And The Nestpitchers are Off!

Tags

#nestpitch, agents, dreams, never give up, writing

Nestpitch agent round has begun.

My team #TeamEggsellent has five entries. We critiqued, and we cheered! I’M STILL CHEERING!

Those fabulous writers have revised and revised, and now the day has arrived. Go see here.

Who will get requests? Anyone? We’ll have to wait and see. I know all the writers from all the teams are holding their breaths, possibly pacing, maybe comfort eating, and pretty much doing everything they can to NOT think about it… CAUSE THAT’S POSSIBLE!

Last night the flutter of nerves attacked me. I got slightly attached to these people and their work.

I want happiness for them, for their dreams to come true. I also know that it might not be their day. The perfect agent for them may not stop by. For this is the way the wonderful world of writing works.

Everyone out there who writes, who works at bettering their craft, who never gives up… the dream will become a reality.

Requests… or not, all the participants are on their way. This is just a step on a longer path. And if you ever need someone to walk with you on the road, come find me. I love the journey!

So dance! Be happy! One step at a time. One day at a time. One word at a time.

You can do anything.

 

Critiques, Revisions, and Edits… *brain explodes*

Tags

#nestpitch, critiqing, editing, inspire, revising, short stories, writing

I am a people pleaser. I want people to like me.

So when I receive critiques, I immediately want to go forth and change everything so everyone will like my words! And that causes major frustration.

Why? Because it’s not only impossible, but VERY VERY WRONG!

Last weekend I went through four rounds of edits for my short literary horror story PERFECTION, which will be published in DIN, New Mexico State University’s online magazine. Every time I got notes, I immediately went to CHANGE EVERYTHING TO JUST WHAT SHE SAID.

Punctuation. Yes.

Moving that sentence there, or a paragraph there… no problem. It sounds better that way.

Then there are word choices… sentence structure… adding more inner character thoughts. And as I held my finger over the delete key, I paused. Alarms went off in my head.

WAIT! That’s not how I want it to read. But she doesn’t like how it is… I HAVE to change it, don’t I? Is my story turning into something I don’t want it to be?

DING. DING. DING. Give me a prize!

MY STORY!

In the end, I get to choose. So I read her thoughts and had to decide how I wanted my story to go. And sometimes out of the process, I wrote an even better sentence or added another layer, not quite what my editor suggested, but something from out of my brain, something inspired by the story and what I wanted the story to be.

Editors and critique partners aren’t there to rewrite your words, but to push you to dig deeper… TO INSPIRE YOUR WORDS!

Yesterday I went to my writers’ group meeting with the fabulous Summit City Scribes of Fort Wayne, Indiana. And I read my newest short story, a gothic-ish horror called COUNTDOWN. And I had a lot of feedback that my brain is still processing.

I have a decision. What do I want my story to be? Only when I know, can take all the comments and make my story better. (Which I need to do NOW, because submission deadline is Saturday. Yeah. No pressure.)

This is a perfect lesson for me right at this moment. I am waiting (waiting is HARD!) for notes from my editor on my soon to be published book. When that e-mail arrives, hopefully soon (EEEK! *crosses fingers*) I might suffer a heart attack, a slight moment of panic… utter terror!!!!!!

Until I remember that everything she suggests… are suggestions, comments meant to inspire me to make the story flow and make the characters shine. After having tried to make the ms better by myself, I now have a partner, someone who wants my story to be the best it can be, but still wants it to be MY STORY!

So as I critique the words of the #nestpitch members of #TeamEggsellent and send out a few critiques to #nestpitchers who didn’t make it to the final round, I make comments in the spirit of inspiring them to make their stories shine, to add something that maybe they hadn’t thought of. And if they don’t like any of my comments… no big deal. It’s their story.

Let’s celebrate our stories and what makes them ours. Writing is hard. Critique partners and editors, who love helping fellow writers on their journey, should lift us up, make us excited about our words.

We write because we love it, because we can’t do anything else.

And we deserve cookies.

Words… Words Will Keep Us Together

Tags

#nestpitch, characters, critiquing, ideas, jobs, non-writers, querying, Twitter, writing

As I am on this writing journey, odd thoughts and revelations strike.

While out to dinner with our neighbors, they asked how my writing was going, so I shared and she looked at me and said…

“Whoa, writing is a lot of work. It’s like a job.”

Ummm…

Once again, I am hit over the head with the fact that people who don’t write honestly have no idea what writers do.

Heck, when I began writing, I had NO IDEA what I was getting into. I will sit here on my couch and write words and then…

Over the years I have learned SO MUCH! Sure, I sit on my couch and write my words. Stories. Novels. All the strange things that lurk in my brain.

But also… blogs and book reviews.

I found critique partners and discovered yet another element of the job, reading other people’s words, making comments on what works and what doesn’t, finding little mistakes that the author missed, because we can’t see our own story for the words (or something crazy like that). And even though critiquing was scary at first and I had nothing helpful to add, it has now become one of my favorite things!

Reading! Reading books is part of the job. I know, that’s a rough one. Please, please don’t make me read that really awesome looking book…

What non-writers really don’t understand is the voices. The non-stop talking that occurs 24-7 in our heads. Ideas for new stories strike in the strangest of places. New characters pop up to say hi! Old characters like to yell that we aren’t writing their story correctly or like to change their minds halfway through a manuscript (or even after the whole darn thing is written) and decide that they want something else. Fights do happen.

It’s not just the characters, we have to listen to the stories, waiting to be told what needs to happen. Which sounds easy until they stop speaking.

Writers are always working, always writing. It’s not something we can turn off, and, let’s be honest, we don’t want to turn it off. It is a part of who we are.

But non-writers don’t understand and most of us are surrounded by non-writers on a day to day basis. And even though we like these people, there are times we need to be with other writers. The idea rings true with everyone, the desire to be with people who like what you like, who speak your language.

Since I began this adventure alone, on my couch, never speaking of what I did… I have learned that I can’t live in a cave.

I joined a writers’ group and WHOA! these people GET ME! I need those meetings. And a friend from there recommended that we all get on Twitter… to get our name out into the world, to make friends and connections. So I did.

And OH MY GOLLY GOSH! The writing family on Twitter amazes me. WE NEED EACH OTHER!

We understand the struggles.

From this…

to this.

From this…

to this.

We can celebrate all the victories, whether writing two words on a day where it was hard to get out of bed, to finishing a ms, to getting an agent, to being published!

We help each other spread the word about our books. We read words for everyone, adding our thoughts hoping to help make the ms better. We enter contests and console each other when we aren’t chosen or cheer for those who win.

And speaking of… #nestpitch has announced teams. The lucky few have been chosen. I did not enter. I am a slushie, charged with helping a mentor choose mss based on the first 300 words and a 35 word pitch. Out of about 160 entries, I picked my top 20 and threw them in the ring. Not everyone on my team loved the same ones. And we, #TeamEggsellent, ended up with a well rounded group of five, a couple of which had been on my list! After the final picks and after #Pitchslam announced their lists (which took some out of the #nestpitch running) I went through my original top 20 and stared at the eight that had intrigued me, but hadn’t been chosen. I will be e-mailing those people. I want to let them know that I liked their words, their ideas.

Not that little ole me and my opinions make a big difference, but all I wanted when I entered those contests was a word from someone, anyone.

If you are reading this and are one of the #nestpitchers that wasn’t chosen, I would love to send e-mails to EVERYONE, but realistically, I just can’t. If you don’t get an e-mail from me, remember…

I have my own likes, I have certain things that interest me, such as YA, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, anything odd.

So many of these pitches were fine, just not my cup of tea. Not that I drink tea… ew.

Keep in mind that because it didn’t grab me, doesn’t mean it didn’t raise the brow of another slushie or mentor.

As we move on with all our emotions, turn to your writer friends. They understand! Swap mss with others. But first and foremost, keep writing. Keep querying. I never made it to the final round of any contest I entered, but a query got me a publisher.

So writers everywhere…

UNITE!

Yes! Like the AVENGERS we can save the world!

Together we are strong. Together we can do anything. I am SO GLAD I came out of my cave and into the light of friends.

 

Nestpitching… Oh the Words!

Tags

#nestpitch, contests, thoughts, writing

Hello! I’m back! Did you miss me?

*waits* *everyone discusses whether I had been gone or not*

Anyway. I want to talk about #nestpitch a contest for writers who are seeking agents. Submissions happened last week. When I returned from vacation (which was fabulous, by the way, thanks for asking), the slush reading had already begun! So I jumped in, trying to figure out where to go to read and what to do when I find one I like. Pretty much hanging on by my little toes, hoping I wouldn’t let my team (#TeamEggselent) down!

I am a slushie in the middle of reading about 160 pitches and first 300 words, searching for ideas that call to me, for characters and description and emotion that draws me in. And I have found quite a few! And have started stalking some of them on Twitter.

But we can only choose so many. This week my team will get our act together and request more pages (I know, some teams have already done that). And do MORE reading to decide on our top four or five. Then critiquing! My favorite.

I have lurked on the other side of these contests as a entrant. I have chewed my fingernails off as I worried about who was reading my words and WOULD ANYONE LIKE THEM? I was never chosen for any contest I entered. Nope. And it did hurt… only A LOT. But I moved on.

Being on this side is odd. I often think of all the people out there waiting for news… a tweet, a hint, ANYTHING. I feel you, my fellow writers!

As I read through all the entries, I can’t help but be struck with one big thought.

THIS IS ALL SO SUBJECTIVE! There’s no formula to use to figure out which ones are the best, which ones will be chosen by an agent. It’s just me and the words.

I have read all of the words. I have picked my top 20. One of my teammates has done the same. Half of my picks match hers and the other half, well, does not. I read all her picks and there is nothing wrong with them. Nothing.

They just don’t speak to me.

And that is the story of a writer’s life.

That simple phrase is why we don’t have an agent or a book deal. Finding the right person or publisher drives us to write, to send out queries, to deal with rejections. It makes us dig through the cupboards for chocolate, doubt every word we type, and, at times, curl up in a corner and weep (not that I have any experience with that… maybe… okay yes).

I keep looking at all the entries. Staring at them. Reading and rereading. Why doesn’t this one pique my interest? There’s nothing wrong with it.

Sometimes the pitch doesn’t do it, but the writing does. Sometimes the pitch captures my attention, and I want more of the writing to see where the story goes. Sometimes it’s the prologue that makes me want more.

I’m a YA girl, and, SHOCKER, most of my picks are YA. I’m a weird, fantasy, horror girl. So the romance and contemporary doesn’t speak to me as much as if there are demons or magic.

That’s okay. This is art. We’re all who we are. We can’t be anything else.

All those rejections I got. Oh well. It wasn’t their thing.

But you roll your eyes… “Easy for you to say! You signed with a fabulous publisher!”

True. But someday my book will be out in the world and some people probably won’t like it, won’t pick it up off the shelf.

And that’s okay.

Because it’s not about the people who don’t like it. It’s about the people who do.

All the nestpitchers out there, if you get page requests or not. Hold your head up high and continue the search for where your words fit. Your ms might have been someone’s favorite, but the team decided to go a different way. I have a few that if they are not chosen, I will probably find the authors and tell them that their ms was in my top picks. Not that it matters, maybe, but I’d want to know.

Through all the trails, all the waiting, all the searching for an agent… remember, you wrote the words for a reason. Out of a need. Out of love. Look for the people who will love it too. They’re out there.

 

SMAWESOMENESS! #nestpitch

Tags

#nestpitch, #TeamEggsellent, critiques, Twitter writing contests, writing

#NestPitch is coming!

Yes, another Twitter pitch contest. Another chance to get eyes on your words, possibly the eyes of agents. I have said that I never had good luck with these contests, but many have. So this year, I’m going to come at this adventure at a different angle.

I am going to be a slushie! When they asked, I couldn’t say no. Sounds like fun. A chance to help writers, to be a part of something that could very well launch a new book, bring a new face into the crowd.

And I get to read all the words. That’s my favorite.

I’ll give a quick run-through, but for the full list of rules and the list of all the teams PLEASE visit our fearless leader Nik Vukoja’s site here.

April 1^st (submission date).

The submission consists of:

1. 35-word pitch

2. Answer to this question: If your MC was an Easter Egg, what flavour would s/he be? (no more than 15 words please)

3. 1^st 300-words of your manuscript*

*1^st 300 = if you have a prologue, then your 1^st 300 starts from your prologue.

Finish at the end of a sentence. This is 300-word MAX, so your last word is 300-words. If your sentence finishes on 292-words, submit that. If your sentences run into 30 or more words, then rethink the length of your sentence(s). Broken sentences do no one any favours.

So, the first page… Hmmm… You judge a ms on the first 300 words?

I don’t think it’s completely possible.

So what do I look for in a first page?

Character.

I can leave that page knowing whether I want to get to know the main character, to go on whatever journey they are about to take.

I will get a sense of the writing. Is the page full of passive voice? Filter words? Are there little brush strokes of details that bring the opening to life? Or am I confused?

I’m not going to get the big question… what the book is about. That’s a chapter one, not page one, thing. I don’t necessarily want a wham bang opening action scene, unless in that scene you give me character, voice.

I would LOVE to give EVERYONE feedback, but having never done this before, I am not sure how possible that will be.

My critiques are honest and meant to be helpful. I do not want anyone to finish reading a crit and feel terrible. I want them to feel inspired. I want their minds to spin with ideas on how to make their words the best they can be. Critiquing is one of my favorite things to do as a writing and I would do it all the time, except I would never get my own words written and have been told that is unacceptable.

Do you have a finished manuscript? Has it been through the hands of your critique partners and you think it’s ready? Then enter. If you’re thinking of entering, just do it. You may get nothing and that’s okay, because you can still query all those agents on your list. (Seriously, my ms Doors never got into Twitter contests, got no feedback and months later I signed with Reuts Publishing, so… yeah.) And you might get to work WITH ME AND MY FABULOUS TEAM AND WE WILL HAPPY DANCE INTO ETERNITY!

And you can make new friends! Follow me on Twitter. Tweet strange things to me in ALL CAPS with lots of !!!!!!! and gifs (I like gifs, can you tell?) and we’ll be buds. Unless all my rambling here is scaring you, then RUN… I am a bit weird.

Now for my team!

Oh… we’re not scary!

That’s better.

#TeamEggsellent  (cause we are)

Stacey Nash – Mentor

Twitter

Blog

Author of YA & NA (HarperCollins), and fellow Aussie, Stacey is also part of the blogging Team at AussieOwnedAndRead. When not writing, Tweeting or Facebook- ing, she can be found spending time with her family.

Kathy Palm – Slushie

It’s ME! Magic-wielding, TARDIS-traveling, stay-at-home mom, and YA fantasy/horror writer Kathy recently signed with REUTS Publications, her debut DOORS to be released in winter of 2016. She loves chocolate and all the weird, creepy, and fantastical words.

Twitter 

Liv Rancourt – Slushie

Liv writes romance: m/f, m/m, and v/h, where the h is for human and the v is for vampire…or sometimes demon. She writes funny, not angst. When not writing Liv takes care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether I’m at home or at work. She decribes her husband is a soul of patience and her dog as the cutest thing evah(!)

Twitter 

 

So… will I see you there? Keep watching for more details.

 

Random News of the Craziness

Tags

#nestpitch, amazingness, CPing, creepy story, Julie Hutchings deadlyeverafter, Short story, The Midnight Society, writing

HI!

I know. Monday is fast coming to an end and WHERE HAVE I BEEN? you might ask. Well, out truck shopping. Woo… hoo. Hubs is happy anyway. My job here is done.

Anyway, I want to tell everyone all the things.

First… you will be able to find me over at The Midnight Society! I have been asked to join them and SAID YES, because I LOVE THOSE HORROR-LOVING GALS! You can find me here, yes in the obituary section with all the other fabulous members. I will post the first and third Fridays each month, spreading my love of all things creeptastic. Join us!

Second… the wonderful Julie Hutchings has begun her March Madness flash fiction showcase on her blog deadlyeverafter. Of course, I submitted. I can’t resist the challenge to write something creepy. You can read it here! Be sure to check out the others and stay tuned for more through this month. So fun!

Third… I have decided to be a slushie for the upcoming pitch contest #nestpitch. So lots of reading and a bit of critiquing. I love it!

So in-between all this, I will continue to figure out my next writing adventure, the sequel to Doors. I will do other CPing, because I have peeps and we NEED each other. I have one more short to sub… oh, wait, I learned of another place looking for shorts (AND I CAN’T SEEM TO RESIST THE CHALLENGE)… so two more?

Somewhere in this mess that I have created, I will get notes from my editor and begin the process of making DOORS the bestest. OH MY GOODNESS! THIS IS REAL!

Of course, there are my fabulous kids! Tis baseball, softball, and track season.

I am really excited about being involved in such a great community, putting myself out there, helping writers, and sharing things I love. We are all awesome and together we will rule the world. Everyone out there is capable of amazingness.

However…

At some point, you might find me babbling in a dark corner.

If you do, throw chocolate and run.

Seriously. Chocolate. A lot of chocolate.