For those of you not in the know, Twitter has become an incredible asset for a lot of writers. There are plenty of downsides to social media, but in my personal experience, there are usually some positive ones to help counter that. I swear to the stars above, Twitter was made for writers. There are whole communities of writers who support one another, especially in the YA world. As a primarily YA author, this means the world to me.

In the last handful of years, Twitter pitch parties have become a thing. They are a day devoted to a specific type of book, readership, or writer – wherein said author can pitch their manuscript in a tweet and agents, editors, and small publishers might ask to see their work. It’s sort of an incredible concept. I myself have participated in the past and it’s a frenzy. I think I love reading other people’s successful tweets more than anything. I always feel like I’m learning while I do so. 

Right now is the build up for one of the biggest writing… umm competitions? Yea, I’ll go with competition; Pitch Wars. This is a much larger process involving four months of edits with a mentor (who is an author, agent, i.e. someone in the writing world right now) and then pitching your newly polished work to a slew of agents and editors. Thousands enter and a lucky few are chosen. I tried last year but was unsuccessful. That’s okay. I look back on my novel last year and I know she wasn’t ready. But this new book… It’s one of the best things I’ve written and I want to shout it from the rooftops.

So I’ve been spending some time over the last few days scouring the mentor blogs and reading about their various wants and personalities, and mentorship styles. I’ve made it through roughly half of them now and have found three possibilities. There is one person in particular who really stands out as someone I’d love to work with.

The way I see it, writing is about the only thing in the world I want to do every day. I would love to make a career out of it someday. My plan is to keep plugging away at it until I do. In the meantime, it’s good to recognize when something new might be an option. I’m open to trying new things and although it’s not how I imagined finding my in, to an otherwise difficult field to break into, I’m willing to accept it might be.

I still have a couple of agents reading my manuscript right now. I have queries out and am holding my breath that one of them sees what I see in this book. That one of them see the potential she’s shinning with. Until that day, I will keep my options open. I’m willing to bend over backward if it means learning something new that might make my dreams a reality.