Write Mentor Showcase Results and What’s Next!
TL;DR Unfortunately, I didn’t get any requests, but that isn’t going to stop me from querying the crap out of this novel! And writing other things!
Getting into the Write Mentor Summer Mentoring Program this year was a complete shock. I submitted The Ones Inside on a whim, but never expected it would actually get picked. And I didn’t expect to spend all summer working with the best mentor I could have ever asked for – Sarah Daniels. She helped me polish The Ones Inside into the novel I always knew it could be. By the end of the summer, I was Ready for the showcase.
Query packages were submitted to agents on Friday, September 2nd, and we had to wait all the way until Saturday, September 10th for the results. I went into the showcase with a level head, making sure not to expect anything from the agents participating. Especially considering the current state of publishing. As expected, I got zero requests.
The outcome was disappointing. But for the first time in a long time, I felt a glimmer of hope instead of the typical crushing dread that accompanies rejection. Sure, I didn’t get any requests, but someone believed in my book enough to spend four months working with me to make it better. And just because no one requested my book in the showcase, doesn’t mean there isn’t another agent out there that would absolutely love it. After all, it only takes a single “yes” to offset every single “no” I’ve gotten over my nearly ten years of writing (ten years next year, actually).
So, I plan to send a small batch of queries out to a few agents I’ve been keeping my eye on. I’m also going to send the manuscript off to a few beta readers and continue polishing it, since most of my querying will likely take place next year, because a lot of agents are already starting to close for the year (I don’t blame them; publishing is a mess right now).
In the mean time, I’ve starting tip-toeing into the first chapter of Where the Fog Falls. Depending on how things go with my world building document and the outline, I might have the novel done by the end of the year and ready to send to critique readers.
Fingers crossed, and stay tuned for more soon!
