I’ve been so excited to share this! I know it’s hard when you aren’t selected for a contest. It’s the only thing I really don’t like about being a #RevPit editor. I’m not used to making authors feel rejected, and I hate it so much. Last week, I asked how we, the whole #RevPit community, might better help people who struggle with feeling down after the contest. Just because it’s part of it doesn’t mean we can’t try to support each other.
Your answers were so inspiring, and some came up over and over: the need for feedback and support and hating to see the camaraderie go. You can see all the answers here
So I came up with #CampRevPit, a new way to give support to even more of the #RevPit community. #CampRevPit will provide new opportunities to get feedback, encouragement, and keep the games and support going. The goal is to help you keep working on your ms—with support—while the #RevPit author-editor pairs work on theirs. The biggest difference between #RevPit and #CampRevPit is that the camp is *author-led.* I assembled a team of about 50 volunteers, all authors from the #RevPit community, who will be managing camp activities, and I’m only acting as an advisor and supporter.
So what is #CampRevPit?
We aim to cover several areas to have something for everyone, regardless of where you are in your journey. The overall areas are:
Self-Care
I also asked previous participants last week how they’d advise people new to Twitter contests. Again, great responses with some recurring themes. You can see all the answers here.
Prompts and games
Follow the #CampRevPit hashtag to play along with Twitter games and writing prompts throughout each week! Click here to take you straight to the hashtag.
Positivity Passes
Need a pick-me-up? #CampRevPit is here for you! Sign up for a Positivity Pass and someone from our team will read your first 5 pages.
What’s a Positivity Pass? It’s is a critique without the negative. Someone goes through and comments on all the amazing things about your book.
Any issues, please email us!
Query critiques
Queries are such an important piece of the publishing puzzle. They’re our introduction to the important players, our handshake and our pitch. The Query Swap tent is where it’s at when it comes to these often perplexing parts of the writing adventure. We’ll find you the perfect query match, someone to swap queries with and to help you find the right trail to query perfection. Bring your compass and be ready to lend a hand!
First pages critiques
Looking for an extra set of eyes on your first five pages? Interested in a possible CP match? Fill out our form with info about you and your work, and we will match you with another writer to swap critiques on your first five pages. Sign up by the end of Sunday (5/9) and we will try to email your match within the week.
Cabins (aka writing group chats)
In the cabins, our focus is keeping people writing. The cabin counselors will be responsible for keeping their teams motivated and accountable by tallying the daily totals for their members. Campers will be evenly divided between the 5 camp counselor cabins or equally as fairly based on how people are calculating their totals. Whoever has the most progress at the end of the set time frame will get bragging rights & a certificate to post on Twitter that they won the #CampRevPit #CamperCabin.
We are already accepting entries for our first run, you can find the sign up form until May 9, 2020. Our first Camp will run from May 10, 2020 – May 23, 2020. We will be adding additional camps if there is enough interest going forward. Info to follow as it’s made available.
For questions about the Cabins, please contact @CM_Fick on Twitter.
There will be more information coming from the leaders (Counselors) in the coming days. Watch the #CampRevPit feed for details, plus fun ways for you to keep connecting with the #RevPit community.
Graphics by Megan VanDyke and Melody Haaf
