Synopsis

I have my first pitch session with the editor of a major publishing house on Saturday and until today I wasn't particularly nervous or anxious about it. Now, I can barely hold myself together. I'm on pins and needles.

I wrote a synopsis for "A Murderous Dispatch," which is what I am pitching, and a fellow writer politely said it was a mess. Workable but a mess. It has all the elements there but it is slow. It doesn't impress as a piece of writing.

I believe i can correct that. I just have to remember what excites me about the story.

A fellow local SinC member said I should make it as good as I can but that the oral presentation is where I have to nail it. The editor won't have a lot of time to read the synopsis anyway.

So I feel caught and unprepared for perhaps the most important 10-minute meeting I have ever had as a writer, certainly as a fiction writer. What do I say to break out of the crowd? What will ring true to her? What is it about my story, my novel, that will resonate in her mind?

I don't have the exact answer to those questions. And I'm not sure I will ever have the answers. But I know the story, I have lived the story for more than a year. I feel passionate about it. It's a good read.

So I just need to relax, say what I know in a clear and concise way and leave her wanting more.

I can do that!

(Oh my gosh, I had better practice all day tomorrow!!!!!)

Thanks for reading. Wish me luck and don't give up on writing.