The official mentoring element of the 2022 PBChat Mentorship experience has come to an end. My relationship with my mentor, Ana Siqueira, isn’t over. And the showcase is still coming up. But for now, I wanted to reflect on what I’ve learned during this amazing 3-month mentorship. For anyone unfamiliar with the PBChat Mentorship, you can find out more on Justin Colón’s website.

1. It’s Not Fully Polished Until It’s Published.

I went into the mentorship with four manuscripts I considered polished. All four had been revised based on my own thoughts and my critique groups’ thoughts. Admittedly, one of these was my main querying manuscript, which hadn’t received any agent bites when I queried last year. So, I did consider that one “mostly” polished going into the mentorship, since I knew something about it wasn’t working for agents.

During our three months together, Ana and I polished these four manuscripts and two others. All four of the polished manuscripts have gone through quite a bit of revision. In two of them, I had to kill some darlings. In another, it has a whole new opening and ending. So now, they are once again considered “polished.” [For more context, the fifth went through a complete re-write and the sixth was a miracle manuscript that I write more about in Takeaway 4.]

In addition to all of that, here’s the moment that made this my top takeaway: One of my manuscripts was considered polished by Ana and I. And my critique group. Then, I received a critique of it by another writer because of a Twitter exchange. This new reader had a few small detail suggestions, mainly related to cutting a word here or there. But they also had two larger suggestions: combining two page spreads to make room for an additional final spread and switching the narrative from third person to first.

So, I experimented. Showed Ana the two new versions. We decided the first person POV works better. Ana also had an additional suggestion for the new final spread and I tweaked it into something we both really love.

What was polished a week ago is now polished once again. But now it has a new ending and is told in a new point of view. Down the line, I’m sure my agent will have their own suggestions and the editor their own, as well. [Thinking positive thoughts about having an agent and editor eventually.]

So, it’s not fully polished until it’s published. This mentorship has made that really clear.

2. Kill Your Darlings, But Slowly.

As I mentioned in my first takeaway, I killed my darlings in two of my manuscripts. In one, I said goodbye to Mami, Papi, and Abuela. In another, I said goodbye to Mami. I’m someone who writes a lot about family experiences, and usually, that’s a good thing. But in these two cases, the stories became much more streamlined once I removed the extra characters. In the first case, it’s all about the main character; having so many others pop up negatively affected the pacing and the reader connection to the main character. In the second case, making it a story about a single father and his son really ups the emotional resonance of the story.

But, I couldn’t just kill my darlings from one moment to the next. “Slowly” was the key. When Ana suggested these major changes, I created two versions. One with other revisions completed but not darling murder. And one with all my darlings gone. I read them to myself, to my parents, to my brother and sister-in-law, and to myself again. Before Ana even got back to me with feedback on the two versions, I had realized that the more streamlined ones were the better ones. The two-versions approach really helped me feel the difference.

Keep in mind, I’m not saying you should always kill your darlings because your mentor or critique partner suggests it. In a third manuscript, Ana had some suggestions that were in kill your darlings territory. I made some updates on the manuscript based on that specific feedback, but I didn’t actually kill any of those darlings. This manuscript ended up as Ana’s second favorite by the end of the mentorship! She was completely okay with my decision to keep the new and improved darlings and we ended up with a version we both really love.

3. Sometimes, A Complete Re-Write is Necessary.

Ana asked for three manuscripts at the beginning of the mentorship. I sent two polished ones and one that I loved but that was still a work in progress (WIP). When we met on Zoom to discuss these three manuscripts, Ana suggested a complete re-write of the WIP. The heart of the story shouldn’t change, nor the main characters. But she suggested a completely new approach to this story. And it was such a great idea.

So, I completely rewrote it. My critique group loved it and Ana didn’t have any major suggestions for the new version (just minor ones) before considering it polished. [Note, it’s the one that became further polished after the Twitter exchange critique. And the one where I didn’t kill my darlings.]

In this case, the story was a WIP. I wasn’t hurt or overwhelmed by the suggestion of completely rewriting it. If it was a polished story, it probably would have been more of a struggle. But in the end, the takeaway stands.

4. Sometimes, A First Draft is Almost a Polished Draft.

One WIP manuscript received a complete re-write. True. However, I had quite a different experience with my sixth manuscript. I wrote it during the last month of the mentorship. I literally drafted and revised it in one afternoon. I sent Ana “Version 1” of this manuscript. It was so different from my usual style, I wanted to get her thoughts on it ASAP. [For context, the next “youngest” manuscript I sent her was on version 4, with the oldest being on version 21.]

Ana had one suggestion when giving feedback on this manuscript.

ONE.

I revised the one scene, sent the new version to her, and that was it. Polished. [For now. See Takeaway 1.]

That had never happened before. It will probably never happen again. But it’s possible.

Imposter syndrome can be a major issue for aspiring authors. An experience like this one helped me acknowledge how much I’ve grown as a writer since I first started writing and since the mentorship began.

5. Writing Community is Everything.

Alone, we can only go so far in revising our writing. In thinking up amazing ideas. In knowing what our next steps should be.

Having a mentor like Ana to work on these manuscripts with (and pitches and query letters) was life-changing. Having Justin scheduling workshops and offering office hours was incredible. Having a mentee Slack channel where we could discuss our joys and struggles and set up mentee chats was uplifting.

But even if you don’t apply for or get chosen for mentorships, find fellow writers to form critique groups or partnerships with. Join communities like SCBWI and 12×12. Check out Twitter and take part in critique giveaways and writing contests. Follow the #WritingCommunity hashtag and post your own tweets.

With others by our sides, helping us and cheering us on, we can succeed.

Showcase Experience

The showcase is done! How’d it go?

Agent Requests: 3

Editor Requests: 2

Yay! I’ve officially started the querying process. I queried showcase agents and pitch-party-like agents, plus sent a couple cold queries, as well. I wanted a bit of a mix for my first batch. Now, to constantly check my inbox as I wait for responses…