Callie Rowland

Wow, a lot's changed since I was here last. I'm still querying, but I've received a few more full requests, pitch likes, and--unfortunately--full rejections. On Twitter, I've somehow found myself with an entire group of literary writer friends; we have a groupchat and call ourselves the Secret Society. In the past month, so many of us have signed contracts with agents or small presses that we've taken to nicknaming our chat, "Magic groupchat." As for school, I've entered my last semester as an undergrad, which is simultaneously relieving and terrifying. I'll be taking a gap year before I consider applying to grad school (I'm traveling to Wales over the summer to visit family!), because though I know I'd succeed in that space, at this point my mental health is so inextricably tied to academic achievement that I know I need to take a break and see what life is like without school for a while. Luckily, I've already got a taste of what that...

You've read the title; you know why I'm here. I'm taking a break until the new year! I'm not necessarily overwhelmed, but it's best to refill a well before it runs dry, so as I move on to writing a reverse outline for my current WIP and subsequently working through my second draft (which will undoubtedly take longer than the first), I've decided to take the last month of the year off. As a precaution. Not that I need to justify myself. I don't even think anyone's reading this. Anyway. See you (mystical readers) in January! In the meantime, wish me luck--the good kind, as always--and I will wish the same for you.

The good news is, I don't have much querying news to report. The bad news is, I don't have much querying news to report. Monday, I received a partial request from an agent I queried back in August, after receiving a pitch like during #SFFpit . I had been in this agent's maybe pile for so long that I was contemplating withdrawing my submission so that I could query another agent at her agency, but mere hours before I withdrew my submission, she requested! Let this be a lesson: do nothing in anxiety-riddled haste. I also received a maybe pile query rejection this week, but other than that, no news. I'd say I'm stressed about the silence, but at this point, I feel next to nothing. Not to say I've "admitted defeat" or anything; I've just acclimated to the constant stressor of having outstanding queries and full requests. I hardly even feel anxious when I query new agents now! That's a relief, at least. Thanks to this newfound calmness, I've bee...

Last Thursday marked yet another Twitter pitch event. This one was called #MoodPitch, and as one might imagine, it's an event that purposely utilizes moodboards (the moodboard I used is below). As I mentioned in my previous blogpost , the last few weeks have been brutal for my mental state, so I honestly didn't expect anything going into this event. I wanted my revised pitches and moodboard to be successful, but even though I knew I had done my best, I just...didn't believe in them. This self-pity probably feels worthy of an eye-roll, but if you've ever experienced anxiety in tandem with depression, you understand that I'm not exaggerating. I genuinely lacked the ability to feel any excitement, confidence, or joy toward the outcome of this event. I'd reached a point in my querying journey where I felt numb to pretty much everything. Still, I scheduled my three allotted pitches, and at 8am on Thursday, the event began. At first, nothing much happened, meeting my...

I'm off to my cousin's thirteenth birthday party in a few minutes, so I'm keeping this post brief, but this querying week has been a mixed bag. Monday, I received another full manuscript request. Which was amusing, because right before checking my email, I had had a conversation with my dad about how I simply didn't think I was going to get another request, ever. Shows how much a querying writer can trust their own judgement. Wednesday, I received another query rejection. Which was unfortunate, but I'm accustomed to it at this point, so no hard loss. Thursday, however. Thursday was a battering ram. I received a full manuscript rejection from one of my dream agencies, which, naturally, would have been disheartening anyway, but I could have brushed it off--had it not been for the fact that the rejection seemed nonsensical. I won't go into detail, because that veers too far into the realm of oversharing even for my taste, but basically, I ended up crying in the bat...

Last Thursday was another Twitter pitch event. This time, it was called #PitDark, and yep, you guessed it, it was an event in which you're supposed to pitch any book that has a dark theme, plot, and/or atmosphere. Considering that the novel I'm currently querying revolves around a chosen one who descends into villainy and madness while being hunted down by their siblings, I was sure it qualified, but I am notoriously anxious, so I was still terrified that it wouldn't garner attention. The thing is, while my book as a dark plot and themes, its atmosphere is very whimsical. The whole thing is sort of like Lewis Carroll and Oscar Wilde had a baby, so I was worried that the lighter colors in my moodboard (pictured below) would dissuade agents from liking it. Turns out, I didn't have to worry, because I got eight likes! Granted, some of those were from small presses, which I don't have anything against, but I don't plan on submitting to, because that's just not m...