What I've gained from Pitch Wars

Hello, blog! Remember me? I'm that person who used to write you before embroiling myself in the delightfully mad endeavor known as Pitch Wars. :)

Today I'm in major "Make Good Art and Do Not Watch Election News" mode. Query: polished. First two pages of NEW book: drafted. (!) Christmas projects: planned and begun. Advent hymn I'm learning with my little quartet: practiced. But I still need to Not Watch Election News, so I'm staying up late to finally update my faithful readers on my experiences in the wonderful Brenda Drake's excellent contest that has so filled my free (or not-so-free) time these past few months.

First, a little about my manuscript! It's called OLD-FASHIONED NEWFANGLED GIRLS (yes, there's a giant nod to one of my favorite authors there), and it's about a family of six sisters during one rather crazy summer. Here's the pitch, as it appears on the Pitch Wars site:

"When their best friend Clara moves to Argentina, sisters Georgie and Penny hope working together to buy the horse the three amigas always wanted will salvage their own friendship—and maybe bring Clara back. Unfortunately, Georgie’s obsession with old-fashioned living clashes with Penny’s taste for technology, turning their mission into all-out war."

I've always loved big family stories, so I was giddy with excitement last year when I finally had a seed of an idea that could work in that setting. NaNoWriMo forced me to give that seed soil and sunlight and water--and it took off. I've never had so much fun drafting a story, and I've never written anything closer to my heart. About 75% of the events in the story are straight from my childhood or my children's lives. 

So I grew a story...but Pitch Wars allowed for the weeding and tending and grafting and pruning. Mostly pruning. My mentor Joy McCullough is an incredibly insightful editor, and she guided me in a huge revision which involved cutting an entire major plot line and character. During line edits, she helped me cut about 4,000 just plain unnecessary words. 

(Note: Why do my characters want to smile and nod all the time? I think half of those 4,000 words were some variation of "smile" or "nod." Regular bobbleheads.)

So that's the writing aspect. I don't want to downplay that, because I learned a lot and worked as hard as I ever have. But another aspect that really set this contest apart from many others was the chance to connect with so many other brilliant writers and wonderful people. Now that the agent round is up, I got several requests--and that's great. But it may or may not mean anything long term. However, whether or not I get an agent as a result of this contest, I have for sure gained some incredible friends.

And my gratitude for that is keeping me smiling--and away from the news sources--tonight. :) Thanks, Pitch Wars!