If you have been around the Pitch Wars community for a few years, you may remember that I was a mentor for three years, from 2016 to 2018. I co-mentored with Dan Koboldt. Before that, I was a 2015 mentee with my novel PLANETSIDE. If you follow me at all, you’ve probably heard of that one. No? Well…this is awkward.

I’ll move on.

Last year, I didn’t participate, but this year, I’m back, complete with my new co-mentor AR (Alina) Lucas. Here’s what changed.

In 2019, I was on deadline with COLONYSIDE (which comes out on December 29th of this year) and I was teaching high school full time. Pitch Wars takes a ton of time and energy, and in 2018 when I was writing a novel, teaching, and doing Pitch Wars at the same time, it was too much. To find the time, I had to cut out important time with my family, and I just don’t want to do that.

Fast forward to 2020, and I’ve transitioned to being a full time writer (post about that here). I’m still on deadline–this time for my as-of-yet untitled 4th novel with Harper Voyager and immediately transitioning to my 5th novel, THE WEIGHT OF COMMAND once that’s finished. But having written full time for a few months now, I find that even on deadline that I can get my words written for the day and still have time to spare for other writing things. I’ve chosen to put that time toward Pitch Wars.

Here’s why:

1. I like it. I like the community, and I like the format. I think there are a lot of great people involved, and I enjoy meeting them online. It’s like an introvert’s dream…I get to meet people, but don’t actually have to be around them. Seriously, though, I’ve met a ton of great people through Pitch Wars over the years.
   
2. It’s a great chance to give back to the writing community. I am fortunate enough to be in a position where I can do that.
   
3. False modesty aside, I’m pretty good at it. I have reached a point in my critique game where I can not only see that there’s something wrong with a novel, but where I can usually tell you what it is. It took me a while to develop that skill, and I enjoy exercising it. Learning to do that has made me a better writer and self-editor, and what better way to keep that skill honed than to apply it? After all, if you can see the problems in someone else’s work, it’s a short hop to be able to see the same things in your own (and fix it).
   
4. Most important, I just enjoy working with developing writers. I’ve found myself looking for opportunities to do that (and I’ve found a few over the last months), but when you get right down to it, Pitch Wars is, in my opinion, the premiere online venue for that sort of thing. You simply can’t match the overall quality of applicants (which, of course, is what makes it so competitive).
   
5. I’ve got a great new co-mentor. You can follow her on twitter. Getting to work with someone with her talent and skill set is a great opportunity for me, and I really look forward to it.

To answer a couple of questions that might come up:

1. What happened to Dan Koboldt?
   
   Nothing. Dan and I still talk regularly and help each other with all things writing. We co-host #SFFPit together. But as I said above, Pitch Wars is a huge commitment, and Dan has a lot of things going on right now and needs to protect his writing time.
   
2. What types of books (genres/sub-genres) will Alina and I be looking for this year?
   
   I’m not allowed to tell you that yet. If I do, managing-director Sonia Hartl will have someone put a bloody manuscript in my bed, or something like that. But…I figure if you know what I write, you can probably make a pretty good guess. I think I’m allowed to tell you that I’m in the adult category. Mentor wish lists go live on September 12th, so you’ll get all the details then.
   
3. What is Pitch Wars? Where can I sign up?
   
   If you read this and you’re totally lost, wondering ‘what’s this Pitch Wars thing?’ You can read about it here. Don’t let the word ‘war’ fool you. It came from the founder watching a show called Cupcake Wars, which was, sadly, also not a war. Because people fighting each other with cupcakes would be pretty awesome.

If you’re considering Pitch Wars and want first access to my hints and tips, I’ll be sharing things in my newsletter. You can sign up here. You can rest assured that I won’t send you things more than monthly (and realistically, probably quarterly, because I’m just bad at schedules).