Our mentors are editing, our mentees are revising, and we hope you’re making progress on your own manuscript! While we’re all working toward the Agent Showcase starting on February 5, 2020, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2019 Pitch Wars Mentor and Mentee Teams.
Next up, we have . . .
Sawyer Lovett – Mentee
Brenda Drake – Mentor
Kyle T. Cowan – Mentor
Brenda & Kyle, why did you choose Sawyer?
After reading Sawyer’s submission, we couldn’t stop thinking about it. We loved the voices of the narrators and knew how we could help Sawyer bring the story to the next level. We’d read other amazing submissions, but we kept going back to their story. The story hooked us and the characters captured our hearts. We just knew this was the one we couldn’t let go. Our ideas and Sawyer’s ideas meshed well together, and we can’t wait to see what they do with the revisions.
Sawyer, why did you choose to submit to Brenda & Kyle?
I had been following Brenda on Twitter for years and was constantly impressed with her grace, good humor, and the way she balanced diplomacy with honesty in regards to the publishing industry. While I was looking into mentors, choosing someone queer, or at least familiar with the queer community was important to me, and I looked up Kyle’s novel and wound up reading it almost entirely in one sitting. Now that I’ve gotten to know them both a little, I can honestly say that they are as kind as they are talented, which is honestly impressive, because they’re both such incredible writers.
Brenda & Kyle, summarize Sawyer’s book in 3 words.
Heartbreaking, Pride, Redemption
Sawyer, summarize your book in 3 words.
Queer, Rural, Mystery
Brenda & Kyle, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
Brenda: Kyle will laugh at this, but I was in drama in school. I played many lead roles. Such as Kate in Rowdy Kate, a western retelling of The Taming of the Shrew. I played Tom Sawyer in Tom Sawyer. And many others. I’m good at acting like others, just not myself on videos. Ha!
Kyle: I am very into exercise and snowboarding. The main reason I chose Colorado for college was so I could snowboard every weekend.
Sawyer, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I’ve already gotten more than I expected – there’s such an amazingly supportive group of passionate writers and readers involved in Pitch Wars. I’ve definitely met and befriended people of I’ll be a fan of for years to come.
Sawyer, tell us about yourself! What makes you and your manuscript unique?
I’m Sawyer! I’m a queer trans guy living in Philly with my wife, our hedgehog and dog, where I make coffee, balloon animals, occasionally sell books, and go to grad school.
My book is a love letter to queer people in rural settings, like the town I’m from. My hope is that they’ll see themselves represented there and find a thread of hope to weave into a stronger community.
Check out Brenda & Kyle’s latest releases.
…which lands him in Camp Sunshine, a rehab center for depressed teens. Hunter is determined to keep everyone there out of his head, especially his therapist. But when he meets Corin, a beautiful, mysterious, and confident fellow camper, all Hunter wants to do is open up to her―despite the fact that he’s been warned Corin is bad news.
When Corin devises a plan for them to break out of the camp, Hunter is faced with the ultimate choice―will he run from the traumatic incident he’s tried so hard to escape, or will he learn that his mistakes have landed him right where he’s meant to be?
When a stranger gives Analiese Jordan a list of names before he dies, the last thing she expects to see is her own on it. Not. Cool. Her search for answers leads to the man’s grandson, Marek, who has dangerous secrets of his own. Both are determined to unlock the mystery of the list.
But the truth is deadly. Analiese is a descendant of the God of Death, known as a Riser, with the power to raise the dead and control them. Finding out she has hidden powers? Cool. Finding out she turns corpses into killers? No, thank you.
Now the trail plants her and Marek in the middle of a war between gods who apparently want to raise an army of the Risen, and Analiese must figure out how to save the world—from herself.
Thank you for supporting our Pitch Wars Teams! The Agent Showcase is February 5 – 10, 2020, and our next Twitter Pitch Party on #PitMad is March 5, 2020! Want to know more about #PitMad? Go here.