Hey wow, June 5th was the last post, so it appears I am closing the gap.

Nope. I’m hopeless, just hopeless.

BUT! I have so much news and I didn’t even realise I hadn’t included it in the last update! Since my last post I have done roughly a million things, but some key points need to be noted here…

For any writer who doesn’t use Twitter, I need to ask… Why not? There is an AMAZING little hashtag campaign called #PitMad which is short for Pitch Madness and this month was the second time I participated. Last time, I toiled over my 280 character pitch, freaked out, made some new friends and on top of that?! Got nowhere. Ah well, you’ve got to be in it to win it, right?

Fast forward to this month when I was doing my daily (or hourly) Twitter check when I realised that #PitMad was on and in roughly 10 minutes! So I prepared for my evening shower, readied a pitch and just before I went in… the pitches began flying, so I tossed mine out too. You see, an agent can like any pitch on there, and that’s how you get to submit to them. I hadn’t even been in the shower a minute or two when my phone vibrated.

Surely an agent hadn’t liked my work. Surely.

So I finished up my shower, opened up Twitter and I had one like. An agent. For Young Adult.

My. Heart. Skipped. All. The. Beats.

For a minute, I was confused. Then I simply leapt into action. It was 12 am here, and she wanted my first 50 pages, a query letter and a synopsis. 3 hours later I sent them in and collapsed into bed.

Now, sadly the story has a somewhat disappointing ending:

At first, my heart sank… but like, in a shallow pool. I immediately bounced back. This was the first agent to ask me for my work. THAT, was HUGE. Second, she didn’t say it was awful… but maybe this is the agent way of letting someone know we’d be better off as friends instead of dating. But after looked at her other books, I do stand out… a bit. She did say keep querying! So that’s a huge win!

So some small wins in there, but more importantly… it’s official!

I’M A WRITER!

You’ll all probably think I’m insane (probably not wrong either as I write about the magical characters and worlds in my head…) but this is my first rejection! It was bound to happen and honestly, it wasn’t even that bad.

So! Onwards and upwards! I will certainly keep querying. Not only that but investing in my future as a writer. To that note, here is what’s coming up for me!

I have the Kids & YA Festival this weekend where I can submit a 100 word pitch and potentially be chosen to pitch directly to a panel of publishers. (Yes. I AM freaking out.) Also, I’ll be meeting some authors who have been an inspiration to me, so that is going to rock. Then afterwards, it seems I’ll be meeting up with a pair of fantasy authors who has become a small support group for me!

July will be where I finish my edits on my novella “Birthright” about two womanising princes from partnering kingdoms falling for each other, causing the exile of a prince, and a war to regain his birthright. This story is the one I am writing for Tor Publishing as I know they’re reopening to submissions at some point during July. Also, I will be adding Australian Citizenship to my Canadian one, so that’s cool too!

August is loaded! I have a writers’ festival south of me where I will again get to spend some time with a few authors in a closer knit setting and I hope to have a great chat like I did last time (and probably pick up a few more books for the TBR pile). I also have a workshop on writing fight scenes I am stoked for! Then the next weekend I have the food tasting for my wedding in September which will be fun (I’m bringing my stretchy pants).

Last but not least toward the end of August, I have another writers’ festival north of me where I will meet up with some authors who I have touched base with on social media but I also have a one on one session with an editor from Penguin Random House. This is terrifying and exhilarating, but also has permeated my brain to the point where even when I think I’m not thinking about it, I am! It’s all good though, although no pressure, on the website it says and I quote… “And if you bring the right manuscript to the right editor at the right time you can earn a publishing contract. One of last year’s Publishing Consultations led to a contract with Penguin Books.”

No pressure at all. My stomach is the rubix cube of pretzels right now, but I’ll make it.

Then comes September where I have stocktake, my family arrives for the Wedding, also… THE WEDDING. Then honeymoon. Then I come back into a retail Christmas.

Hello? 2019? Is that you?

It’s a damn good thing I’m already bald.