Winning and Losing: Two Writer-Friends Reflect

Back in March, my friend, Lorelei Savaryn (author of The Circus of Stolen Dreams and forthcoming The Edge of In Between and The Night Train) and I received some great writing news around the same time.

We wanted to share this reflection on friendship, perseverance, and patience here, now that that great news is (finally!) public!

Cat’s text will be in italics.

And Lorelei’s will be in bold!

—

Around 2017, I was one of many intrepid writers trying to get into a competitive and prestigious mentorship program. We were holding tight to our dreams of being published authors. We were praying for some help, and of course, for a win. 

During the interminable waiting - would we be chosen as mentees? - I tried to find some writing friends to give me strength. I scrolled through other YA Fantasy pitches and reached out to the ones who sounded cool. I got to swap chapters with some folks. People to give me awesome notes, people to encourage me, people who became friends (and, in the case of many, rockstar published authors!). 

That’s how I met Lorelei Savaryn. 

Her gorgeous aesthetics drew me in, and I loved the creepy, ethereal quality to her writing. She wrote a beautiful, dark fairytale. I had a book about a young woman whose magic bloomed flowers - I thought for sure this was an Adult fantasy I’d written (I was extremely wrong and this would not be the last time I accidentally wrote another age category). 

Neither one of us got into that mentorship contest that year.

I (Lorelei) noticed that Cat had received a full request from the same mentor I had, and in the wake of announcements, I sent her a message asking if she wanted to work together! We traded words, gave notes, and worked hard all year on our stories and our craft.

We tried again next year, Lorelei with a delicious, dark MG fantasy about a circus made of dreams - I told her immediately it was going to be a huge hit - and I had my flower magic fantasy, this time YA-ified. 

I got more requests that year than I had before.

And Lorelei got chosen! 

The grief of a no was short-lived in the thrill of a win for a dear friend. Writers, this is my biggest advice to you: find someone you can cheer for. Find someone who will celebrate with you when your time comes. And be the person who sees a fellow writer not as competition but as a friend who has earned something good. 

While she was revising with her mentors, I got to work revising with the help of notes from critique partners and some other mentors. Lorelei and I visited each other in Chicago, talking about our hopes for the future, hoping to get agents. 

While I was in Chicago, I threw out my first PitMad tweet for my flower magic book. I had low expectations, since I’d done poorly the first time I tried PitMad with an Adult Historical Fiction (back in the days of 180 characters, no less). 

My pitches blew up. I sent queries. I waited. 

We both waited.

And waited.

I (Lorelei) pretty much rewrote my entire MG story during the 4 month revision window. I had amazing mentors, and a blind optimism that was probably necessary considering how much I had to do and how little time I had to do it. My pitch made a strong showing in the agent showcase, and I began querying in earnest. It felt like forever at the time, but I had my first agent phone call 6 weeks after the showcase had finished. When all was said and done, I had 5 offers of representation and a difficult decision to make.

I signed with Chloe Seager of Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency in London, and it’s been such a cool ride since. My debut, The Circus of Stolen Dreams, sold in a two-book pre-empt to Penguin Random House’s Philomel imprint in May 2019 and released in Sept 2020. The second book in that deal is a creepy, magical Secret Garden retelling, and releases April 2022!

I’m going to fast-forward a little bit.

Past Catherine wished she could have fast forward.

Instead, time was sluggish and dark and teasing. Rejections. Stretches of silence. Wondering if I’d ever get published. Working on the next book, just in case. 

But I did get an agent. 

And my “just in case” book became my Middle Grade debut. 

My flower book, my heart book, sat on the sidelines, waiting, waiting, polishing and re-polishing. I had an amazing (llama)squad of cheerleaders, Lorelei especially, who loved my flower kids, who saw potential in them, who never let me give up hope. 

Slow, sluggish time. Waiting to be ready for sub.

Waiting on sub.

Waiting.

Rewind.

I’m 14 years old, and have fallen in love with the scrappy author, Kiera Cass, who chronicled her query journey on YouTube. I learned about literary agents, the waiting, the publishing process, because of her. Then, after so much trying, she had a book coming out with HarperTeen called The Selection. 

Needless to say, I became a huge fan of the book series - I felt like it was a friend’s book, and here it was in the world, and it was doing well, and I was so proud of this author I’d never met. She never gave up. She shared these characters she loved.

It was my biggest, wildest dream that I’d be published by HarperTeen someday.

Fast forward again, through high school, through SO MANY new manuscripts, through college, querying one book, trunking that book, meeting friends, meeting Lorelei, revising, failing, winning, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then - 

March 2021. I got an offer on my flower book. FLOWERHEART, a story of a girl with emotions so big they turn into flowers, will be out in Winter 2023, published by HarperTeen.

And my (Lorelei’s) editor picked up my option book, so I’ll have three books out in the middle grade space! THE NIGHT TRAIN is currently slated for Spring 2023, and I couldn’t be happier to be writing another book, and to be able to share this moment of celebration and reflection with Cat. We both didn’t get into Pitch Wars 2017 on the same day. Three and a half years later, we both accepted book deals with major publishers on the same day. Talk about full-circle!

Oh, and our next MG Fantasy books are going to come out a week apart! The adventure continues!!

About Us

Catherine Bakewell is a writer, artist, and an opera enthusiast. She has lived in Spain and in France, where she romped through gardens, ate pastries, and worked on her novels. She is represented by Jordan Hamessley at New Leaf Literary and Media, Inc.

Her debut MG Fantasy, WE ARE THE SONG, is available for pre-order on most online retailers, and releases April 12, 2022.

Her debut YA Fantasy, FLOWERHEART, releases Winter 2023. 

Lorelei Savaryn (loreleisavaryn.com) is an author of creepy, magical stories for children. She holds a BA in creative writing and is a former elementary teacher and instructional coach. When she isn’t writing, she spends her time amidst the beautiful chaos of life with her husband, four children, and dog outside of Chicago. She is the author of The Circus of Stolen Dreams and The Edge of In Between. You can follow her on Twitter @LoreleiSavaryn.