What a conference! The Emerald City Writers' Conference was the BUSIEST conference I've been to so far! Probably because this is the first conference where I've volunteered to work :) I enjoyed the work, but I found it challenging to get to any of the workshops. I was only able to attend a few: Allison Brennan, Jennifer Ashley, and Julia Quinn. I spent a lot of time pouring champagne up in the hospitality suite, chatting with out-of-towners and making new friends. GSRWA is an incredible chapter. Soooo many successful, motivated authors and all of them willing to help you realize your dream. I love them already!
The editors and agents held a panel discussion on Friday night after dinner and I enjoyed hearing the "other side" of the writing business. It's a funny thing: writers and publishers are dependent upon each other. Why is there such a big gap between them? Thank God for agents and editors! I didn't hear anything new from the panel, but it gave me a chance to get to know them each a little better. For instance, I found out that they're all human and not, in fact, superheroes. This cut the intimidation factor back quite a bit.
After agonizing over my pitch for a week, I finally decided to trust my own instincts. I found a short pitch that included the main plot points, encapsulated a bit of the tone of Err Apparent, and sounded like something I would say. I didn't trip over the words. The best news was that my appointment was with my first choice: Kevan Lyon of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency (The Sandra Dijkstra Agency!!! Diane Mott Davidson! Lisa See! Amy Tan! Need I say more?). That made my day. I'd already researched the SDLA and just needed to know how to get an appointment. So obviously, I was anxious to get an appointment with Kevan Lyon. Of all the editors and agents at the conference, she was THE fit for me considering Err Apparent is an urban mystery with a strong romantic element and Falling Short is a mainstream women's fiction with a small romantic element.
I realized rather quickly that it must be difficult for Kevan to remember any one person she sees at these group appointments. She immediately put us all at ease, and I breezed through my first pitch without any trouble. One drawback to the group pitch is you really don't get a chance to get to know each other at all. All I have to go on is the way she portrayed herself during the editor/agent panel and the few minutes during the group pitch.
She didn't do anything hideous; come to think of it, that's pretty much all she can say about me, too. Which is good.
I'm giving myself a week to polish the first 50 pages (again) and rewrite my synopsis. Currently, the synopsis is written as a series of notes for myself, so I have a bit of work to do to turn it into good reading material. As soon as I send that off, I need to finish the revisions to Err Apparent so I can start on the novel I pledged to write at Cherry Adair's Write the Damn Book challenge. Since Falling Short is going to take a complete rewrite (what else is new?), I figure it's the perfect book to write after Err Apparent is off to my trusted beta readers.
Motivational tip of the day: Cherry Adair said, "If you can't write a page a day, what the hell are you doing at this conference?" I have soooo many ideas for other stories, so it's tempting to start something new, especially after a conference when you feel like anything is possible. Work on three novels at once? Sure! Why not? Alas, I make notes and write random scenes to save for later.
November is coming...NaNoWriMo...Allison Brennan made me feel better about the way I write my novels. She said it takes her 300,000 words to write a 100,000 word book. I'm glad I'm not the only writer who has to write organically. My short stories are always that way; why did I think novels would be any different?
Back to work, polishing and rewriting.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
ECWC Conference
I'm off to the Emerald City Writer's Conference in the morning. An entire weekend, devoted to writing! I get to stow my other hats in the closet and just be a writer. Wow!
This week, I've been working on my pitch for Err Apparent. Had I known the pitch would be so difficult to write, I'd have started a month ago! I think some writers find the pitch or query very easy to do, but for most of us, it's agony.
to be blunt, it's been a learning process for me. I've had to think about what is at the core of my story, and what makes my story unique. I'm a panster, not a plotter, so I don't have a detailed outline or long synopsis. I have...well, I have the story. What else do I need? LOL!
With the help of my WIP group (Writers in Progress), my one-sentence blurb has gone from "an urban romantic mystery about a woman who works at an art gallery who is framed for the murder of a wealthy gallery client" (blech) to "Framed as a murderer, gallery assistant Rebecca Allyn needs to redraw the lines between herself and her politician father, and paint the cop she dare not love out of the picture."
You see what I mean about the learning experience ;)
This week, I've been working on my pitch for Err Apparent. Had I known the pitch would be so difficult to write, I'd have started a month ago! I think some writers find the pitch or query very easy to do, but for most of us, it's agony.
to be blunt, it's been a learning process for me. I've had to think about what is at the core of my story, and what makes my story unique. I'm a panster, not a plotter, so I don't have a detailed outline or long synopsis. I have...well, I have the story. What else do I need? LOL!
With the help of my WIP group (Writers in Progress), my one-sentence blurb has gone from "an urban romantic mystery about a woman who works at an art gallery who is framed for the murder of a wealthy gallery client" (blech) to "Framed as a murderer, gallery assistant Rebecca Allyn needs to redraw the lines between herself and her politician father, and paint the cop she dare not love out of the picture."
You see what I mean about the learning experience ;)
I'll try to post my two-minute elevator pitch, but I keep changing it - again, with the help of the WIPpettes.
Off to pack and tweak my pitch and then try to get some sleep. Conferences are so exciting! But I will miss my dear friends Madison Leigh and Viansa Blake. They were so much fun at the NECRWA conference.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
These things sneak up on you
The revisions are going much more slowly than I'd hoped, but I should give myself some credit for all the muddling-through I've done. I now have 8 chapters that are clean and revised to the plot changes. Considering what I've gone through since May, I guess I should give myself a bit of grace. But I discovered that there was something getting in my way of the revisions: ME.
See, I guess I didn't give myself any time to actually absorb the losses of my parents. I kept skimming over the emotional drama, focusing on what needed to be done. I kept myself busy, in family life and writing life, working on the plot of my novel, honing character goals, zooming in on the conflict and story arc. All very good avoidance techniques. I've LOOKED like I was handling my losses. I've talked about handling them, but I just kept going and going and going and finally, I couldn't cope, emotionally. Classic, huh?
Today, I feel like I'm getting my life back together. Funny thing is, I wasn't aware that it was falling apart. Being a writer, I wrote my way through it: I opened a vein and bleed on the page. It helped.
My first hurdle was to accept that I am not ready to find an agent to sign with and that's not the end of the world. I imagine it's okay if I use the group agent appointment as a learning experience, a practice run, a place to learn about the business end of the craft. I'll ask if it's okay to pitch my story, just for practice.
I'm very excited to be attending the Emerald City Writer's Conference Oct 10-12th! Everyone I've met from the GSRWA has been delightful, funny, enthusiastic, and successful --- ohmygosh these writers are driven! They are a motivating bunch. I don't write romances (although my stories all seem to have a relationship at the heart), but if you want to learn the business of writing and selling novels, the best place to start learning is to become a member of RWA and start attending chapter meetings and conferences. These writers know the ins and outs of the craft, and they are the most welcoming and FUN bunch of writers you'll ever meet.
See, I guess I didn't give myself any time to actually absorb the losses of my parents. I kept skimming over the emotional drama, focusing on what needed to be done. I kept myself busy, in family life and writing life, working on the plot of my novel, honing character goals, zooming in on the conflict and story arc. All very good avoidance techniques. I've LOOKED like I was handling my losses. I've talked about handling them, but I just kept going and going and going and finally, I couldn't cope, emotionally. Classic, huh?
Today, I feel like I'm getting my life back together. Funny thing is, I wasn't aware that it was falling apart. Being a writer, I wrote my way through it: I opened a vein and bleed on the page. It helped.
My first hurdle was to accept that I am not ready to find an agent to sign with and that's not the end of the world. I imagine it's okay if I use the group agent appointment as a learning experience, a practice run, a place to learn about the business end of the craft. I'll ask if it's okay to pitch my story, just for practice.
I'm very excited to be attending the Emerald City Writer's Conference Oct 10-12th! Everyone I've met from the GSRWA has been delightful, funny, enthusiastic, and successful --- ohmygosh these writers are driven! They are a motivating bunch. I don't write romances (although my stories all seem to have a relationship at the heart), but if you want to learn the business of writing and selling novels, the best place to start learning is to become a member of RWA and start attending chapter meetings and conferences. These writers know the ins and outs of the craft, and they are the most welcoming and FUN bunch of writers you'll ever meet.
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