Hi everyone! The title says it all: I’ve officially submitted to Pitch Wars 2019!!
I’m still dazed. After so many nights of revising and countless hours of work, I’m so proud to have put my manuscript out there. Now we wait! And refresh our emails too much.
I’ve said it before, but I’m not counting on getting in. This isn’t to say I don’t believe in my book (I absolutely do), but it’s incredibly competitive to get in, and it seems more and more writers apply each year. I’m doing my best to not get my hopes up too high, hard as that is, and am instead focusing on the things I can control. Like the fact that I WROTE A BOOK! And submitted it! And became a better writer! And put myself out there!
And I did it during one of the busiest times of my life. I’m getting married a month from today, and there were times where I asked myself if this crazy timeline made sense, doing both at once. But I pushed through (and my wonderful fiance helped me with hugs and scones and a quiet place to write), and I’m so glad I did.
There’s no guarantee this will happen, but my current hope is that I end up with at least one mentor request for additional pages. Of course I want to be chosen as a mentee, but it would be amazing to continue to the next round with page requests.
Now, I’ll be taking a break from writing to focus on my wedding (my wedding! I’M GETTING MARRIED!) and to do non-writerly things. I want to read more; my TBR is filled with more fantastic books than ever. I want to play video games more; y’all know I haven’t brought myself to finish The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild despite clocking 120+ hours because I haven’t wanted it to end. I want to focus on those weird little projects I keep saying I’ll get back to. I want to watch spooky Halloween movies and make pumpkin spiced cupcakes.
Whatever happens with Pitch Wars, I am so proud of myself for applying, and I hope everyone who applied feels the same way about their work. A huge thank you to everyone who’s helped me get this far, from beta feedback, query letter feedback (this went through at least a dozen rounds of revisions, no joke), and moral support. And whether or not I make it through to the end, I can’t wait to keep working on FLARE and getting it ready for querying!
But after this break. ❤
Happy writing and reading,
Valerie
valerie c. norton 