The Possibilities

With the results of Baker’s Dozen 2013 contest on Friday, there are two possible outcomes for me. Either I don’t get an email from the Authoress or I do get an email from the Authoress. I don’t get one—I’m out. I do get one—and the possibilities are amazing. I may be a writer and I may be creative, but I’m also analytical. I’ve thought about the outcome. I’ve thought about what I’ll do.

Plan A

With only an 11.67% chance that I’ll be picked for the next round of the contest, my head tells me to prepare to be disappointed. I probably won’t make it. I will have written one wrong word that will have knocked me out. I will have written an MS that The Authoress and Jodi Meadows don’t think will interest agents. I will have—such a small error—typed the wrong genre. (After all, I forgot to put YA before science fiction.) The reasons I’ll be rejected are various, but the plan when this happens is singular. I WILL KEEP ON. I will do what I’ve been doing. I’ll keep querying FOR PARIS, FOR LOVE until all hope for that dies out. I’ll keep an eye out for contests and other opportunities for WORLD’S EDGE. I’ve already written a query and sent it to Michelle Hauck to have her and other writers critique it. And when the WORLD’S EDGE query is ready, I’ll start the query process over again. This is what will happen. But that doesn’t keep my heart from hoping.

Plan B

There’s an 11.67% chance that I’ll be picked for the next round of the contest. My heart tells me it’s possible I’ll make it through and agents will soon be perusing my logline and WORLD’S EDGE’s first 250 words. If I get an email from the Authoress on Friday, the plan is to whip out the MS and read through it. After all, I spent a good long while with those first 250 words as I prepared to enter the contest. I deleted a baker’s dozen or two of words. I added a few others. It’s been a few months since I’ve read WORLD’S EDGE and I’ve learned so much since then. So, if I get an email from the Authoress, I’ll feverishly, obsessively revise. Revise. Revise. Because there’s a chance that—if I get to the next round—an agent will ask for more pages. After that, the possibilities for WORLD’S EDGE…well, I’d rather not now imagine them.

I’m planning on A, but you never know. It could be B. I’ll know one way or the other in thirty-six or so hours. I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little more…and keep imagining the possibilities.