Writing Conference: Friday Night

Dear Diary,

Today was AWESOME! Morning critique group was, as usual, very helpful. Then, I got to go to lunch with Janette Rallison! How, do you ask? She is from Arizona, but her very beautiful daughter is a single BYU student. My friend and conference attending buddy Erin's cousin is a very good looking and sweet single BYU student. The lunch was a setup for the two. So much fun!

Then, I got to attend James Dashner's presentation. I feel like we are old friends.

Love,

Fired Up on Friday

Writing Conference: Thursday Night

Dear Diary,

Today was so much fun. Everyone was so much more relaxed and easy going and chatty. I chatted with an agent (a San Diego native who's lived in NY almost all of her adult life) about her--- get this--- shopping trip to both local D.I. stores the night before! I chatted with James Dashner, who not only remembered that we've met (several times, actually), but remembered where he knew me from. And later he gave me an arm squeeze.

The best part? I almost single-handedly talked Tracy and Laura Hickman into singing a duet of the freeze ray song from Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog. How cool would that be? They didn't today, but I can tell that they wanted to. I have full confidence that they will perform for us tomorrow.

Love,

Tickled on Thursday

Writing Conference: Wednesday Night

Dear Diary,

My brain is crammed so full it hurts. It might even burst open before long. For the past three days (really? That's all it's been?), I've spent from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm critiquing 10 pages of 8 different people's manuscripts and hearing instructions and advice from my author/mentor. Then I spend the next 4 1/2 hours listening and asking questions to authors/editors/agents about how to increase my chances of getting published. By the time 5:00 rolls around, I'm very much in need of a soft, dark, quiet place. So, I come home and be a mom and wife for five hours, then read 6 more manuscripts, then edit and print my own 10 page section, and then go to bed at a time of the night morning that my body certainly doesn't agree with.

I think it might be slowly killing me.

Love,

Worn out on Wednesday

Writing Conference: Tuesday Night

Dear Diary,

I met two editors who were the cat's meow today. Very non-intimidating. They both eased my trepidation towards editors in a big way. And, I can send one a partial, and the other my complete manuscript! So very beyond cool.

My workshop group read my prologue and first chapter today, and they loved it! Wahoo! Totally made my day. I knew very well that there was a problem with my first chapter, I just couldn't for the life of me figure out how to fix it. The incomparable author-mentor Claudia Mills told me just what I should do. She's a genius! I'm beyond grateful and will definitely have to hug her.

Today was a good day.

Love,

Terrific on Tuesday

Writing Conference: Monday Night

Dear Diary,

The conference wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Apparently, I get a bye on the whole pitch thing! What does that mean, exactly?

Well, there are basically three steps to getting published. First, you send a query letter. If that sounds interesting to them, they ask for a partial, or the first three chapters of your book. If they like that, they ask for the whole manuscript. Getting past the query letter part is hard. By going to this conference, a very nice editor is letting us skip the query letter part, and go straight to the partial! No pitch needed. Whew! Of course, she also mentioned that her publisher gets 10,000 partials a year, and 35 get published. We aren't going to dwell on those kind of odds, though.

Oh, and remember how last time, I had a hard time not giving authors a hug that were so good at sharing their expertise? Well, this time, a giant in his field, Tracy Hickman gave ME a hug! Pretty darn cool.

Love,

More Relaxed on Monday

Writing Conference: Sunday Night

Dear Diary,

I wrote a query letter today. A query letter is a one page cover-letterish document in which you have two small paragraphs to tell enough about your book, that an editor or agent just can't stand to not ask to see more. Fairly daunting, if you ask me.

For months I have been dreading writing it. I have put it off until it can't be put off any longer. I told myself that if I'd just sit down and do it, it wouldn't be as hard as I imagined it would be.

It was harder.

There's no way I can show this thing to them.

So I moved on to the pitch.

I told my kids that I needed to pitch my book to them, first to Cory and Alecia, and then to Kyle. I said the word "um" no less than 17 times during each pitch, and "oh, wait!" followed by some part I forgot several more times. How am I going to do it in front of major New York based professionals when I can't do it in front of an audience who thinks that pretty much anything I pitch is golden?

Love,

Stressed out on Sunday