My PitchWars Experience

Hey beautiful Guys and Dolls!

I know. I've been gone so much from my blog. *sad face*

I'm almost finished with PitchWars manuscript (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) A few more edits, and it'll be good to go! I'm so super excited about the way my story turned out and I"m super excited to share it with the world. Yes, I may be getting the cart the before the horse, but really. I'm THAT excited about it!

So how was my PW experience?

I'll start from the beginning....

I really wanted to enter Pw this year. I loved my story and characters. I'd work so hard on this story and after I got the final edits back from the pre-pitchwars round, I knew it was ready.

I scoured the mentor blogs and studied them all. I pretty much had my mind made up on my top choice. Lizzy Charles was number one from the get go. Her strength was exactly what I needed help with: adding HEART to your story. The one thing that scared me was the fact she was really quiet on Twitter. I sat back and just listened and watched. Then, another mentor posted a link to a video of Lizzy where she vloged about her wishlist. After watching it like a hundred times, it was decided. She was my choice.

I had interacted with a lot of other mentors on Twitter and asked questions to them. I hired a couple mentors who also did freelance work and asked for help on several of my pages. And I won a couple of contest various mentors ran for query and pages critiques. I got A LOT of feedback that helped. But after deciding on Lizzy, I knew the manuscript and query I wanted to pitch was perfect for her wishlist. I ended up choosing a query that no one had seen or helped me with.

What was I thinking???

The entry days came and almost passed. I had some technical difficulties and out internet was down for a day. After a ton of frustrations, I decided it must not be meant for me to enter my manuscript this year. Why fight the stars in their courses?

But Heather (thank you Heather!!) came to my rescue. She helped me with my tech issues and my internet mishaps, and I made it in PitchWars! And then we just won't talk about the tech issues I had with my manuscript itself. Thankfully, Lizzy was understanding and helpful and PATIENT as I worked through the missing words, pages, and whacky, funky formatting.

Whew!!

I got two full requests before announcements were made. I was so nervous I could barely stand it! When announcements were made, I just cried and jumped with excitement!!! Thank you, Lizzy. <3

Lizzy had me write a new outline, in short summary of each chapter. We worked on it for two weeks. When she was happy with the outline, she wanted me to study plot structure because my story structure was non existent.

Finally three weeks into PW, I was ready to revise. And Lizzy was like, no. We are rewriting this story! So I dug in and rewrote. I wrote and wrote and wrote. And in three weeks, I turned in my my draft to Lizzy. She worked her fingers to the bone to edit and send questions and suggest changes.

Not gonna lie. She wasn't easy on me. But I listened to every comment and every suggestion and I worked hard to implement them. I promised her from the beginning I would be the hardest worker she'd ever met. I didn't cut myself any slack. I tore my manuscript to pieces and tried my hardest to revise according to her advice. Although, I will say the ending took a turn from the outline. My characters wouldn't listen to my pen and they chose a few surprises.

What can you expect from a Pantser...???

So all together, since this story was envisioned, I've revised it NINE times. Four times this past year, three times during PW, and two times after the original was penned and I sat it aside to work on other projects. I have to say, THIS version is my strongest. Lizzy was an angel. I'm so glad she chose me.

Not only do I have a stronger manuscript, I met a group of writing friends on our private Facebook group that literally saved my sanity. Having a group of writers who were going through the same thing, yet was willing to cheer and hug and encourage me was AMAZING! Thank you Facebook friends. You made my life so happy the last few weeks.

And finally, I want to give a huge shout out to my two new Cp's. You both came into my writing life just when I needed you the most. You saved my spirit and my sanity, and I'm so thankful we found each other on the CP match up Of course, we knew each other before then, but not as CP's. Thank you for believing in my story, Ellen and Rebecca!!!

The YA category will be post tomorrow. I will keep you posted on how things go.
Happy writing, beautiful guys and dolls<3