#PitMad is a pitch party on Twitter created by PitchWars.org where writers tweet a 280-character pitch for their completed, polished, unpublished manuscripts. Agents and editors make requests by liking/favoriting the tweeted pitch.
Every unagented writer is welcome to pitch. All
genres/categories are welcomed.
#PitMad dates 2020
March 5, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EDT)
June 4, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EDT)
September 3, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EST)
December 3, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EST)
For Official #PitMad rules and the list of category hashtags,CLICK HERE.
About Pitch Wars
Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and offer suggestions on how to make the manuscript shine for an agent showcase.
We’re getting ready to launch the Writers’ Mastermind, and as part of connecting our writing community, we’ll be sharing the latest accomplishments of our members.
Today, we share groundbreaking book releases and stunning art from our cadre of creatives.
***Do you have a book coming out? A cover reveal? Has a magazine published your short story? Have you landed and agent? What’s new with your other creative pursuits? Send your news to christa@letsgetpublished.com.
Juniper, the debut novel by Ross Jeffery
After a 7-year writing hiatus, Ross Jeffery is claiming his place on the weird fiction scene with his first book, Juniper. Truly weird and wild, Juniper will keep you rapt in morbid curiosity, even through the moments you want to recoil.
Ross Jeffery
Ross Jeffery is a Bristol based writer and Executive Director of Books for STORGY Magazine.
Ross has been published in print with STORGY Books, Ellipsis Zine 6, The Bath Flash Fiction Festival 2019, Project 13 Dark and Shlock Magazine. His work has also appeared in various online journals such as STORGY Magazine, About Magazine TX, Elephants Never, 101 Fiction, Ellipsis Zine, Soft Cartel and Idle Ink.
Ross lives in Bristol with his wife (Anna) and two children (Eva and Sophie). You can follow him on Twitter here @Ross1982
Juniper
Juniper is the first book in Ross Jeffery’s proposed trilogy: a post-apocalyptic horror about an insane American town seemingly at the edge of reality. As Juniper suffers from scorching drought and medieval famine, the townsfolk are forced to rely on the ‘new cattle’ for food: monstrous interbred cats kept by the oppressed Janet Lehey.
But there’s a problem: Janet’s prized ginger tom, Bucky, has gone missing, flown the coop. As Janet and her deranged ex-con husband Klein intensify their search for the hulking mongrel, Betty Davis, an old woman clinging to survival on the outskirts of Juniper, discovers something large and ginger and lying half-dead by the side of the road.
She decides to take it home…
Juniper is surreal, dark, funny, and at times: excruciatingly grotesque. Buckle up for a wild ride through the dust-ridden roads of a tiny, half-forgotten American town…
Charlotta Amato is not only a talented aspiring writer, but she also paints mesmerizing artwork—one of a kind, layers of color, life and livity all combined onto a canvas.
Her exclusive works are for sale. Learn more on her Facebook Page.
Save Game by Joseph Sale
Save Game is the latest novel from brilliant author, Joseph Sale. This book is a fully immersive page-turner, just like it’s subject matter. Most writers will relate to wanting to escape into an exciting imaginary world, never to return.
Joseph Sale
Joseph Sale is an editor, novelist, writing coach and co-host of Monaghan & The Mindflayer. He currently writes and is published with The Writing Collective. He has authored more than ten novels, including his Black Gate trilogy, and his love-letter to fantasy: Save Game. He grew up in the Lovecraftian seaside town of Bournemouth. He edits non-fiction and fiction, helping fledgling authors to realise their potential.
Save Game
Levi Jensen is, by all accounts, a loser. He failed sixth-form, never got to university, and works at a no-future fast-food restaurant. The only thing he’s good at is gaming. When his father starts dying of a new type of cancer, only treatable privately and at impossible expense, Levi’s one hope of saving him becomes the million-dollar cash-prize for winning the dark-fantasy video-game Fate of Ellaria. But Levi isn’t the only one with motivations beyond money for winning. And the price of success in Fate of Ellaria might mean the destruction of what little he has left in the real world.
Save Game is a heart-breaking story of an underdog against all odds, as well as a love-letter to the beauty of video-games. Inspired by the amazing and eclectic everyday people who inhabit the gaming world, and the pain of their real-world lives, Save Game aims to show the courage of those who feel they’ve got no place in reality.
Sandra Hould is a stay at home mom, environmentalist, karateka, artist, book addict and future writer. She is always exploring new ways to express herself creatively, no matter how difficult the quest may be.
My art will be raw, imperfect, unapologetic and real, just like life.—Sandra Hould
***Do you have a book coming out? A cover reveal? Has a magazine published your short story? Have you landed and agent? What’s new with your other creative pursuits? Send your news to christa@letsgetpublished.com.
I hope your 2020 is going well and that you’re being productive and feeling inspired.
A big thank you for helping me with your suggestions
Thanks to those who participated in the survey I sent out last month. The results were enlightening and I’m using your feedback as I develop the site. You can see in the graph below what our writers’ biggest concerns are. I’ll be addressing these topics first as I line up the curriculum.
Psst… The first class is almost finished, but I will wait to announce the subject at a later date 😉
You can still leave your feedback in the survey by clicking here.
An apology for the delay
The start of the year has been hectic, and the launch of the Writers’ Mastermind group is behind schedule. I am building this platform on my own from scratch, and personal issues keep popping up.
I’m trying not to dwell on how frustrating the interruptions are and keep focused on how excited I am for the future when we go live. Life doesn’t work on our schedules, unfortunately, so we just have to do the best we can!
But we’re making progress
The good news is I have laid out the foundation of the membership area of the site! I’ve acquired a powerful combination of Divi from Elegant Themes and the Memberpress plugin to create a visually appealing and well-organized learning experience for you all.
So, what’s next?
I’ll be working on finishing and testing the site during the next month. I’ll be traveling and limited to what I can accomplish away from the office, but my goal is to have our new launch date in April 2020.
Get your hair did. We’re having a soirée, and you’re on the VIP list!
If you’re on the wait list, you’ll be invited to a virtual pre-launch mixer where members all over the world will get together in a live video conference, enjoy their beverage of choice, and talk about their writing.
This is going to be a massive event since it will be the first time I speak live with writers who’ve been my close email and social media pals for years. I’m freaking out a bit about that! 🤯 But that’s the purpose of the Writers’ Mastermind. No more isolated writers’ syndrome!
Are you on the wait list?
I’ll be closing the wait list this week. Those on the wait list will get the pre-launch price of $9 a month. This price is locked in for a lifetime.
Those who sign up after the wait list closes will pay regular price of $19 a month. So get in now! SIGN UP FOR THE WAIT LIST.
Originally hailing from the UK, David Antrobus makes his home in the Vancouver area of Canada. He is an eclectic editor and writer who works with many aspects of the written word, from all types of fiction to most types of nonfiction.
Though his editing and writing interests are comprehensive, his greatest love is working hands-on with authors in the genres of crime and speculative fiction, helping to hone and polish their manuscripts to their full glorious potential.
His skills include developmental editing, substantive/stylistic editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
David likes to claim he is fluent in three languages: UK English, US English, and Canadian English.
The Web of Words
“Why a web? Well, you could have the tiniest filament of an idea, one that may require a significant amount of spinning, or you may have a fully-developed lattice of the finest silk, one that only requires a few drops of dew and just the right light. I am able to do either, and everything in between. To switch metaphors, I will engage in your project at any stage, whether you need me to create (or help create) the recipe, to bake the cake, or to merely add the icing.
In more concrete terms still, I can pore over your written work, fixing spelling and grammar, adjusting syntax, suggesting vocabulary, establishing tone, and overhauling structure. Or, where appropriate, I can tweak the formatting (fonts, font sizes, tables, spacing, alignment, etc.) for consistency. And, plainly, the gulf between these requirements demands flexibility in pricing. You can be assured that I will discuss, ahead of any job, the criteria within which your unique project is framed, ensuring prior mutual agreement.
Bottom line: I care about the written word. My words, your words, everyone’s words. Without imposing my own, I will do my utmost to work with you and help your unique style shine as brightly as possible.”
David Antrobus was a finalist in Let’s Get Published’s Spring 2019 Writing Contest with his story, The Nowheres.
In this world of indie publishing, anyone and everyone is writing a book, but should they be?
I might be a jerk for bringing this up, but I’ll say it.
I see a lot of crappy books out there.
It makes me wonder—if all these writers think they’re good, and I am just as optimistic about my abilities, could I be mistaken too?
Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham is one of my favorite books about this creative dilemma. Fed up with a dreary accounting job, our protagonist, Phillip, goes to Paris to become a painter. He does well, but never creates anything extraordinary.
After the suicide of a classmate, who for all her artistic passion was a lousy painter, Phillip reevaluates his reasons for becoming an artist. He wonders what his future will look like if he continues to pursue his dream.
Phillip finally works up the nerve to end the subject once and for all by asking one of his painting masters to give an honest opinion of his work. The teacher is perplexed by his request.
Monsieur Foinet: “I don’t understand.”
Phillip: “I’m very poor. If I have no talent I would sooner do something else.”
Monsieur Foinet: “Don’t you know if you have talent?”
Phillip: “All my friends know they have talent, but I am aware some of them are mistaken.”
After Monsieur Foinet evaluates Phillip’s collection of work, he respectfully tells Phillip that he will never be anything other than a mediocre artist. Phillip decides to give up painting and go to medical school. Just like that — his abandons his whole Bohemian dream.
Unlike Phillip, I won’t give up writing no matter how paranoid I am about sucking. Although I would feel foolish pouring all of my energy into something I lack the talent for, whether anyone likes my writing should be secondary. Phillip’s friend and fellow painter, Clutton, puts it perfectly earlier in the book:
“What happens to our work afterwards is unimportant; we have got all we could out of it while we were doing it.”
That doesn’t mean I don’t care if my writing is bad. Like Phillip, I‘m afraid I am not, and will never be, any good. But I have to remember that I am still learning and to be okay with that. You should be okay with that too.
You wouldn’t expect to shoot par on your first trip to a golf course. You will hack and slice and end up in bunkers covered in sand. You will be humiliated and discouraged and tested, so don’t expect to sit down and write a brilliant novel if you haven’t devoted yourself to learning everything you can.
Sure, writing, like painting, seems to involve a certain amount of innate talent. I read scores of writers who create beautiful, technically perfect prose but whose writing is devoid of passion. Then there are those who are great at inventing characters and plot lines but lack the ability to make it all mean something. I used to believe they were missing that “it” factor that makes a great writer.
But the “it” factor is not always a mysterious gift bestowed on few. It’s mostly doing what you need to do to get better, whether it be technical or intuitive. I believe that with the right tools, instruction, feedback, and hard work, anyone can become a good writer.
Are you frustrated? Unsure? Do you feel like something’s off but you don’t know what?
Then think about this…
How many years did you have to attend school to earn a diploma? How much training did you go through for your profession? Now, how many hours have you devoted not just to writing, but to actively learning how to become a better writer?
Imagine if you took your writing as seriously as your job.
What training do you need?
Where can you get qualified feedback?
Think about where you feel a lack of confidence.
Analyze the areas where you can improve.
Respect your creative compulsions. Invest in yourself. Make a plan and take action to learn all you can.
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Christa Wojciechowski is a dark fiction author and the founder of writecatalyst.com/, a virtual Mastermind Community where writers will learn how to become successful authors through live video chats, critique swaps, monthly masterclasses, and featured experts. Sign up for the wait list here.
