Writers' Conference: Day 1 Continued

Yesterday was the first day of the conference. In the past, I've gone to conferences thinking "I know this stuff already. This isn't helping me."

I don't know whether this conference has much better classes or whether I'm just more committed to extracting every iota of information I can possibly get. For whatever reason, this time around my attitude has been "I'm paying for this, so you're going to answer my questions, dammit!"

The first great lesson came from the editor in chief of St. Martin's Press, who's a sort of nebbish-y looking little guy who was constantly on the verge of losing his voice. But in talking to him one-on-one, he was really great and helpful. I told him about the catch 22 that I find myself in - many agents won't consider you until you have a publishing deal in hand, but most publishers won't consider you until you have an agent.

What he said was brilliant - editors at publishing houses are people just like everyone else. They're looking for the thing that's going to indicate to them that a given manuscript is worth reading, so the thing to do if you can't get an agent is to get anyone you know who's a writer and have THEM read your work and give it a recommendation. If you can say in your cover letter "My dear friend John Grisham read my book and said that it was the best-written three-hanky romance EVER." I also got to spend a lot of time talking to Michael Stackpole about writing science fiction and fantasy. He basically said the same thing - it's all about your network.

Now, this is where my mother comes in. I don't know anyone who's already got a book deal, and if I did, they'd probably immediately stop talking to me because they're too important. On the other hand, my MOTHER knows everyone! She said it'd be no sweat to get my stuff in front of a whole bunch of people who'll just love it and who will gladly write blurbs for it.

The amazing thing about this conference is that I've been downright schmoozy! Talking to people I don't even know like..well, like I don't even know them but they're going to answer my question or me and my shrub of a head aren't leaving. I talked to a woman who wrote an opera about Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding that was put on in New York and is now going to Oregon this season. She was excited to learn that I've written a treatment, and gave me lots of great ideas for finding a composer.

I ended the day feeling like I'd made enormously great use of my time and really invigorated for another go-round.