Jacqueline C. Thomas - Romance Novelist

#PitMad

Querying, Job Hunting and Homemaking

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All ready for another job interview

I think I broke a record yesterday, four query rejections in one day! That’s gotta be some sort of record, right? The day before I set a record with three rejections and I thought that was something, but you know what? I’m not upset about it. I am honestly grateful. The speed in which queries are coming back is fast, and that is awesome! At least this way I know it is a “no thank you” and I can move on. After almost two years of querying different projects, I can honestly say I’ve developed some pretty thick skin at this point. I think one has to develop thick skin to do this, I mean this is only the query point. What happens when you make it all the way to publishing and the public doesn’t like the book? Thick skin is a must.

In the past week I’ve also done #PitMad- Twitter’s pitching competition where you pitch to agents via Twitter. I love #PitMad! I do it every time and will continue for the foreseeable future, until I land an agent. This past competition was a strange one though. It felt much bigger than in competitions past. I’ve always found moderate success when pitching, usually snagging a few “likes” from agents who I later pitch to. This time I got none. I’m not sore about it, I just found it odd. I talked to a few fellow authors who also thought that this past competition was a bit odd in feeling and activity. I also noticed for the first time ever that I kept getting “likes” from bogus accounts on my pitches. While this might not seem like a big deal to the average person, to authors who are glued to Twitter on PitMad, each like can be a potential agent. So when I saw a like, I was all excited in thinking it was an agent….. oh well! Fellow authors also encountered this phenomena this time around as well.

As a real glutton for punishment, I’ve also leaned into job hunting too. It feels like the right time to pick up the remnants of my career in marketing and PR. Job hunting has been a wild ride this go around, more so than querying! I was just telling my husband that my next book should be about my experience job hunting, entitled: A Year in Interviews: The Good, Bad, and Ugly. There really have been some ugly interviews, where I’ve walked away gobsmacked- and I am in PR! Obviously I won’t dish because I don’t want to shame, but man guy’s its been wild. It feels like working through Covid had stripped away a layer of professionalism that was always there.

I am also much more cautious when job hunting this time. I don’t just want any job, I want the right job. In one of my more recent professional experiences I encountered some pretty harsh gaslighting by a superior. I didn’t know what it was at the time, I’d been very lucky to that point and had always been well respected in all of my previous roles. That experience left me wiser in so many ways. So my strategy this time is to apply to companies that have a good track record with their current and former employees.

While I’ve been moving forward with querying directly to agents, and continuing to look for work, I will say my daily writing is not as productive as it could be. Right now, I am giving myself a pass, and really practicing self-care. If I need to step away for a bit, that is okay. I am reading a lot right now. I just got the new Christine Feehan book over the weekend, Lightning Game. I am reading it slowly, trying to devour and savor each word. Reviews for this book said it was one of her best thus far. I’ve read the whole series and I have not been a big fan of some of the books in the series, but I am hopefully for this newest one. I am sure I’ll write a review of it when finished.

I’ve also dove into other projects away from my computer. Over the course of the pandemic I improved on my quilting skills. I made a pandemic quilt, I call it, with over 300 tiny squares! The project took forever but I loved doing it. So, I finally took the plunge and set up a sewing spot for myself in my basement. I am so excited to dig in and work there. I also learned over the lockdown last spring, that sewing is great for writer’s block! It was fun to create a space of my own and I can’t wait to get to work down there on a new project.

All in all, that has pretty much been my week. To some it may look like a rough one, but I choose to look at the positives. I know that this is a time of growth and recovery and I embrace the journey, even if my natural impatience doesn’t appreciate it.

A Writer’s Year in Review: 2020

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My husband snuck this shot on the morning of December’s #PitMad Competition as I sent my first tweet out.

I like many am so ready to see the end of 2020. It has been a terrifying, heartbreaking, and odd year. It has also been a year of new opportunities for me as well. I started the year professionally, with a massive promotion to run the marketing department for a national company, and was chosen to represent the company at the largest national conference in the country in February in L.A. At the same time I was head-hunted by another company and given the opportunity to grow further professionally and work at the global level. I started the new job that is in the business events industry on March 4, 2020- talk about timing. I stayed with the company until I was furloughed and then recalled, then furloughed indefinitely in the fall. It was a wild, sad, and soul crushing experience.

While I tried to hold onto my professional career, I finished my Master’s degree this past May. That was an enormous accomplishment, and I am proud of myself that I did it. While there was no party, or even a graduation ceremony, it did not diminish my joy that my degree was finally finished.

Writing wise, 2020 has been a productive year. I started the year writing a novel, about two love interests with tragedies in their lives. The two characters have to rescue each other- thus turning the trope of knight on horseback upside down. I am planning to self-publish this book in the first quarter of 2021. It will be my first published novel.

As the pandemic gripped the U.S. and much of the globe in the spring of 2020 I published Quarantine Stories on the blog. I came up with the idea walking down the beach in Malibu, CA. on the earlier mention work trip. I wondered what romance would look like in a time of quarantine and lockdown. I wrote 20 short stories and published them here on the blog. The short story format was a new one for me, and I enjoyed the challenge.

As summer started, I found more and more people asking me if I was going to make Quarantine Stories into a book. I thought about it and decided to give it a shot. I wrote five additional stories that are exclusive to the book, and went through the process of self-publishing. My husband and I have put out a magazine for our business for years, but self-publishing a story collection was entirely different. I walked all of the way through the process and I sold more copies than I thought I would but it was far from a bestseller. In full disclosure I didn’t ever expect it to be a bestseller. I had two things against me, I’m an unknown author and it’s a short story collection.

In September my professional life crashed and burnt as my time with the job that I’d started in March became a different type of Covid victim. My children were also starting remote learning at the same time. Rather than look for another job right away, I wanted to take some time to take stock and possibly change directions. I also became a full-time mom again, just when my family needed me most. This time off also gave me the time I had so desperately wanted to really focus on my writing.

In the fall, out of nowhere a truly unique story idea came to me, and I completed my second novel of the year. It’s working title is Willow, after the main female character. The story is set in the future where marriages are not made via love matches but breeding compatibility. This was different from my normal romance writing in setting and time. It was a fun novel to write and I am so grateful to my husband for bringing me my laptop and coffee each morning, encouraging me to keep writing. I have yet to reread through it for the first time, and I only hope it is as good as I think it might be.

I also did A LOT of querying this year. I put out two books to query and had what I would call great success in Twitter’s #PitMad contests. I was able to snag agent “likes” with each round. This past December was my greatest interest yet, and I am continuing to wait for news as I write this. I pitched the two books I’ve queried this year, Sailing in Silicon Valley, and The Lake Michigan Affair.

As 2020 draws to a close, I have put my efforts into editing the book that I started the year writing, the one about the two lovers who rescue each other. I plan to self-publish it in the new year, if I have not signed with an agent yet. I am excited to put out an actual novel in story and length. I also feel that this novel is much more of my style of storytelling.

Looking to the positives of a new year, and the opportunities it brings, I’ve started to look for a new job to put my career back on track. Once I hear back from the #PitMad agents, (hopefully sign with one) I can move forward querying or finally start down the traditional publishing path. I also hope to compete 2 or 3 new novels in 2021. I can feel the muse starting to come to life again, and the spark of an idea is there…

So to all of my readers, I wish you a very happy, safe, healthy and productive New Year!

The Top 10 Reasons I love #PitMad

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Tomorrow is #PitMad a book pitching completion held on Twitter. This Twitter contest is held four times per year. This will be my first time participating this year. I haven’t been able to participate in March’s or July’s competitions this year due to work. So tomorrow is the day! I am so stupid excited. What makes this competition so awesome you ask? Well let me give you my top ten reasons I LOVE the #PitMad contest:

1. No Query Letter (well kind of)

This contests lets you pitch directly to agents! I hate writing query letters. Someone told me that a query letter only has to work once, and then you shouldn’t have to write another one. I’ve written my fair share of them, and I hope I am getting better at getting all of those magical ingredients in there. However, keep in mind if you get a “like”, during the contest you may still need to produce a query letter.

2. Community Spirit

The Writing Community on Twitter is an amazing resource for authors! It is one big community sharing the struggles, celebrating each other successes’s and supporting each other through the process of eventually getting our work out into the world no matter the journey. I love to retweet fellow authors on PitMad days. Its about writers helping writers.

3. Its Fun!

The contest runs from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. eastern, and it is one hell of a wild ride! You can put out three pitches through out this time, and you are praying and hoping for an agent to like your pitch. This is how you know you have a “bite.” After the event is over, you will contact the agent that liked your pitch and go from there.

4. There are Success Stories

People have gotten agents and book contracts through this contest. There is a list of authors who have gotten their big break this way.

5. What is your Genre

Fiction is a big pool, no it is gargantuan! Knowing specifically what genre you write in, is critically important. Some agents only represent certain genres so make sure to include yours when you pitch. A full list can be found on the PitchWars Website. For example I fall into the #A (Adult) #R (Romance) and #RS (Romantic Suspense) categories.

6. Make Friends

I have met some great people with amazing pitches through this completion. We celebrate each other’s successes and support each other, when that elusive like isn’t gained.

7. You’d better be Ready

Last year, I broke the cardinal rule of #PitMad. On a whim I pitched a finished manuscript that wasn’t quite ready. The story was finished, and had been developmentally edited but it had not been copy edited. I put it out there and didn’t expect much. Just my luck, and to my joy and horror, I got a few legitimate likes from agents. In between jumping up and down and adversely feeling like I wanted to vomit, I put in a panicked call to my copyeditor practically begging for the fastest turn around ever! Learn from me folks- DON’T DO THIS.

8. It can be one hell of a confidence boost

When your pitch gets a like, it is the best feeling in the whole world. For me, I’ve participated a few times and not gotten a single like from an agent. Rather than feel deflated, I’ve channeled these feelings into ambition reminding myself that my writing is worth putting in the hard work. I get back to work, writing, editing and querying. There are no shortcuts to success… most of the time.

9. You’re Putting Your Work Out There

Just like a query letter, the right pitch only has to work once. At the end of the day, it’s all about putting your work out there.

10. Know what your book is really about

Twitter gives you 280 characters to pitch your book, and you’d better leave a few of those to include the #pitmad hashtag, and your genre. Nothing will help you truly know what your book is about like this!