I’ve been gearing up to try my hand at #PitchWars; it’s a mentor-mentee program where aspiring writers (me) can apply (with a query, synopsis, and a sample chapter) to be chosen by a published writer. That published writer will then become a mentor. She will read her mentee’s MS, query, and synopsis in hopes to help the aspiring writer perfect the MS.
I’ve got my mentors picked out, the query ready, and two synopses (synopsi?) – a long one and a short one.
And… now I wait. I (last night) finished revising draft 4 of my MS. It’s a YA steampunk fantasy, the start of a trilogy.
And, while I’m hoping to get the attention of a mentor, I’m also thinking with experience – I probably won’t. Because like #Pitmad, most of the writers are pushing YA novels and YA Fantasy, so I’ve got STEEP competition. So… I’m dreading the likely rejection, the “It’s just not what I’m looking for right now,” line.
And I’m thinking about the future, after this rejection from #PitchWars, when I am again cold querying agents and waiting for the return email – if I even get one – and the inevitable rejection, and the spiraling depression that comes afterward.
And just thinking about the rejection has me feeling depressed. Because I know exactly how that feels, more than anything else. I know how rejection of your dreams feels, the “you’re just not quite good enough” line, which follows the dreaded “Dear Author,” opener.
Harder than Stone/Hard as Stone will be the fifth novel I will have queried. Fifth. Yes, that means I’ve gone through the painstaking process of writing a novel, editing that novel, writing a query, hunting down agents, sending those queries one at a time, and waiting, waiting, waiting for the rejection, all the while holding onto that sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, this will be the one – only to be disappointed.
Five times I’ve done this to myself. Five times I’ve waited, waited, waited, only to be told that I am not good enough.
However, each consecutive query has gotten a better response than the one before it. So, mathematically, logically, statistically, eventually I will have a query that does well.
Next ›When will I consider myself a successful writer?
Good luck. I’ve been counting down to the opening of PitchWars too, but you’re more organised than me 😅. I still don’t have everything ready. Totally feel the same way. Ready to enter but expecting rejection (like everything else writing related).