We’ve had a great time celebrating successes this month. And, there’s more to come, but we all know success begins with a whole lotta work! Today, 12 x 12 member Darshana Khiani is sponsoring a giveaway to celebrate all of you who are putting in the work and submitting your manuscripts, but you haven’t seen that success come through…yet! Thank you, Darshana!

Picture books are a tough business. You need to be superb with your craft and then have some luck of your manuscript hitting the right editor at the right time. The only thing we can control is writing as many top-notch stories and getting them out there. So, it’s time to celebrate the journey — the persistence, the B.I.C., the learning, the hair-pulling moments. And having the courage to keep querying and continuously writing despite the rejections.

First, congrats to all of you for putting yourself out there whether it be sharing your stories for critiques, querying agents, entering contests, or subbing to publishers. You are all WRITERS that are “On Your Way”.

Because the journey to getting that first book deal can be twisty and arduous, I wanted to give a little something. In the spirit of celebrating milestone rejections, I am sponsoring two raffles for 12 x 12 members. Both contests will have the same prize pack. Contests are open to members in the United States. (If you are an international member, Darshana has opened a separate drawing in the FB Group HERE.)

The prize pack will include one inspirational writing craft book and a box of yummy goodies. The winner will choose one book from the following: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Hero is You by Kendra Levin, or On Writing by Stephen King.

The first contest is open to writers who do not have agent representation and are unpublished (may not have a book under contract) and have amassed at least 35 rejections over their lifetime.

The second contest is open to writers who are unpublished (may not have a book under contract) and have amassed at least 70 rejections over their lifetime. This is open to writers with and without agent representation.

The rejection count includes rejections to agents, publishers, and magazines. For the purposes of this contest, a “pass/no thanks/no reply” received for one or more manuscripts from a single query should be counted as a single rejection. Conversely, querying the same agent twice, but months or years apart should be counted as two rejections.

This contest is being run on the honor system, so no need to submit anything just enter the appropriate raffle if you meet the qualifications. If you qualify for both contests, then please only enter the second contest (70 rejections) to give everyone a fair chance.

The Rafflecopter will be open July 16-23, 2018. Winner will be announced the week of July 24th.

Best of luck to everyone in the query/submission trench in 2018!

Please only enter one Rafflecopter. If you qualify for both, please enter the 75 rejections drawing.

35 Rejections Raffle

If you are unpublished (with no book under contract), unagented, and have received 35 or more lifetime rejections, enter this Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

75 Rejections Raffle

If you are unpublished (with no book under contract) and have received 75 or more lifetime rejections, enter this Rafflecopter. (You may be agented or unagented to enter here.):

a Rafflecopter giveaway