What's Next?

I can't sit on my hands and do nothing. I could take up one of my other hobbies but that wouldn't fix my need to keep writing! 

I think the next step for me is to enter the query trenches. I am going to apply for #PitchWars. This is a mentoring program where writers help writers to improve their craft. 

I know that I've finished my book as much as I can do on my own, and I'm hoping that if I can get into #PitchWars and really make my novel shine. 

However, I might not get picked. With 70+ manuscripts for each mentor or mentor team, there are a lot of manuscripts that are either better than mine or that the mentor connects with more than mine and that's ok. 

If I'm not picked, I will enter the query trenches. A query is a letter/email you sent to an agent or publisher which pitches your book. The query consists of a short (200-300 words) blurb about the book, a bio and a personalised paragraph explaining why you've chosen to submit to that agent or publisher. If I get picked, I'll go into details about my pitch but as I've never been published or taken on as a writer by anyone, I doubt I'm in a good position to say what a good pitch is. 

It does take a while to get a rejection back from an agent or publisher (I've never had an acceptance so not sure how long it takes to have an acceptance back) so in the mean time, I'm going to be plotting book two in the series. 

I'm really excited about this because I wasn't sure if I should start my series with book 2 and have book 1 as a prequel but in the end I picked book 1 because I thought that goes towards what I'm trying to say, the message I'm trying to put across. I have had book 2 in my head for years and now I finally get to write it! 

I also had the final image of the series pop into my head. I don't know what inspired it. I was just idling one day this week and it flooded into my imagination. The end of the last book of the series is going to be absolutely epic. I can't wait! 

Another thing I need to do is plot the series! That's fairly important. I know book 2 is going to be about learning the new environment the character finds herself in. After that, book 3 is going to cover more of the wider environment that the character lives in, and include more of the galactic community. I think I just need to add some specifics into the plan so I know what's going to happen and add some foreshaddowing into book 2.