Pitchwars is a competition intended to pair writers with mentors to work one on one to get a manuscript as close to market-ready for pitching to literary agents and/or publishers in February in Pitch Madness (known agonizingly/affectionately as PitMad on Twitter).
DVPit is another competition on Twitter, but it's for "Diverse Voices" manuscripts. That happened on October 29th.
This is how my timeline unfolded:
- April 2007 announce that I'm a writer
- September 2017 realize I have a story to write and freeze. Finally get a coach to motivate me through it and sit down to write it (yeah a 10 year gap from declaration to action)
- October 2017 begin practice of watching motivational videos every single morning on YouTube
- October 2018 interview a spiritual healer who uses Mandalas as part of her method of healing. Join a writers group at the library.
- January 2019 get interview published in Conscious Life Journal 💪
- April 2019 lose heart while editing for the dozenth time, and nearly quit. 😓Tap my Twitter friends for reinforcement, write something else for awhile
- May 2019 invite a shortlist of trusted people with various backgrounds to beta read my manuscript during July and August
- June 2019 finish round of edits, print and bind copies of manuscript, ship them to beta readers and pass out. Write daily vss365a for entries to be considered for inclusion in the VSS365 Anthology
- July-August 2019 kill myself at work. Zero writing, except for daily vss365.
- September 2019 receive back beta readers' feedback and read through their notes. Decide which comments are actionable and work them into the story. Find out about Pitchwars and enter competition. Get acceptance into the VSS365 Anthology and lose my mind! 😲😁
- October 2019 answer potential mentor's questions. Find out about DVPit and enter competition. Get a LIKE from a literary agent and scramble to format my comparable titles section, and submit my query package the following day. Start writing super short stories (decide they're not half bad and fun to write).
- November 2019 keep writing short stories, submit one to a university literary journal for consideration. Save one as a marketing piece. Working on one to submit to a reputable competition with a cash prize. Figure out what to do with another. Received notification that a mentor accepted me as her mentee from Pitchwars (friend fills me in that this is a really big deal because hundreds applied and each mentor only selects ONE) 😲😍😎
Not everyone should take twelve years to go from declaring they want to pursue their innermost dreams until they take concrete action.
I recommend starting IMMEDIATELY, but that's only an option. Making the decision to take my dream seriously because God knows, not many did, made all the difference. I spent too much of my life getting shot down before I even tried, so I just decided to save people the trouble and shot myself down.
Years of therapy sunk in. I don't shoot myself down anymore. If I fly, I fly. If I fall, I fall. But I won't stifle my soul by not even trying or by quitting. I'm taking my soul's joy seriously and investing whatever time I want to in making it healthy, happy, and strong.
Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie
This post is beautifully articulated, Mackenzie. Thank you for sharing your experience; you are an inspiration to all of us writers. I wish you continued joy and success.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your impressions. I appreciate that very much. It's key to go at your own pace, sometimes it'll be whirlwind and sometimes like a snail, but keep going. Always move in the direction of your dreams and it's inevitable that you'll get there.
DeleteMackenzie
Good morning Cate, thank you so much for reading and sharing your impression of this post. If my journey's ups, downs, twists, detours, and spirals can inspire someone else not to give up, it's all worth it!!
ReplyDeleteMackenzie
Thanks for sharing your journey Mackenzie. Writing is certainly not easy, and the inaction, allowing work to kill you, completely resonates with me. What's inspiring is the dedicated action though. I wish you the best, and pray that my journey is fruitful and meaningful as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your impressions. I appreciate that very much. It's key to go at your own pace, sometimes it'll be whirlwind and sometimes like a snail, but keep going. Always move in the direction of your dreams and it's inevitable that you'll get there.
DeleteMackenzie