Well, it’s over. Finished. Done. Pitch Madness is no more. The final results have been announced, requests are being prepared and sent, and after the #PitMad Twitter pitch party on Thursday, the hashtag will trickle to nothing.

Except…it’s not REALLY over. I mean, I was out of the running last Friday. But honestly, the disappointment was only slight. Why? Because I got SO MUCH MORE out of this contest than I ever expected. If I had made the finals, it would have just been gravy. (Except I don’t really like gravy, weird, I know, so maybe “it would have just been the icing on the cake” is a better cliche to use in this instance.) This is only the second contest I entered, but as long as I am unagented, I will continue to participate in events like this, if for no other reason than the connections I can make.

Here’s what I got from Pitch Madness:
– Lots of new Twitter friends
– Some FABULOUS new CPs, who have already ripped my query and synopsis to shreds, which is a very good thing
– Valuable advice from fellow writers, agents, editors, etc
– Hours of laughter and fun and new inside jokes with people I’ve never met

Each of those things is priceless on its own, but together, I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot. Just that much further up the magical yellow brick road to the Oz of being published. The journey is much more enjoyable when done with friends. And singing. And skipping.

So while at times the waiting for Pitch Madness results almost drove me to actual madness, I had a lot of fun along the way. I am once again excited about my MS and jumping back into the query pool, and this time, it’ll be a party.

One last thing. The constant theme during Pitch Madness was NEVER GIVE UP. I loved that. The organizers and hosts and slush readers were all so helpful and supportive, because they’ve all been in our position before, and they genuinely WANT each of us to make it. With that kind of support, I couldn’t even think of giving up.