The Tweet that changed my life
Last year, I read “Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes. Yes, the “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Scandal” and “How to Commit Murder” Shonda Rhimes. Usually, I avoid memoirs and self-help books, but I’m addicted to Shondaland. Besides, she’s a self-made Hollywood icon and I was hoping for some dish on my favorites television characters.
Despite Shonda’s fame and fortune, she described herself as being socially paralyzed. She felt like she was living in a vacuum, dividing her time between her kids and her demanding television schedule. When on Thanksgiving 2013, her sister Delores remarked “You never say yes to anything” those words really hit home.
After decades of refusing social, speaking invitations and awards, Shonda decided for one year to say YES to experiences and opportunities that she’d previously shunned. During that year, Shonda bravely put herself out there –giving a TED Talk (https://youtu.be/gmj-azFbpkA), meeting new people, finding love, accepting honors and sharing a box at the Kennedy Center Awards with the Obamas. Shonda’s Year of Yes transformed her life.
In contrast to Shonda, I’m not afraid of social experiences. For the past eight years, I’ve been researching, writing and revising my debut novel, The Midnight Call. It’s a crime thriller about a pregnant attorney who risks her life, love and career to help her mentor when he’s accused of murder. In 2014, I entered it into the Clue Awards presented by Chantireviews.com, it was short-listed for the Clue and received the First Place Blue Ribbon for Best Police Procedural.
However, I was paralyzed by insecurity when it came to with sending my novel, my baby, out into the world of publishing. Just thinking about the submission process caused my stomach to clench. The fear of rejection held me back, and as writers know, we are in the business of rejection.
Motivated by Shonda, I decided that 2018 was going to be my version of the Year of Yes. It was going to be the Year of the ASK. I decided to submit my award-winning manuscript to agents and small presses specializing in my genre, mystery and crime fiction. After all, if you don’t ASK, you can’t receive a YES.
My journey began in January 2018, when I combed the Internet, Facebook, blogs, writing magazines, contact from writing seminars and conferences, and my professional organizations for the names of literary agents and small publishers that would accept a manuscript without it being submitted by an agent. The process was time consuming, but during the winter I submitted The Midnight Call to thirty-three publishers and thirty-six agents.
You can guess what happened next. Many, many rejections. Some of publishers and agents didn’t even respond. I have to admit that I felt pretty beaten up by the time that March rolled around. I even considered putting the manuscript in a drawer, locking the drawer and throwing away the key.
I’m a bit old-fashioned and while I can handle Facebook, Twitter was another matter. However, after scouring the blogsphere, I came across www.Pitchwars.org, organized by Brenda Drake. Four times a year, she runs “Twitter Pitch Parties” known as #PitMad where writers pitch their ideas to agents and publishers in 144 characters. After researching how to make a twitter pitch, on March 8th, I jumped in. By the way, there are two left in 2018, September 6 and December 8.
My pitch was:
Jessie’s got it all going on. A great job at a law firm, a hunky fiancé and a baby on the way. Then, it all goes down the tubes when her mentor calls, admit he’s killed someone and asks for her help. What’s a girl to do?#PitMad#S#T#M#RS
The various sub-hashtags denote that I was submitting to agents and publishers interested in suspense, thriller, mystery, and romantic suspense.
To my surprise, Beth Buck of Immortal Works Press “liked” my tweet. Immortal Works is a cool Salt Lake City publisher of mystery, fantasy and science fiction, so I followed the submission guidelines on their website, www.immortal-works.com, and sent off my thirty pages to Beth. I was optimistic, and hopeful, that this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship with Immortal Works.
A few days later, I received a full manuscript request from one of their acquisition editors, James Wymore, who’s also the author of the best-selling Actuator series. Subsequently, James contacted me again and requested that I make a few minor revisions to make it more compatible with Immortal Works readership. This initial revision process made me realize that I didn’t need the blood, gore, curse words and sexual content contained in my story. In fact, those changes made the plot and the writing stronger. So, on May 21st I resubmitted The Midnight Call, as a “revise and resubmit” and held my breath.
Within a few weeks, James King, the president of Immortal Works, offered me a contract. My heart stopped when I received the email and my head is still in the clouds. It’s hard to believe that my debut novel will be published in 2019 by Immortal Works.
I’m presently engulfed in the self-editing. I feel like a sculptor chiseling away at a mountain of marble. During the next few months, after working with one of Immortal Works editors, the rough edges will be polished away and I’ll have my masterpiece.
As I continue through this process, I’ll share my trials and tribulations, my highs and lows. There’s a massive amount to be learned along the road to publication.
I’m a little more than halfway through my Year of the Ask, and each day moves me closer to fulfilling my dream of seeing The Midnight Call published.
As you can see, one tweet really did change my life.
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