The Contest, the Connections, and the Cookies

What is Pitch Wars all about? There are so many ways to answer that question. But I’m going to answer it with another question.

What do writers do?

We write, of course. And we dream, revise, revise again, hope, fret, stew, gnash…

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But what we really do is connect. We connect our brains and hearts to what we put on the page.

That’s what Pitch Wars is about, too: connecting. Some of those connections happen in your writerly brain. You learn how to read an edit letter. You learn what is and isn’t working in your manuscript, and you connect those amazing synapses and channel it all into a revision.

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But the most important Pitch Wars connections are with people. The mentor-mentee connection is at the very heart of Pitch Wars. And if you’re fortunate, your story might connect with an agent or two (or more). And someday, you will connect with your readers. That’s the dream!

But I want to highlight a kind of connection that might just be the most important thing about Pitch Wars. And you can form this connection even if you don’t get selected as a mentee.

I’m talking about connecting with fellow writers—the most generous, hilarious, wonderful people in the world.

Last year, some people made friends on the Pitchwars hashtag and through #menteeshelpingmentees even before the Pitch Wars submissions occurred. I was not one of those people. I wasn’t very active on Twitter until after submissions last year, but once I submitted and joined in the fun, I met some cool folks.

And then, to my utter delight, I was selected as a mentee. And via email, Twitter and a secret Facebook group, we mentees shared our frustrations and joys, laughter and tears, and a whole lot of gifs and jokes as we went through Pitch Wars together. We swapped manuscripts and practiced pitches. We cheered requests and consoled each other over rejections. We celebrated every victory, large or small. We formed deeper friendships than I thought possible in an online community.

Occasionally, we got to meet each other at conferences and book launches across the country.

But recently, two of my best friends whom I’d never met came to my house! With their families!

Andrea Contos is a fiercely brilliant writer of atmospheric, thrill-filled YA. She is also one of the strongest, kindest, most honest people I’ve ever met. She celebrates everyone’s good news and is a great (virtual) shoulder to cry on when things aren’t going well. She knows pretty much everything. And her book, THROWAWAY GIRLS, is a page-turner in every sense of the word.

Emily Thiede is such a prodigiously talented writer that it’s kind of unfair. She’s also one of the most positive and persistent people I know. She’s the kind of friend who, the day of my deal announcement, found MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM on Goodreads and posted a heartfelt review, including quotes from her 7 year-old, and didn’t tell me until later because she wanted to be the first. Her YA SF novel, NO MAN’S LAND, was so compelling that it made me procrastinate on all my errands and carry my Kindle around with me for an entire day, even at the lunch counter.

So these two wonderful friends came to my house during their vacation. They each had two daughters, and my own daughter happened to come from camp that weekend, too. And guess what the daughters did? They baked!

Peanut butter chocolate-chip cookies that happen to be gluten-free and easy to throw together and insanely addictive.

We moms chatted and caught up and hugged and celebrated. “To writing, and to friends,” we toasted. After all these months of connecting via social media and messages, it was truly incredible to meet these amazing women in person. We talked and talked about writing and family and Pitch Wars and summer and stories and stories and stories. Emily and Andrea were even lovelier in real life than they are online. And our girls (and my little boy dog!) and husbands had a great time, too. We lingered over drinks and dinner until twilight came and the bugs started biting. And even then, we didn’t say goodbye until it was clear that little people (and big ones) needed their sleep. We could have talked forever.

So for me, that’s what Pitch Wars is all about: connecting with your people, and supporting each other through all the ups and downs of publishing and life.

And sometimes, sharing cookies.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Giveaway Time!

In the spirit of Pitch Wars, I’m giving away a query plus 10-page critique to a YOUNG ADULT writer! I’m limiting this to YA only because as a Pitch Wars MG mentor, I don’t want to create a conflict of interest. But I read plenty of YA and I can offer some insight!
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