Pitch Madness, Pitchfest, & Secret Agent

It's been a very busy couple of weeks!!

Sadly, I didn't make it into the final round of Pitch Madness. I wasn't really expecting to since there were a lot of different genres that they were looking for - but still, I was a little bit sad.

And then I received an email that an agent was requesting my work. What?! Turns out, I had made the finals of WriteOnCon's Pitch-Fest and I didn't even know it! Somehow my pitch had been posted under an incorrect title. When I scanned the list of finalists, I was actually quite disappointed. But I never noticed at all how close one title was to mine - it was listed as BOUND IN BLOOD rather than BOUND IN BLUE and I must have been checking for just the word 'blue' as I was looking through the lists.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that when one door closes, another one often opens. I happily wrapped up my work and sent it off to a fabulous agent.

I also made this month's Secret Agent finals over at Miss Snark's First Victim - (I've linked directly to my entry). I got some great feedback from readers and the secret agent and the winner(s) will be announced soon.

Will any of these adventures lead to an agent and a publishing deal? I certainly hope so. But even if they don't, the great contests that I've been part of and the requests I've received from agents have helped build my confidence and skill. If this manuscript doesn't find me an agent, then I'm sure the next one will.

Or the next ;-).

Update On The Agent Blind Speed Dating Contest

Yoohoo! My entry received 1 full manuscript request (only 1 full was allowed per entry during the contest) and 2 partials from 3 absolutely amazing agents!

The contest at Cupid's Literary Connection is an wonderful opportunity and I want to publicly thank the anonymous Cupid for all her hard work in putting it together.

Cupid's Literary Connection Blind Speed Dating Contest

Well, it's been quite exciting! I'm in day 2 of the agent round of Cupid's Literary Connection's Blind Speed Dating Contest and I have one partial request already.

It's really quite an amazing contest - and a little complicated to follow. There were a total of 360 entries over a number of weeks and during each submission period only 9 moved forward - and I'm one of the final 56! This week 10 agents will bid anonymously to request either partial manuscripts (100 pages) or full manuscripts on the last day of the contest which is Thursday.

Hey, I'm just happy to have made it to the agent round and to have one partial request. But I admit that I have my fingers crossed for more.

The great thing about contests like this is the feedback in the early rounds and the feeling of validation that comes from having an agent actually wanting to look at something you wrote.

I have a few other irons in the fire that I'm also excited about - not the least of which was winning one of the 2 positions in the last YAlitchat contest which led to one full and one partial request. Writing and querying can be lonely and disheartening so I really appreciate these wonderful bloggers and communities who work so hard to help writers find their dream agents and, hopefully, eventual publication.