Right from the go, it was a whirlwind. The tweets from the editors about their submissions began literally hours after I hit send on my own submission, "Ten Past Closing," a YA thriller. Pretty quickly, I was sure one of my editor choices was passing, but then, just a couple hours later, Rebecca Faith Heyman tweeted something about a submission that sounded a lot like mine. Of course I responded and after a flurry of tweets, I had the partial request in my email inbox. AHHH!!!
The day the selections were made, I had the flu. After working my usual Saturday hours, I hit the road to go home for a nap, but the tweets had started. I told my husband, "I'm not going to be picked, but I should probably hold off on that nap until they're done with the announcements. Just in case." Almost two hours after the tweets started, Rebecca's picks were tweeted, and mine was one of the two she chose. It was literally one of the most tense and exciting two hours of my life. |
Then came the month of edits, fun, and new friends. Rebecca's insights into my MS were exactly what I needed to move it in the right direction. I got to know the other P2P authors and they are such an incredible bunch. We supported each other through the stress, self-doubt, and uncertainty, and I can't wait to champion the budding careers of this group of truly wonderful, talented people.
A month of furious work, and my submission was ready for today, this moment, when the agent round begins. Samantha Fountain--author, literary agency intern, and the contest's organizer--has managed to recruit a super group of agents to be part of this contest, several of whom I've queried in the past or have on my to-query list for various projects.
I can't believe my luck in being selected. I have no idea what will happen this week, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that come Friday, my title will once again appear on Twitter in the form of agent requests for more pages.