#writementor

[damiwriteshere]

How I Found My Publisher

I knew querying was going to be a hot mess for me. I’m an over-planner and over-thinker. I’m the "put 19 different brands of socks in my amazon cart and spend three months agonizing over the different fabrics before realizing they’re just freaking socks for the love of wool and polyester just pick one" type of person.

So when the time came to start putting together my query package, I did what I did best: I overanalyzed. For months. Until finally, on 8/21/2022, after reading an obscene number of reddit posts and tweets about querying and publishing, I took the plunge and sent out my first batch of queries.

As is the case for virtually every first time querier, I thought I was ready.

Reader, I was not ready.

In retrospect, my first batch of queries weren’t my finest work. I received a lot of rejections, and a few manuscript requests...which were followed by more rejections. Authors can receive over 100 rejections before an agent says, "yes." So I was prepared for this.

In fact, one could say I was primed for rejections. I was born in it. Molded by it...

For those who don't know, I'm a doctor. This means I completed 4 years of undergraduate studies, 4 years of medical school, and another 4 years of residency training in my specific field (psychiatry). The process is grueling and can take a huge hit on physicians' mental health and sense of self. So even though the rejections while querying stung, it was...familiar. In some ways, medical training prepared me emotionally for the querying journey.

So thank goodness for that, I guess.

I queried for a year. During that year, I improved my query letter, made some changes to first pages, and made slight revisions to my manuscript as a whole (query stats coming up I promise).

In March, I saw a tweet from Lauren Davila, the acquisitions editor at Inked in Gray. The tweet was just a generic request for more "superhero" manuscripts to hit her inbox. By the time I saw the tweet, it was weeks old and her submissions were closed - so I did nothing. But a few days later, I decided to shoot my shot and slid into her DMs to ask if she was interested in looking at my manuscript, or if she would prefer I wait. She responded quickly, and encouraged me to email my manuscript and query, anyway! So I did.

More on that later.

In June, I was accepted to the WriteMentor program and got to work with Melissa Welliver - a YA speculative fiction author. I stopped sending out new queries and started workshopping ways to improve my manuscript. I started expanding upon some themes and worked on implementing revisions...

In truth, I'd given up on my story getting picked up by an agent around this time. My plan was to workshop, rewrite, and probably shelve for a few months before querying again. But after a few weeks of working with Melissa and thinking about my manuscript in different ways...I started to look at my story and feel excited again.

And then, on my 31st birthday, I got an email...

Thank you so much for your patience as I took the time to look over your MS and chat with the rest of the Inked team about your fantastic novel. It is my absolute pleasure to extend an offer of publication…

The week leading up to The Email were rough. I own my own private practice and the month before, I'd started working at a college counseling center 2 days a week. Which meant I spent the month of September working 6 days a week. The icing on the cake was that the weekend leading up to my birthday, I wound up in the ER for an infection. And I remember being immensely annoyed that I had to go to the ER for an incision & drainage on my only day off.

So waking up to The Email on my birthday was a real treat.

I'll save the rest of the story for another post (nudging agents, talking to a contract lawyer, "The Call," etc) but here's how it ended: I signed on the dotted line. And in the summer of 2025, my debut will be published with Inked in Gray.

And, as promised, my stats:

Queries Sent: 128

Rejections: 101

CNR (closed, no response): 19

Full Requests: 8

Partial Requests: 2

Offer: 1

[scifrey]

Check out the new WORDS FOR WRITERS article up on my blog: "How do social media and writing/publishing work together?" https://t.co/shWfpjD2hu #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writing #amwriting #howtowrite #protip #writinginfo #writingcrew #writementor #write #writerslife #authoring #authorlife #AuthorsofInstagram #WordsforWriters #JMFrey https://www.instagram.com/p/BxxFkZBg7vU/?igshid=135046dm1kgsz

[klkettle]

I’ll be offering a full read and report back to one mentee as part of this summer’s #WriteMentor The @WriteMentor summer mentorship can be an absolute game changer. And don’t forget, many of us are looking for potential, not perfection. Submit your best, but ignore that voice saying this opportunity isn’t for you. It is. Do it. #amwritingya #amwritingyadystopian #amwritingyascifi #amwritingnearfuture #amediting #ameditingya #writinglife #writersofinstagram #ownvoices #kidlit #ukya #amwriting #writingcommunityofig #writingcommunity #mentoring #mentoringmatters https://www.instagram.com/p/CNLKb_kL6XW/?igshid=knvfeyqp5wla

[gerardo-writes]

#WriteMentor 2020

So excited to announce I’m a #WriteMentor 2020 mentor!

I’ve been #WriteMentor-ing since 2018, so this will be my third time around.

Quick note: It’s a bit difficult to focus in these turbulent, scary times, but I believe that working on your manuscript will take your mind off the events floating around the world.

Gerardo thinking about his past, current, or future project.

Gerardo’s Writing in…

[angst-in-space]

april ‘22 writing progress

words written: 25.4k

most words written in a day: 1393

least words written in a day: 361

current yearly total: 90.3k

projects worked on:

- editing ch 7 of sylvix dreamscape fic - finished a draft of ch 8 and started writing ch 9 - writing new ending of my ya sci-fi book - editing renga fic

works published in april:

none 😖

april goals:

- post ch 7 of sylvix fic - start editing ch 8? - finish editing first two chs of the renga fic and hand that off to betas - meet my camp nano goal (30k words) - rewrite ya sci-fi book ending - continue reverse outline if i have time? - finish writing ch 8 of sylvix fic - at least start writing ch 9?? maybe finish it haha? - apply to writementor summer mentoring program - apply to roguementor

may goals:

- finish editing and post ch 7 of sylvix dreamscape fic - start editing ch 8 - finish draft of ch 9 and start editing ch 10 - finish writing new end of my book - work on reverse outline if i have time? - continue cutting down my book word count if i have time? - edit first two chapters of renga fic and hand it off to betas - apply to dvmentor - maybe apply to queeryfest

notes:

okay well first of all. i’d written out most of this post without realizing i had tumblr’s new beta text post thing turned on and was like “huh why does the text editing thing suddenly suck absolute ass”, then it randomly reloaded and DELETED MY ENTIRE POST so anyway PSA to uh not turn that on bc it fucking sucks and i’m fuming that i had to write this all out again but anyway kdjfkd. 

sooo didn’t quite meet my goal of writing 30k during april but i did write 25k so i got pretty close. i’d hoped to either finish writing the new end of my book or finish the sylvix fic and iiii finished neither! but still got a lot of progress done on both so we’ll call it a win.

put most of my efforts during april into working on my book and i hope to keep doing a bunch of work on that during may. still gotta finish writing the new ending and also significantly chop my word count (AGAIN) to fit said ending in lmao. but uh hopefully i can do it!!!

in my never-ending quest to get a writing mentorship... i did not get into revpit or writementor BUT i did end up on one revpit editor’s shortlist so that was very cool! i also had a phone call w her and she was very sweet and helpful and gave me a lot to think about in terms of what i can tighten/improve in future revisions of my book!! i also applied to roguementor so i’m keeping my fingers crossed for that. i plan to also submit to dvmentor aaand possibly queeryfest (the latter probably only if i don’t get into roguementor tho!)

as for fic things: did not post ch 7 of sylvix dreamscape fic yet... kinda struggling with editing it bc i’m not super happy with it dkjfkd - i’m probably overthinking things as usual but UGH. hopefully will get my shit together and publish that before the end of may. hope to also at least start editing ch 8, finish a draft of ch 9 and maybe start writing ch 10 (THE LAST CHAPTER...AAAHHH).

alsoooo hoping to finally edit the first two chapters of the renga fic and hand that off to betas before the end of the month. i got a bit of it done during april but... not much. and that fic has been on the back burner for way too long so i rlly gotta just edit/post it lmfao.

anyway i think that about covers it?? i probably had more things to say but i’m still fuming that tumblr ate my original post tbh DKFJDK. soooo yeah tl;dr hoping to finish writing my new book ending, get some work done on dreamscape fic, and edit/post some stuff!! 

[sjoycarlson]

The Beastly Synopsis

Oh, the synopsis. The beastly synopsis. And it seems like everyone wants something different. One page or two?

Just like the dreaded query letter, there are many resources out there with explicit guidelines on how to write it (I put the links at the end), so I won’t rehash it here. I’m going to give you my two cents, based on my own experiences, research, and reading many through #WriteMentor,…

[quietrevolt]

emma’s 100 days of productivity

10/100 - fri 10th may

today was good!! i was working on my #writementor revisions so my goal for the day was to finish restructuring the first act of my manuscript so that i could revise over the weekend and send it over to my mentor on monday and i had to stay up super late but i was just FEELIN it today and i managed it!!! i’m so proud and the wordcount is pretty good as i was aiming for roughly 20k on this act so!!!

overall super pleased with today

[poetshub]

#writers #writerslift #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writementor #poetshub #poets #PoetsTwitter #POEMS #poetrycommunity https://t.co/kS3jODkcpR

[takeeachdayonebookatatime]

My Q and A with as much as i could author Brandy Woods Snow.

 Here other books are called 

Meant To Be Broken (Carolina Clay #1)

Love on Main

  About the author she was born and raised in  Upstate South Carolina.

she was a journalist for 17 years  her articles have been  in Delta Sky, Greenville Business Magazine, Columbia Business Monthly, and Home Design & Décor magazine (Charlotte, Raleigh).

 Questions:

(Laura8759)

Any books you’re working on at the moment ?

(Brandy)

Earlier this spring, I finished up the WIP that I call the “book of my heart” because it’s very emotional and deals with an issue near and dear to my heart. I’ve started querying that one now, and I have ideas and loose plot sketches for 3-4 other books so now I just need to decide which one is “speaking” to me!

  (Laura8759)

Do you have a favorite part of the story ?

(Brandy)

Not to give away any spoilers, but my favorite scene to write was the first kiss scene between CJ and Jett. I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn’t read it yet but that particular scene was so full of setting and emotion! It’s the first time they truly let down their barriers and bear their soul secrets and there’s just something so special about writing a scene where untrusting people learn to find trust again. And the setting—the entire book is at my “happy place”—Edisto Beach, SC—and that scene captures my favorite time of day on the island—night time on the edge of America where the stars shine like nowhere else over the dark ocean while the tree frogs and cicadas and palm fronds create their own playlist. It’s just such a magical time in a very magical place. I wanted to capture that in that scene.

  (Laura8759)

What are your other hobbies when not writing a book ?

(Brandy)

I play the piano, and my family enjoys doing a lot of outdoor activities, like hiking and kayaking. I also enjoy cruising country roads in my “naked” Jeep Wrangler, if that counts as a hobby! LOL

  (Laura8759)

What genre of books do you like to read ?

(Brandy)

I am like a 90% YA contemporary and contemporary romance girl. I do, however, read some adult romance and women’s fiction, too, and I’ve been known to read a paranormal or magical realism if it “hits me” just right.

  (Laura8759)

Do you celebrate after writing a book ?

(Brandy)

I generally print out the entire thing, hole punch it, and load it into a large binder. From there, I’ll usually snap a photo for Facebook or Instagram and then put it away for a couple months before I attack it with the red pen. That’s probably as hyped up as it gets! LOL Though my husband does insist on taking me out to dinner on the book release dates so there’s at least that! LOL

  (Laura8759)

Does anything inspire you when writing a book ?

(Brandy)

I am so inspired by music! In fact, one of the first steps in my writing process is creating a Spotify playlist that goes along with the mood/themes/situations in my book. I’ve noticed that patterns emerge as well. For instance, in my latest WIP, I have Smashing Pumpkins songs galore on my list—just perfectly moody and emotional.

  (Laura8759)

Do you outline your book before you write it ?

(Brandy)

I didn’t with MEANT TO BE BROKEN, my first novel so I ended up basically re-writing that one 2.5 times! With AS MUCH AS I EVER COULD, I had a strict plot outline and my beat sheet filled and the edits were significantly minor in comparison. I would say I tend now to be a 50/50 plotter and pantster. I like some definite guidelines but if the plot begins to meander a bit, I’m one to follow it and see where it goes. Sometimes those characters have thoughts of their own!

  (Laura8759)

Do you write your story on paper first before you type it out ?

(Brandy)

Pieces of it. If I’m having a hard time with a scene, I might pull out the ol’ pad and pen to scribble some thoughts. It usually ends up in an absolute mess of scribbles that only I can understand and then that gets typed up in the Word doc.

  (Laura8759)

Who is your favorite author ?

(Brandy)

I’m not going to lie—I grew up a total VC Andrews junkie. Holy Southern drama and family dynamics! That’s also why I probably have always enjoyed Pat Conroy novels as well. If we’re going to kick it more contemporary, though, I’d have to say that I devour anything from Morgan Matson and Stephanie Perkins.

  (Laura8759)

What inspired you  to become a writer ?

(Brandy)

I’ve been a writer as long as I can remember. It just seemed to be an innate calling. I began writing stories at age 6 with my old typewriter (yes, I’m old!) and I still have some of these even to this day. One morning when I was 8 I woke up with a poem in my head and I wrote it down immediately in my diary. I still have that one too. It’s surprisingly dark and emotional for the mind of an 8 year old so I can only chalk it up to the thought that this was definitely to be my lot in life. And I’m okay with that! 😊

  (Laura8759)

What was your favorite bòok or series as a child ?

(Brandy)

I loved all the “classics” and many of them are now on my own kids’ shelves! Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Sign of the Beaver, Hatchet, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, Babysitters’ Club, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Indian in the Cupboard. I could go on and on!

  (Laura8759)

Do you have a favorite book ? 

(Brandy)

I’m going to keep this one contemporary focused since I have a ton of books I’d call favorites! Morgan Matson’s Second Chance Summer is one of me read-and-read-again books because it has some swoony love interest at the lake during summer vibes, some friendship angles, and tons of family dynamics. It’s a great book to get swept up in!

  (Laura8759)

How do you feel about a sequel to one of your books ?

(Brandy)

I hadn’t planned on one for AS MUCH AS I EVER COULD though several people have already asked for it! I mean, I’m not opposed so we’ll see where that goes! LOL I do have a “sequel” (more a companion book) for my first release, MEANT TO BE BROKEN. It’s about 30k words in and being written slowly as I go but I do love the story so maybe sooner than later that one will come to fruition!

  (Laura8759)

How did you come up with the idea for your book ?

(Brandy)

I generally come up with the theme first—the emotional hook, which is so important to me. My books and writing are all about the deep, emotional feels so if there’s an idea/emotion I want to explore, I’ll start there and think about the conflict, then the characters, and then the plot after that. I’m totally a character-driven writer!

  (Laura8759)

Is there any changes you would make to your book or story ?

(Brandy)

Nope! Not only am I a perfectionist in life, but I’m also an empath so I spend a great deal of time looking at my characters and their actions from lots of different angles. When I complete the MSS edits for publication, it is 100% where I want it to be.

  (Laura8759)

How do you feel about ghost writers ?

(Brandy)

Coming from the world of marketing and public relations, I’ve actually ghost written some articles for company CEOs and department heads, so in that part of the writing world, it’s actually very common. When it comes to ghostwriting books, I don’t know that I truly have a huge earth-shattering opinion here. I’ve certainly read books that were ghost-written—I mentioned The Babysitter’s Club as being one of my childhood faves and it was ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis after like Book 35 or 36 I think. I think it’s also probably pretty common in some non-fiction or celebrity stories as well. I will say that I enjoy the transparency in knowing at least that a book is ghostwritten. I guess for some people it’s a good option and for others not so much. For me, I can say I’d never consider it. My books are my ideas and my writing only. I’m too much of a control freak to let someone else take over my stories, which I often call my “children.” 😊

  (Laura8759)

(Finale question)

Current book you’re reading ?

(Brandy)

I have just downloaded Abigail Johnson’s EVERY OTHER WEEKEND on my Kindle to take with me on vacation in just a few weeks. I hate to say it but because of my current workload requirements, it’ll probably be next month before I am actually reading “for pleasure!” (FYI – I work as an acquisitions editor and marketing manager for Filles Vertes Publishing and I’m a mentor for the summer program Writementor so I have lots of professional reading to be done!)

  Any social media pages our very few readers can find you at and were they can buy your books 

www.brandywsnow.com

FB: @BWSnowWrites

IG: @snowbrandy

TW: @brandy_snow

[krrw2020]

Here's a question: What or who gives you the inspiration to write? #writingcommmunity #writerslife #creativity #amwriting #writemotivation #writetip #writechat #writementor #inspiration #inspirational

Here's a question: What or who gives you the inspiration to write? #writingcommmunity #writerslife #creativity #amwriting #writemotivation #writetip #writechat #writementor #inspiration #inspirational

[onefinalsacrifice]

Some great advice from @Kid_Lit here on writing bullies: "if your story relies on a bully antagonist, beware". Highly recommend reading Writing Irresistible Kidlit if you haven't already! #WriteMentor pic.twitter.com/j2CVgk3vhq

— AE MacLennan (@aelizmaclennan) May 7, 2018

from Twitter https://twitter.com/nichi_yes

[authorafae-blog]

#WriteMentor is about to begin...

#WriteMentor is about to begin…

A great, big hello to everyone this Saturday morning. I wish I could say I was having a day worth talking about, but I’m not. A lot of personal/family struggles this week. But, alas, this too shall pass.

I’ve got about 9 chapters of Rainbow Killer to finish up my edits with before I’ll feel even the slightest bit comfortable allowing the real editors at NineStar Pressto take over. I am honest…

[gerardo-writes]

#WriteMentor

So excited to announce I’m a #WriteMentor 2019 mentor. I was fortunate enough to be picked as a ninja one last year, which turned out to be lot of fun. My 2018 mentee also had fun. At least, I think she did?

Gerardo caught brainstorming his next novel.

Gerardo’s Writing in Numbers

ELEVEN years writing experience.

THREE YA novels published: Summerlypse , Bacon Pie,  and Fractalistic (Summer…

[angst-in-space]

march '22 writing progress

words written: 15.6k

most words written in a day: 1192

least words written in a day: 119

current yearly total: 64.8k

projects worked on:

- posted ch 6 of sylvix dreamscape fic - edited ch 7 of dreamscape fic - worked on writing ch 8 of dreamscape fic - edited ya sci-fi book - started editing renga fic

works published in march:

"dawn goes down to day" (sk8, matchablossom)

"you're a dream (i'm never waking up)" ch 6 (fe3h, sylvix)

march goals:

- post ch 6 of sylvix dreamscape fic - start editing ch 7 of dreamscape fic - finish first round of word-cutting on my book - rewrite end of my book - work on ch 8 of dreamscape fic if i have time? - apply to revpit - possibly apply to a zine??

april goals:

- post ch 7 of sylvix fic - start editing ch 8? - finish editing first two chs of the renga fic and hand that off to betas - meet my camp nano goal (30k words) - rewrite ya sci-fi book ending - continue reverse outline if i have time? - finish writing ch 8 of sylvix fic - at least start writing ch 9?? maybe finish it haha? - apply to writementor summer mentoring program - apply to roguementor

notes:

i actually... did better in march than i expected lol!!

i finished my first round of word-cutting on my ya-sci fi book which took me like... three months. at this point i've cut like 50k out of it since the initial draft but it is still Too Long (and yet still does not have a real ending yet so uhhh) *lies on the ground* but oh well at least we're making progress. anyway! one of my main goals for april is to finally rework the ending (i forget if i've explained this but... my first draft got extremely long and i was like "oh maybe i'll make this a duology" then i decided to make it a standalone after all. but that means cutting out a lot more words and giving it a real ending so lol.)

i also FINALLY posted chapter 6 of the sylvix dreamscape fic during march!! aaaand i edited all of chapter 7 and handed that off to betas, so i'm hoping i can get that published by the end of the month. i also have nearly finished a draft of ch 8, soooo here's hoping i also have some time to start editing that––as well as writing chapter 9––this month.

uhhh i also applied to a couple things in march!! (one was revpit and the other was a zine) and i should hear back about both of those mid-april so fingers crossed!

i'm hoping to apply to a couple more things during april (maybe depending on how busy i am and what shape my book is in lol) buuut i'm gonna aim to apply to at least one more mentorship.

oh yeah and i finally started editing my renga fic which i finished writing like months and months ago lolll so i'm hoping to at least get the first two chapters of that to betas fairly soon.

AAAAND i'm doing camp nano with a goal of 30k words (i'm aiming to do like 500 words of original writing and 500 words of fic a day) so WOOOO

... april will be fun

[sjoycarlson]

#WriteMentor Wishlist

Hey, so I’m a mentor in #WriteMentor, a new opportunity for querying writers to get hooked up with agented or published author mentors.

If you’re a mentee hopeful, you may have seen my Mentor Bio on the website, but here’s a little more intel.

About me:

The eldest of five children, I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I spent the first few years of my life in dying coal mining towns in the…

[quietrevolt]

emma’s 100 days of productivity

11/100 - sat 11th may

was supposed to go get my phone fixed today but guess what - i didn’t - so that’s not ideal, and explains why i have no pic to go with this update

my excuse is that it was crazy raining today but in reality just had a bad one head-wise, got a little bit of revision done on my writementor revisions and managed to email my mentor asking for guidance on how to go forward with sending her material and stuff, but that was pretty much it for todays productivity, really need to pick it UP in the coming week

i believe in myself!!

(also, if anyone else is doing a 100dop i’d be interested in following you so we can motivate each other’s dashes! i feel in need of some motivation atm)