis (just in case). I should still be putting effort into FOR PARIS, FOR LOVE…but there’s this shiny, unspoiled-by-rejections WORLD’S EDGE query over here. I’m losing enthusiasm for FOR PARIS, FOR LOVE. Uh oh.

The Second Thing: I’m in love with this shiny, unspoiled-by-rejections WORLD’S EDGE query.

I mentioned last post that one of the reason I’m grateful for Twitter is that it’s helped me find more writer friends. These writer friends have been working with me this week to make my WORLD’S EDGE query better. Not just better. Great. I’m beginning to think this query might take WORLD’S EDGE places. I’m not saying it’ll get me a Pitch Wars mentor. The odds of that—though incalculable—are pretty darn tiny. I have to beat out every other person that submits to the mentor. Whether that’s a lot of people isn’t the problem. It’s whether my MS is what the mentor want more than any of the others. I’m thinking I won’t get a mentor, but that’s okay.

It’s okay because I’m looking beyond Pitch Wars. That’s the great thing about this contest—the thing that makes it better than Baker’s Dozen. A pitch is what you send to an agent to get their attention. It’s also what you’re send to the Pitch Wars mentors. Therefore, by working through my materials for this contest, I’m making huge leaps in turning my pitch into the best pitch it can be. And it’s becoming a damn good pitch.

So why is this bad? I’ve already told you. Weren’t you reading it right? In case you weren’t, here it is again. My damn good pitch is BAD because I’M IN LOVE WITH MY WORLD’S EDGE QUERY. My hopes for the project have jumped exponentially in the last few days. Pretty soon I’m going to be all cocky and feel unstoppable. This is so very bad. Just because I think my query’s good, that doesn’t mean it IS good. What happens, with my hopes so high, when it gets rejected not just by the Pitch Wars mentors but also by agents and more agents and all the agents? Yeah. Uh oh.

Don’t worry, though. I’m not going to let this stop me. I’m going to enter Pitch Wars and take my chances with those incalculable odds—because you never know. And when I don’t make it to the next round of Pitch Wars, I’m going to wait a month or two or three and then I’m going to start querying agents. I’m going to query hard and query good and I’m going to do the best I can to get a book published. Because publishing a book is my dream. Just one, dear universe. That’s all I’m asking. (Not that I’ll refuse if you say you want to publish more.)

So, after more family holiday time, I’m going to dive back into my Pitch Wars pitch. I’m going to make it shiny. I’m going to make it great. And on Monday I’m going to submit my pitch and see what happens.