The True Windfall of #PitchMadness

Last week I stumbled upon Brenda Drake’s Pitch Madness contest on Twitter. In being so new to Twitter, I didn’t even realize something like this existed. Although I shot my pitch somewhat prematurely – I didn’t regret it one bit. If I hadn’t submitted my pitch I wouldn’t have obsessively followed the #pitchmadness Twitter feed religiously; refreshing by the second as many other contestants openly admitted to. Every single tweet could pertain to my pitch in one way or another. The good and the bad. It was pure insanity, as I’m sure many pitchmadness contestants would agree. What followed the tweets was a #meetandgreet. It was so amazing to meet all the people involved and learn what they write about and what they do for a living #clarkkentjob. As we hung onto every word the slush pile readers would tweet, we took something away from it to make our pitch and MS (manuscript) stronger and better. I have had a few people read my manuscript and they all loved it – of course! What friend would tell you your writing sucked and you have the mind of a lunatic, or tell you that the entire beginning is a cliche and Fantasy/Paranormal is played out in the eyes of the publishing world? They wouldn’t because if they weren’t an author or an agent they wouldn’t have any idea what that means. What I am hoping to gain from this experience is a better understanding of the agents and publishers market. Maybe a few critique partners and keeping in touch with the many amazing authors I have meet in the pits of #pitchmadness!

Next up #PitMad. You get to tweet your “well constructed” pitch in 140 characters or less. It also must contain #PitMad in it so there you just blew 7! I thought constructing a 35-word pitch was daunting, well I was so naive. This is enough to make you want to rip your hair out and question everything about your MS. But again the writers unite and help one another in constructing the pitches by critiquing along with #Pitchpractice. I am absolutely blown away by the generosity of time spent and constructive criticism given here.

Before any of this I absolutely DESPISED the #hashtag. I don’t know why, maybe it was more the mundane usage of it that bothered me. #MyLifeIsAmazing #selfie #IAteABurritoForBreakfast… Facebook was more to blame for the excessive use of #hashtags. I blame them because there are no restrictions on how long your post can be. There are too many #hashtag opportunities. Now I actually have respect for it, after all, it opened my eyes to so many amazing people!

Special thanks to L.L. McKinney Check out her blog @ tangynt.wix.com

Want to learn more about #PitMad and #Pitchmadness, or meet all the amazing people involved?

Check it out @ www.brenda-drake.com

Best #Hashtag Parody Jimmy&Justin