Don't You Love a Good Success Story? Meet Breezer Catherine Black!

It's been a few weeks since the Southern Breeze Writing Contest ended for our members, but for PAL judges and the professional judges, the work is just beginning. For the next couple of months, the hard task of choosing winners will be decided. Come the chill of November, our winners will be announced and then...well, then what happens?

What happens next is up to each member. Last week, we heard from Catherine Black, a member who won the Southern Breeze Writing Contest and she had big news about what happened next for her!

SB: Catherine, we're so glad you contacted us! When did you win the contest and what category did you place in?

CB: Hi! I’m excited to share this with all my Breezers. I won first place in the YA fiction contest in 2016.

SB: So when you got the results, what's the first thing you did? (Or maybe I should ask what did you do AFTER the celebration?)

CB: I had been querying that manuscript for a while, and I was using the SCBWI competition as a way to tell myself if I was crazy for seeking publication or not with this book. I was so thrilled that the manuscript won that I told myself not to give up and that I would keep at it till I found a publisher! Winning that competition was like adding wood to a fire that was getting low. I needed it!

SB: I love that image, Catherine! Now you're all fueled up and your journey with this manuscript began. Tell us how you got from winner to published author.

CB: After winning (I was so excited and humbled and thankful!), I continued querying the manuscript, but I was able to include the wonderful little line about it winning an award. I had some good feedback on it, but no offers. I kept submitting. I tweaked the story here and there. I was teaching full time, so things were going slowly. But one day I discovered the world of PitMad and that’s when things changed. I submitted a pitch as a Tweet to a group of small publishers. That Tweet led to my contract! I never would have guessed Twitter would have been the gateway, but it was! 

SB: And here's where you tell us a little about your YA novel. What's the hook that sold it?

CB: Here’s the Tweet that led to the contract: Confined to a research facility where she must share her mind with others, sixteen-year-old Valeria escapes into the city only to find that her genius in the lab is useless on the streets. Here’s the back-cover copy:

V is a genius. She also frequently forgets her own name. Raised to put science over self, V must link her brain with fifteen other people, making her one of the world’s smartest humans. With this privilege comes a life dedicated to continual research inside a secluded facility, a life devoid of freedom. But she is losing her identity, unable to predict which face will peer back at her from the nearest mirror. Escaping this life will mean freedom to think for herself, but it will mean abandoning everything she’s ever known, ever loved. Will it be worth it? 

SB: Sounds intriguing, Catherine, and all your work was certainly worth it for you! What's next for you? Are you still entering contests or too busy writing your next YA?

CB: Both! I am finished with a new YA fantasy (the love of my life) and I submitted it to the contest just last month. We’ll see! I am also nose deep in getting things ready for Mind of Mine to release in less than a month! 


See what happens when you get involved in all that SCBWI Southern Breeze has to offer? And we’re offering big congratulations to Catherine for her soaring success—and if you have a success that SCBWI Southern Breeze had a hand in, let us know. We love sharing a good success story!