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 …
Laura Weymouth
“The most important thing you can do for yourself is find some good, trusted friends who understand how publishing works, and who’ll be able to commiserate with you about its highs and lows!”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Charity Alyse
“If younger Charity was sitting in front of me, I’d give her the biggest hug and let her cry and snot all over my shoulder (because God knows she needed it.) Then I’d look her straight in the eyes and say: “You don’t have to be ashamed of your dream of being published! It’s okay if you have your head in the clouds, that’s where your imagination is free to fly! So soar above all the opinions, rejection, and discouragement. There are black writers who paved the way before you, so you can walk the path they did. Never be ashamed of the brown skin wrapped around your bones. You are beautiful no matter what the whitewashed world around you says and there are black girls and boys that need you to tell your story. Don’t be afraid to write it down. No one can write the stories you do, like you do so be true to yourself and the stories you tell. You’ll be surprised what might happen if you take up your pen and write. Also you just might get 200 rejections for your book, but 201 is the charm!”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Brianna Bourne
“Younger Bri would be in AWE that I have a novel on bookstore shelves. I’d tell her that (extremely) hard work and determination played a much bigger role in the process than I ever realized. More recently, I’ve been surprised (in the best way!) at how wonderful writing communities are. Every writer that I’ve met or talked to has been unbelievably kind and supportive, from the query trenches to my fellow #21der debut authors to the established bestselling authors who helped me launch You & Me at the End of the World. I would have expected some stand-offishness or competition, but there’s been only love!”
Wishlist Link | Mentor Page | Book Link
Jessica Lewis
“Write the books you love. Don’t worry about what other people think, or hope will sell, or even what YOU think might sell. Just continue to write the books of your heart and keep going. Also, you are gonna HATE querying, but don’t give up!! The rejections make the acceptances even sweeter.”
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.