I’m at American Christian Fictions Writers Conference in St. Louis, Missouri this week. The place where writers and authors are gathering to learn craft and pitch their stories. For those that are yet unpublished, the anxiety before pitching can be crushing and the stress intense.
I remember my first time walking into a room of writers waiting to pitch. While most were friendly I couldn’t escape just how anxious many of them were. But then again, that year I didn’t pitch a story.
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When I was younger, I used to bite my nails because of fear or anxiety. They’d bleed, become infected and generally look terrible. My grandma, a farmer’s wife, used to put black salve on them to help with the infection. As I grew older, I learned better coping mechanisms for dealing with fear and anxiety such as prayer, talking with others, and refocusing my perspective. And my nails grew. Because of my profession, I need to keep my nails short, but they’re still trimmed, neat, and polished when the mood strikes. However, yesterday, I found myself picking at a nail fragment on my ring finger. I kept tugging on it until it pulled free. This morning, I have an “owie” (I work with small children, so that’s a normal part […]
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Are you ready to pitch your story? With the ACFW Conference just a month away, many authors are polishing their pitches, proposals and pitch sheets. But…are they truly ready to pitch? The fact is, you only get one shot to pitch your story to a particular editor/agent. Here’s a quick litmus test to see if you’re ready to pitch your novel: 1. Is your novel finished? First time novelists should have their novel completed before they pitch for two reasons. It tells the editor/agent that YES, you can finish a novel. And then, when you pitch an entire series of 3 novels, they have the confidence you can fnished #2 and #3. It helps you understand the true external pitch of your story (and the internal storyquestion). Sometimes it takes […]
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