From September 22-28, we’re posting mini-interviews with some of our 2021 Pitch Wars mentors. We thought it would be fun to have them answer one question. A question that would give you an idea of their personalities. And possibly spotlight a mentor you may have missed on your exhaustive search through the blog hop for the perfect four mentors to submit to when the Pitch Wars 2021 submission window opens. Don’t know what Pitch Wars is START HERE.
Giveaway!
We’re also giving away 2021 mentors’ and committee members’ books! Go to the bottom of this post for details on how to enter for a chance to win.
Need to connect to the community?
Join the Pitch Wars forum to have discussions with some of our mentors and other writers or get your work critiqued by your peers (and sometimes mentors) or search for critique partners. It’s our gift to you for being so awesome, and we hope you find this space useful. To join the forum go here: http://pitchwars.proboards.com/
Mark your calendars!
Join us for our official #PitchWars #askmentor chats on Twitter and our live mentor video chats happening on Sarah Nicolas’ Youtube channel. Go to this blog post for dates and follow @PitchWars on Twitter for all the details.
This is the question we asked our mentors to answer:
If you could tell your younger self anything about writing or the publishing world you’ve learned or didn’t expect when starting out, what would it be?
And here are their answers …
Kelly Siskind
“Your worth is not tied to your writing. Everyone’s path is different and not always direct, and riding the waves is half the battle. Remind yourself regularly why you started this journey and what it is you love about the process!”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Vaishnavi Patel
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint! At the beginning of my writing journey, I thought it was a sprint to the “milestones.” Finishing a book. Editing a book. Getting an agent. Getting a book deal. And I truly believed that once I hit each of those milestones, things would get easier. It turns out, that the popular wisdom is right. There’s no point at which a magical switch flips and suddenly you’re all set. And so rather than sprinting and just trying to push myself as hard and fast as possible, I’ve learned to take a more measured approach. One where I can take care of myself, prioritize more than just writing, and enjoy the process. I wish I had learned that earlier, but I’m glad to know it now!”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Lyn Liao Butler
“You need a LOT of patience. I mean, A LOT. And I know you have absolutely no patience so publishing is going to be torture for you because there is waiting (and sometimes for months, years) at every stage of the journey. So buck up!”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Anna Kaling
1) Everything in publishing takes approximately 56 years longer than it would in any other industry. Either learn patience or adopt several cats so you can cry into their fur.
2) Buy a good thimble to protect your index finger from hitting F5 seven million times a day as you watch your inbox stubbornly refuse to change.
3) Whenever you submit a perfect, proofread manuscript to somebody important, a wormhole immediately appears in the universe that transports 173 very prominent typos from Draft 1 into your shiny masterpiece. There is no way to stop this.
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Laura Elizabeth
“Dear Younger Laura:
First of all, you’re going to age wonderfully, like fine wine, so don’t you worry about that. Despite some health issues, your tenacity will keep you spunky. Which turns out to be a great thing because the writing career you’ve embarked on? Well, it requires way more grit than you could’ve imagined.
Remember when you thought that a passion for writing was enough to carry you just like when you thought love was enough to keep two people together? Yeah, no. That’s often not how it works. Discipline, letting go of perfectionism, and—gulp—business savviness are also main tenets you need to start harnessing ASAP. And another thing…start trying to meet the right people (good CPs, some advocates for your career, beta readers). I’ll let you in a secret—if you put yourself out there, you will find your writing family, and they will be some of your best friends. Now, go and write. There’s no substitute for getting those words down. You’ll like this life you’re moving toward. Promise. There’s an HEA waiting for you.”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Enter for a chance to win one of our mentors’ or committee members’ books. We’ll choose ten winners to receive one book each. You ARE NOT limited to the mentors featured in our spotlight posts. You can choose any 2021 mentor or committee member’s book. All you have to do is search our mentors’ and committee members’ books, pick one you’d like to receive should you win, and enter it in the rafflcopter at the bottom of this post. The book must be one from our 2021 mentors or committee members.
You can find our mentor pages here: https://pitchwars.org/mentor-status/active/ And you can find our committee members here: https://pitchwars.org/about/meet-the-pitch-wars-committee/
It’s open internationally, but only for books available on the Book Depository. Make sure to go to their site and verify the book is listed for sale there before choosing your book in the Rafflecopter. Please note: The book you choose might not be immediately available due to supply chain challenges impacting the entire publishing industry.