So You're Going to a Writing Conference...

It's conference season. Some of you might have gone to LTUE or ANWA, or you might be heading out to some of the conferences this summer. Some of you may be gearing up for Storymakers. Some of you might even be going for the very first time.

And if you're going for the very first time, you might be wondering what to expect. 

Never fear. I have been to one whole conference and am here to help you. 

Yes. One whole conference. My wisdom is astounding. Nevertheless, these are the things I learned while preparing for and attending my first-ever writing conference. You can benefit from my experiences. Somebody might as well...

First, I learned writers have a different dress code than most people. When I first asked what I should wear, people unanimously responded "Business Casual." I worked in banking for eight years, and I learned that "business casual" meant you didn't need to wear a button-up and a jacket. One or the other was fine: either a jacket over a cami, or a button-up with no jacket. And your shoes could be open-toe. That's how I defined business casual.

Silly me.

When writers say "business casual" though, they mean jeans, little-nicer-than-a-tee-shirt shirts, maybe a cardigan. A cotton dress, maybe? Someone responded by saying she was going to bring her "dressy clogs" and I don't know what that means, but by golly it's a lot better than what I had been planning to wear on my feet.

So when you're packing for a conference, make sure you'll be comfortable, respectable, and look like you want to be taken seriously. Well-fitted jeans, a nice (not dressy) top, slacks, polo shirts. That kind of stuff.

Second, I learned you walk a lot at conferences. You stand in lines and you walk to and from classes and you peruse the bookstore and you wait for people and oh my gosh are your feet going to be sore. I opted for my cowgirl boots, and it was the best decision I ever made. Not as casual as my cross-trainers, but just as comfy. Converse sneakers are popular, as are the aforementioned dressy clogs (I learned what they are through my powers of observation).

Bottom line on shoes: Be comfortable while still maintaining an air of professionalism, while knowing that "professionals" in this field sit at home in yoga pants for most of their career. I have strong opinions about this, but I don't want to be torn apart in comments, so I will leave it at that.

Third, I learned I had no idea what my book was about. People will ask you what you're writing. If you take more than eleven seconds to answer that question or use the phrase "and then there's this...", they will stop listening to you. Create a pithy logline (even if it's a gross oversimplification) to use in quick conversations with people in the halls or while classes are gathering. Examples:

It's a dark adaptation of Mean Girls meets Groundhog Day. 

It's a time travel story of a modern black woman who keeps being yanked back to the ante bellum South. 

It's about a wizard boarding school in modern-day England. 

Once you have your cute logline, come up with a quick, thirty-second description for the people who genuinely look interested. Include your genre, category, and a comp title or two, or what sets it apart from "all the other books just like it". And don't kid yourself, at least one person will suggest that there are a thousand books just like yours, no matter how creative your idea is.

After you've given your quick spiels, ask the other person about their book. I promise you, at least once, you'll think "Holy crap, that's the best book idea ever, why didn't I think of that???" and you'll be genuinely happy for the person you're talking to when that happens.

Fourth, I learned people at conferences really, genuinely want to help you. It's weird. But we all seem to really want to help our competition. Experienced writers will sit and brainstorm with you, people who are on the path to publication will share ideas and hacks and point you in the direction of the best instructors. The classes are full - FULL - of so much information your head will want to burst from all the awesome. Agents and editors will sit on panels, answering questions and giving a peek into their process, and they are doing it just because they want to see you succeed.

That's incredible.

That's wonderful.

And that's what makes this community of writers so freaking awesome.

She Winds Up, and Here's the Pitch!

I was thrilled when circumstances arranged themselves so I could attend the ANWA conference this past weekend. It was fabulous and so much fun. I highly recommend it, as do the agents and editor we met. They all said in one form or another that attending conferences, getting to know the prospective authors, HEARING PITCHES of their works is why they go. They want to discover the next Stephenie Meyer or J.K. Rowling as much as we want to be discovered. So if you can, GO!

Like I said, there were pitches of novels and picture books and middle grades going on all over the place. But not by me. Though I hadn't attended a conferences for several years, I remembered from the last one that those professionals really want you to come in with finish manuscripts back at home, as polished as you can make them. And I didn't have anything ready. Not even close. I was going just to learn, not to look for anything beyond that.

So on Friday as I mingled and chatted and discussed, when the question arose, "Are you going to pitch?" my response was a laugh and a "No. I'm not anywhere close to being ready."

On Saturday I sat through classes and workshops without a care in the world while there was stress oozing out of all those poor suckers actually having to talk about their books to these industry heavyweights. Ha ha, I thought, at least I get to enjoy all of this without any worry about that an agent might say no to me.

As the morning classes ended, I went in search of my ANWA chapter cohorts. One of them had pitched to one editor first thing in the morning, while the other had the last slot before lunch. While we waited for her, the kind volunteer asked if I wanted to slip in right then, as the agent wanted to work through llunch. Again I laughed and said "Thanks but no thanks. I've nothing to pitch."

Here's where my plan fell apart. See, there were other writers at that conference. Other writers who were encouraging me to take the time slot, just go in and talk to her, to practice pitching, because even if my stuff wasn't finished, it would be done soon and I'd be pitching for real anyway, either by query or in person at another conference.

So caught up in the energy of it all, I heard myself blurt out "Sure, okay. Let's do it. Sign me up."
Luckily the agent was saved from me going in and rambling all over her because a wise member of the conference committee swooped in and made her eat lunch. That gave me time to actually sit down and WRITE the dang thing out. So over bites of Caesar salad, I took what I'd learned from the conference so far and whipped something out. I barely had time to run it past a few willing ears before it was my turn.

Only one butterfly had time to form before I went in. The agent was friendly and kind, complimenting my style and blouse. After about 30 seconds of chit chat, we got down to business. I told her it was YA urban fantasy, and even though I'd heard she wasn't really interested in fantasy, she said nothing about it and asked me to continue.

I apologized for reading my pitch (which you're not supposed to do), since I'd just written the dang thing. So here it is:

In REBORN, highschool seniors Iris Maat and Oscar Lightfeather are attracted by more than hormones: the reborn Egyptian dieties Isis and Osiris are caught in a web of love, jealosy, and murder as Set, the Lord of Chaos, hunts them down, determined to kill Osiris all over again. That he's Iris's boyfriend makes it all too easy.

I honestly didn't know what to expect. What I did not expect, however, was that she would ask me for a partial, or the first three chapters. I told her it was unfinished, and she said to send it after it was finished, but she still wanted to see it. (Just for the record this will undergo many more revisions. I'm just as surprised as you are that it got me a partial request.)


We talked about several things during the rest of my time, and she reiterated as I walked out that she wanted a partial. I left in a bit of a daze. What was I supposed to do now? Oh yeah. Finish the book.

Everyone else was so excited for me, but I could barely hear them over my voice screaming in my head "I have to finish it! I have to finish it! I have to finish it!"

So here I am, a few days removed, and I think the voices in my head have started to quiet down. As long as I'm writing, that is. If I write, they're quiet. Sooooooooo, I think I'll go write some more. Besides, I have to finish three books before this time next year. I know. Insanity. (Thanks tons, Jen.)

Muse Conference---Are You Here?

A few weeks ago both Nikki and I encouraged you all to sign up for the FREE online writers conference hosted by Muse-it-Up. I hope there are many of you here, wandering down the virtual halls with me. I was so excited. It's my first conference in forever, and I was really looking forward to it. But....life got in the way, so instead of being online all day, I'm getting to do little snippets here and there. There is one Workshop that I refuse to miss, however. The Book Factory, led by author Kerri Nelson. Even though we've just started, I thought I'd share the first thing she shared with us.

The first principle is breaking your day down into 15 minute increments, and finding 15 minutes here and there to dedicate to writing. The exercise she asked of us was to write down our day in 15 minute increments to see where we could squeeze out some more writing time.

So after fighting it all day yesterday and today, I finally wrote down what I did.


6 am- alarm #1 goes off. Hit snooze.


6:15 am- alarm #2 goes off. Hit snooze.


6:30 am- alarms #3 and #4 go off. Hit snooze. Twice.


7 am- wake up to my own voice screaming in my head, "Wake Up! You're going to be late!" Wake up 14 year old and 11 year old. 6 year old decides to wake up, so I send her in to snuggle with Daddy.


7:15 am- get dressed, encourage kids (loudly) to get up and get moving. Get breakfast for 14, try to get 11 to get into the shower.


7:35 am- rush 14 out the door to pick up rest of carpool. Leave 11 home, staring at the wall in a drowsy haze, still not in the shower.


8:10 am- get home from dropping of 14, rush 11 and 6 into clothes, hair done, breakfast eaten. (11 never did take a shower.)


8:35 am- take 11 and 6 to school.


8:50 am- still in the $#@! traffic getting my kids to school. Yes, they will be late.


9:00 am- get home and make breakfast for 4 year old and 3 year old while hubby takes a shower to prep for job interview.


9:15 am- do dishes while keeping 4 and 3 from killing each other and/or having a cereal fight. Try to get 3 to go to the bathroom (potty training).


9:30 am to 10:30 am- sit at computer and go through email, facebook, and blogs. Open Word and choose a project to work on. Close Word when 4 and 3 start screaming in the other room, and give up the computer to 4 so he will stop fighting with his brother. (It doesn't work, by the way, because 3 decides he wants the computer, too.) Try to get 3 to go to the bathroom.


10:30 am to 12:30 pm- variations on housework, kids, and cheering on hubby as he continues job search. Try to get 3 to...Sigh. Clean up after 3 has major blow out from refusing to go to the bathroom.


12:30 pm- make lunch and clean up from lunch, including the pile of melting ice from 3's enjoyment of the in door ice dispenser on the fridge. Try to get 3 to go to the bathroom


1:00 pm to 3:30 pm- variations on the mommy theme. Try to get 3 to go to the bathroom.


3:30 pm to 11:00 pm- welcome home kids, prep dinner, get kids started on homework, run 14 to choir practice carpool, have dinner, get kids to finish homework and do a job or two, send 14 to youth activity, send 11 to scouts, do dinner, get 3 little ones ready for bed, clean up 2nd poop accident of the day, still trying to get 14 and 11 to finish homework and go to bed, chase 6, 4, and 3 back into bed multiple times, finally get 14 and 11 to go to bed.


11:00 pm to 2:00 am: spend time with hubby, detoxing from day in front of computer watching a movie or TV show, send hubby to bed, think about writing, get disgusted with myself because I didn't write one blasted thing all day, open up Word and type two sentences before I fall asleep.


2:00 am- Wake up with a stiff neck and drool on my chin, stumble down the hall and crawl into bed.


Rinse and repeat.



If I give up one of these things, I find time to write. If I write, something (usually housework) goes to the bottom of the list. So I will never post pictures of my house. Ever.

Permission

I don't know how many of you know, but yesterday, August 10th, began something new in the writer conference world, Writeoncon. A bunch of kidlit authors got together (cyberly) and decided to create an online conference for kidlit authors. For free. They still have great speakers, agents, editors in the biz, everything you'd find at a regular conference...minus the hotel rooms and food that doesn't agree with you. It lasts through the 12th, so you've got a couple of days to catch up. I believe all the info will stay up for while after the conference, so if you can't make it right now, you'll be okay for a while.

Now living in Utah is usually a great place for kidlit and fantasy writers. There are many of us here, and we like to get together and chat and improve our networking and our writing skills. But because I had three kids in three years, plus the two older ones, I've been busy/out of money for conferences for a long time. I finally felt like my kids were old enough that I could do a conference, but they all coincided with times I would be out of town. And then the hubby lost his job, so now there's really no money for writing conferences. But I digress...

One of the speakers, Molly O’Neill, an associate editor with Katherine Tegen Books, gave a great presentation on giving yourself permission. Permission for what, you may ask. Permission for all kinds of things that can improve you as a writer. Take a look, and tell me that isn't the most inspirational list for a writer. If it wouldn't take so blasted long and take time away from writing, I just might needlepoint it on a pillow. So go ahead. Give Yourself Permission. Give yourself permission to take another couple of minutes and read something that will help open a new window in your writing. Just do it.

The one that was most powerful for me today? "Permission to write a scene or a story that might make certain people who love you shocked and surprised."  Tomorrow it might be another one, but this list of thirty empowering statements has been printed out and taped up next to my computer. I need that daily permission from myself to write what needs to be written by me. And I'm the only one who can tell the story the way it needs to be told. And so I give myself permission.

Go get your own.