Contest Finalist? Yes way!

Okay, so I sort of forgot to post about some great news I found out a few days ago. A little while ago I decided to enter my current Highlander WIP in the Utah RWA's Heart of the West (HOW) writer's contest. I was really nervous to enter the book, but decided to give it a whirl anyway. Any time I get feedback on my books I get seriously nervous, so entering a contest is one of those nail-biting events for me.

I waited weeks, knowing the exact week that I would hear back on the contest. I twiddled my thumbs, checking my email every 2 minutes, or hoping that something would get leaked on the URWA loop. When I finally heard, I couldn't have been more shocked.

I'm a finalist in both the Paranormal category as well as in the Golden Pen for our chapter!

Needless to say, hearing this news has really kicked me into gear and I've since finished my first draft on that novel. I've just started into my first-round edits, and hope to publish this book before I hear if I won the contest in either category.

For info on other finalists, click here. A big congratulations to everyone!!

Pitching

On the heel of my last post, I figured I'd talk about my pitch at the conference. I originally intended on pitching my first Immortal Guardians book, Dark Seduction, but after a few suggestions from other people, decided to pitch the second one - and yes, I'm about to finally tell you the title - Seduction Ignited.

Let's just say, I learned a lesson.

If your first novel in a series hasn't been published, then that is really the only one you should be pitching.

The editor that I pitched to yesterday stopped me about a minute into my pitch (embaaarrrraaasssssiiiinnng), and told me to pitch the first one. So, I stopped, switched the focus of my mind, and pitched Dark Seduction. I'm still trying to decide if maybe this was a blessing in disguise, because normally, if I'd just pitched the first one in the series, then she likely wouldn't have known about the second.

Why is this important you ask?

Well, you see, because she was at least aware that a 2nd one existed (and it came up that there are several more on the way), she asked for partials on BOTH novels! Now, I'm not saying that it will go anywhere. It's hard to assume anything when there is a 95% rejection rate, but I can say that I'm excited that she was interested not only my novel(s), but the series.

I can only hope, at this point, that she enjoys my writing style and loves the Immortal Guardians every bit as much as I do.

I Came, I Saw, I... Failed

I finally heard back on the results from the HOW contest. I tried not to get my hopes up, but, its hard when you've put a lot of work into it. At least I got some feedback that I can work with in all the upcoming revisions  I will no doubt start ASAP. Which, by the way, I've already revised the beginning of Draven's book. Most of it is completely different from what I submitted, and his had the better score (Hmmm...)

So, this is what I got.

On Draven's book (the 1st in the Immortal Guardians series), my scores were. Each judge could give a max of 135:
129
124
57


On Raider's book (the 2nd in the Immortal Guardians series), I got:
124
100
53

I could tell the same three people judged both. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

I'm going mad... Mad I tells ya!

Okay.... I just have to blog about it because all this pent up tension is just going to explode.

I entered the Heart of the West Writers Contest which I was supposed to hear if I did well/sucked by August 20th. Due to unforeseen issues with a few judges they weren't able to tell us who the finalists were. I've been in super lip- and nail-biting mode ever since.

So today, I got an email (because I'm in the URWA) and someone mentioned that they weren't a finalist.... How did they find out???!?!?! Also, my friend, who also entered the contest, got an email stating that she isn't either (which is crazy because her book is amazing)... Why don't I have any details on how I did or who the finalists are?

I'm going mad!