My WIP for #CampRevPit is The Last Remnant.

Hunted by the Initiative for secrets they think she knows, Sauriah is desperate to learn the truth behind mysterious disappearances before the nation's past is erased - and her with it.

A well-fed green caterpillar sits on a little hill to the right of the screen, eating a pile of pages labeled with the words “story notes.” On the left, a Camp RevPit flag waves at the end of a flagpole. There is a blue sky with fluffy white clouds in the background. The following text is on the picture: Day 1: #CampKickOff

Good morning, Campers! 🏕️ Let's kick off #CampRevPit with some introductions!
Use #CampKickoff to tell us a bit about yourself and what you're working on. Pitch it in any way, shape, or form.

Excited to be here!

If I ever get an email....

A WANTED poster with a handdrawn image of a young woman. Black text says "Contact Compliance with Any Information. Dial 561 On Any Red Phone." The Initiative's logo appears on the poster in gray. The Last Remnant appears in gold. Beneath that in black, "Some disappearances are not voluntary." There is also a parent guidance rating of PG-13. This is written by Winter Stevens and features conditioned compliance, suveillance state, and institutional control.

At The End of Everything X Sunrise on the Reaping

A young woman in hiding races to discover the truth behind the new regime's plan before they erase every trace of the past - and her with it.
#posterpit
#W
#T
#YA / #NA

The Last Remnant is a commercial thriller set in a dystopian world.

Poster Girl X Sunrising on the Reaping

A young woman in hiding races to discover the truth behind the new regime's plan before they erase every trace of the past - and her with it.

#posterpit #W #T #A

I took the pruning sheers to my book this evening.

To my surprise, one of the scenes I cut would be PERFECT later in the book.

PERFECT. Seriously.

Addition by subtraction. (And addition again.)

NBD

Keep going!

#writingcommunity #revision
#writersofbluesky

I was so worried about you. I actually thought something tragic had happened. I am glad you survived! Bullet wound? What a story you must have. Girl, take care of yourself. First and foremost.

Just a little encouragement this morning for all my #writer friends out there.

It's your MS's first time on the planet. It's like your kid, still trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up.

Revise
Rewrite
Ask for advice and help.

It takes a village.

You got this. Keep going.

I dug into my manuscript tonight. I had revised it once before submitting to #revpit and that was definitely not enough.

I:

👉 added important details
👉 reorderd the opening
👉 raised the stakes

And more.
It is so much better.
Can't wait for chapter 2!

Keep going!

#writingcommunity

#RevPitWaiting is over and I am diving back into my MS tomorrow with a few pages of additions I'd like to layer in. Not gonna lie - so excited about this!

Here's to all who entered! You did a brave thing.

Never give up!

#writersky #writingcommunity #authorsofbluesky

Thanks for all of this. Will you be emailing all who submitted to you? Some editors are and I just wondered if I should watch my inbox for anything from you.

I understand if time doesn't permit. I am just curious.

Fair. I just wondered if you had hired an editor and they turned you down after taking your money or signing an agreement. It's poor form even with a verbal agreement, though.

I wasn't so nervous
Which was a surprise
I have things to do
To keep me occupied
To say otherwise would
Mean I had lied.

To win would be great
A triumph for sure
My MS is ailing,
Editing the cure.

I'll set an alarm
And wait for its ring
Fretting and worrying
Just isn't my thing.

Luck to all!

Who are you asking to edit it, Houndog? Walk me through your experience.

I had at least HEARD of a query letter and was familiar with the concept of a synopsis. I got to the logline and said, "Whaaaat?" Google and I worked really hard that night.

Wait. What is causing the wait for editing?

The logline nearly killed me and I still don't think it's quite right. Ugh.

That will happen. I don't know if it helps or not but I once heard that when you are nervous, it'd the same feeling as being excited. It's just your attitude toward it that changes. That flipped a switch for me. Now, instead of letting myself be nervous, I tell myself to be excited.

All that said, I still would like to win. After all, I entered. I just know it is not a moral failing nor an indication of how good my book is or is not

It means I did something not everyone can do, something I wanted to do. I took a chance on me.

#revpitwaiting #writersky #writingcommunity

Thankful for the people who found me and invited me to the Discord I am part of.

Hope to win. Don't pin your worth to the results, though. Don't have hope in just this. It isn't healthy. I don't want you to sink into despair.

Keep trying. Keep improving 1% every day.

You'll get there.

They cannot publish everyone.

They just can't. The editors can't take on more than they can handle. It isn't fair to anyone.

This is why so many great storytellers have thrived in the self-publishing space.

There's no one to tell you no but the buyers.

Maybe I'm rambling now. I don't know.

It costs so much money for a publisher to print and market a book. They pay for pages and binding and artists and editors and typesetters and marketers. They pay for advertising.

It's a lot on the line.

I think we forget that. It's not just someone's whim. It's calculated.

Ask others for feedback on each element. Does each thing support the other in its own way? Are they compelling? Do they make the reader want more?

Finally, the industry is, by nature, a gatekeepers industry. It's a business. They are taking a risk on every single book.

*See next comment*

It would be nice to know which thing tripped you up. We won't know. Get objective feedback from someone else.

And don't beat yourself up over these things. They are variables. It could be one thing that kept them from reading your query and pages. They may not have even seen your book!

One final thought- and this is important. You had to write a creative novel. And a logline. And synopsis. And a query letter.

Those are all different skill sets. That's why people coach on those things.

More in the next comment. I just have too many thoughts.

When Monday comes and I am not announced the winner, I will go back to my book, make it better (because I know it needs it) and save up for an editor.

I will keep showing up.

I will keep trying.

I urge you to, too.

Whether you realize it or not, you have done a thing here.

Keep it up.

Your worth is not determined by results of an arbitrary contest.

You wrote a whole book. Not everyone can do that. But you did! Do you know the statistical likelihood of writing and finishing a book? Me, either. But I have a lot of anecdotal evidence that it's an unlikely outcome for most.

I know we all tried to pick editors who liked our genre or elements that we have in our books. *other people probably did that, too.*

Your worth is not determined by the results of a contest.

Mine isn't either.

Y'all, to finish this contest, we had to write a full book.

Not everyone can.