Post-Pitch Crash...

Okay, so today was THE day.  Pitch day.  It was a very unique experience, to be sure and I am mentally and kind of physically exhausted from the whole thing.

First, we were instructed to be in the online chat room at 1:45.  I went in at 1:37.  I was a little anxious to say the least.  Soon all of the finalists were in there along with two moderators and then eventually the editor.  One of the moderators walked us through the procedure of going from the chat "waiting room" to the room with the editor.  

This was a relatively simple procedure - there was a bright, neon pink bar at the top of the page that said "WAITING ROOM" that you clicked on and a drop down menu came up where you then clicked on "ROOM 1".  Simple, right?  Apparently not.  There was one woman that it took literally 20 minutes to understand this and even after that, she kept leaving the waiting room and going in to room 1 while pitches were going on!!

If I were the moderator, I would have stopped and told that woman that she was too stupid to pitch and made her leave!  But I'm a mean girl and apparently most other people have more patience than I do!  Who knew? 

So we eventually got started and can I just say that it seemed like I was the only American finalist!!  The women were from New Zealand, Queensland, the UK and Canada!  Wild to be chatting on line with women all over the world!  Cool.  

So we're starting and the first woman gets called in to the pitch room and the rest of us were left in the waiting room to "chat".  It was fun and I was the third woman.  I pretty much wanted to vomit at that point and was shaking and hyperventilating.  Thank God it wasn't a visual chat.

The editor asked questions, I typed the answers and it all happened in ten minutes.  that's all you have.  And you know what sucks??  Ten minutes is totally NOT enough time to say all that you want to say when you are trying to tell all of the wonders of your book!  She was very gracious and did her best to put me at ease.  But when it was all over and I went back out in to the waiting room, I felt a great let down!

It was over too fast!  I didn't get to say everything that I wanted to say!  I spent most of the time shaking like a leaf and typing like I only had thumbs!  BUT...at the end of it all...I was asked to submit THREE chapters and a synopsis.  I am beyond thrilled.  I feel so blessed and excited about the whole thing but I have to admit that a teeny-tiny part of me was kind of hoping that they would just love me to death and want to sign me immediately.

Apparently, they don't do that.  

So now I have to polish my work like a mad woman and I would like to just thank fellow author (published) and awesome woman, Emilie Rose, for her support of me and her advice.  Years ago, I had read one of her books and noticed that she lived here in NC and I left her a note on her website telling her that I enjoyed her latest book and she invited me for coffee.  since then, she has answered MULTIPLE questions of mine and today she gave me advice that I desperately needed.  So, thank you, Emilie.  You are a true lady and an amazing writer!