Writing Wednesdays: New Year, New Ways to Torture Myself

I mentioned a month or so ago that I was an alternate for Pitch Wars. Well, Pitch Wars is tomorrow, and I'm kind of freaking out. It's likely nothing will come of it (the Alternates Showcase will feature our 35-word pitch and our first 250 words), but I'm praying I get at least one request. Some of you may recall my contest run last year. I did fairly well for the most part, but there was one contest that I got into (30 out of 300 entrants were chosen) where I didn't get a single request. Not a one. I was so embarrassed and told myself I wasn't going to enter any more contests. But like childbirth, there must be some kind of hormone that causes one to forget the torture of writing contests, because here I am again.

On the bright side, I won a prize in a much smaller contest yesterday (thanks Ink in the Book!). There were only 25 entrants and 5 awesome prizes, so the odds were ever in my favor. I got a three chapter critique from an agent, which is extra cool since I haven't started querying this novel yet and therefore have NO IDEA what agents are going to think of it. Honestly, this is even better than a request for me at this point. Fingers crossed I get some good feedback.

There are a few other big contests going on right now, and there's a part of me that gets super itchy to enter when I see them. However, I have not entirely forgotten the torture of trying to get into a contest lottery, of waiting with fingers poised for an entry window to start, of the endless page refreshes to see if I got any requests. I'm not sure I'm up for that again this year. Plus, I haven't invested nearly as much time in this manuscript, which means I'm less attached to it. I'm also eager to get back to writing again. Contests and requests and revisions are so time consuming I did hardly any writing last year, and I'm planning on writing at least one novel in 2013.

This post is starting to go in circles, isn't it? (I love contests; I hate them; I love them; etc.) Please just wish me luck today (fortunately most of the action will take place while I'm sleeping, so I don't have to spend an entire day in agony) and John, if you're reading this, I apologize in advance for what's about to take place.