After our inagural B*tch & Submit in late September, Megan and I took some time to reflect on how much it meant to us (thank you to all the Pitch Witches who gathered! srsly, thank you!), and to dream big about our next Pitch Series.
CLAIRE: We had such a lovely time at the inaugural B*tch & Submit, right? It felt celebratory, supportive, and magical. When did we first think to do this? Do you remember? Why was this important to us to put together?
Scoping out the venue + talking about our WIPs.
MEGAN: I know you had the initial idea. I think it was sometime in the spring, probably after your Spring Creative Commitment had finished up. My memory is that it was one of those off-the-cuff things that was born from us talking through our own querying/submitting issues and being like: we should be having these talks on a bigger scale.
Writing is ultimately a solo activity, even if you get together for co-writing.
It’s always you and the page when it comes down to it. But I think you and I quickly realized through our own experiences that the act of getting published really has to be a team effort. There is so much support you need from others. There’s the practical stuff (critiquing and sharing of resources, etc), but even more important is the mental/emotional support. This year in particular has been rough for writers who are putting their work out there, so the timing felt right.
Waiting for our fellow Pitch Witches to arrive!
My questions to you…
Why do you think getting together in person is important versus just doing a virtual gathering? What do we want writers to take away from an event like this?
CLAIRE: Cheers to that, hell yes, amen. What an absolute gift it is that you and I can share random issues/questions/complaints/quandaries with one another and not feel out of our depth or, dare I say, whiny? We know we will feel seen. You and I are lucky to have that relationship with both each other and our writers group—writers who are working in different genres and at different stages, but all know the keen sting of rejection and the persistent feeling that you’re not quite where you're supposed to be.
We are here to remind each other that our stories have value and our work is needed and we believe in one another.
I think you and I really want to share that magic with others.
Which brings me to your questions....
Gleeful conversations at the B*tch & Submit.
I get a lot of requests for in-person offerings, but as most folks know, a quiet classroom space comes at a premium in this town (unless you've inherited a retreat space, and if so, I love that for you). Gathering for an informal but invaluable conversation at Central Machine Works felt like the perfect way to embrace that in-person energy—vibrant, spontaneous, and rich with laughter—while knowing that we can continue that learning via the virtual Pitch Series. That class will have writers in every time zone, right? What a privilege to work with both far-flung storytellers as well as writers in our own city.
I think we want writers to walk away from either the in-person or virtual conversation with renewed confidence to keep writing and sharing their work, plus the courage to return to community for support when they find themselves in a solitary tailspin.
And speaking of the Pitch Series, why not conclude with our hopes and dreams for that? I know we’ve had new ideas brewing [schedules calendar reminder to update shared doc].
What are you hoping this next iteration of the class will bring?
MEGAN: There are 3 things that are at the heart of what we want the pitch series to do:
1. Empower authors so that they feel like they have all the skills they need to successfully pitch their work in various formats
2. Turn pitching into a loud celebration instead of a set of tedious steps to follow
3. Foster joy and excitement and hope around the whole process because it’s something we have to do over and over FOREVER
Each time we do it, I love finding new ways to achieve those things. And the pitching landscape is always changing a bit too, so I’m constantly looking for ways to evolve it and keep it fresh. I think this next one is going to hit harder than any we’ve done before.
Our mascot: the Pitch Witch at her coziest.
CLAIRE: Agreed. And I think you and I both have been experimenting with pitch language in our new projects—particularly with your first Act, right? And me with some genre-bendy stuff that I’m just unclear on where it lives, both in the world and in my brain. We’ve found ourselves returning to initial pitches/summations and sort-of creative kernels of wisdom that serve as a kind of compass when we get lost in our own drafting and revision.
The pitches have been our guides, our anchors.
I want that for other writers, too, whether they plan to submit work traditionally, publish independently, or perform work in new/and or weird + cool ways.
Any final thoughts?
MEGAN: I’m glad you brought up how we’re both wrestling with pitch language alongside drafting and conceptualizing. It’s easy to relegate pitching to the thing you do at the end, but what we’ve both found time and again is that the pitch is the heart of your novel’s circulatory system—everything flows from it.
So often the answer to larger systemic problems in your work can be solved by going back to the pitch.
The way I think about pitching has changed so much over the years. Now it’s like a sacred, necessary practice. So, you know, come join our pitch coven.
CLAIRE: So mote it be.