Conference Wrap-Up

I had planned to blog the conference a day at a time, but that didn't happen because it was 13+ hours a day for four days, after which I got up at bitch o'clock and boarded a plane for home. I had writing assignments and reading and lots to think about, so blogging just didn't end up happening. Neither did sleeping. And precious little eating (the food was atrocious).

On the other hand, I did a huge amount of learning, and a ton of re-thinking much of what I've already done. While I'm happy with my writing as a whole, I know that I can do better.

Some highlights:

• Editing seminar with Betty Webb left me with a much more effective method for manuscript editing that I believe will solve many problems


• Kevin McIlvoy is amazing, both as a writer and as a teacher. His seminar on writing with humor was easily the best I've ever heard.


• I now have some excellent ideas about how to get my work noticed by agents and publishers.


• I also have a much better handle on how to make a living as a writer apart from the income generated by just writing books (thanks, Tania Katan!).


• I met another opera writer who gave me some invaluable advice for completing my libretto and getting my opera put on.


• The proportion of authors to participants was extremely high, which meant that a lot of the authors were actually students in one lecture or another, which was GREAT! It also meant that they were really available if you wanted to talk to them during breaks.

And some lowlights:

• The next time I come, I bring my own food.


• Many of the lectures given by the writers sounded like infomercials for their works.


• The chairs in the hall where the readings were held were designed by Torquemada.


• While overall I had a really great experience of the small-group intenstive, when it came to my turn to have my work reviewed, one of the five in our group didn't turn up, and when I looked at the instructor's notes on my MS, they were illegible and therefore worthless.

Overall, this was the best conference I've ever attended in terms of information received for money spent. The caliber of the classes was several steps above that of the Bay Area conferences I've attended, and the authors were all much more helpful.

I'd recommend this one to anyone who's serious about taking their writing to the next level.

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.

Writer's Conference: Day 1

I'm at the Desert Nights Rising Stars conference until Saturday night.

Just getting here has already been an adventure:

1. It's Girl Scout cookie season, and my family has ordered a packing crate of cookies. I picked them up yesterday, two hours before I had to leave and spent another hour sorting and re-packing them for the trip. I was originally going to drive myself, but there was no way I was going to be able to schlep a 50-pound crate of cookies along with my other luggage, so the Pirate very sweetly offered to drive me. I swear, he's too good for me.
2. We got to the airport and I was going to do curbside checkin, but the very sweet skycap told me that I'm on the list. Yes, apparently, I'm a terrorist. My mother is convinced it's because I have a habit of leaving rude notes for the TSA in my checked baggage, telling them things like "I've rubbed my dirty underwear all over everything in this bag. Have fun!" There are some folks who'd pay good money to sort through my dirty laundry. Oh, wait. I mean that there are some folks to whom I have to pay good money to sort through my dirty laundry. Anyway, long story short, I got to talk to a kindly TSA agent who told me nothing of use (no, they can't tell me why, when or how my name got on the list, but I might be like 30% of passengers on "the list" who have names that happen to match those of actual terrorists or terrorist groupies or terrorist sympathizers or some such). They gave me an often-copied piece of paper that tells me to contact the TSA with a whole boatload of information to get my name off "the list," which will take 6 to 8 months.
3. I got into the airport and started pacing. It's a 2-hour flight and I wanted to get a little exercise while I could. I was paced by a cop on a Segway. I don't know if you've ever seen a Segway, but the little platform on which you stand is a good 8-12 inches off the ground, and even with that platform, the cop was barely taller than I am (I am 5' 7"). The entire "Toulouse LaCop" image was completely ridiculous, but having already been branded a terrorist, I decided that now was not the time to push my luck by pointing and laughing at a guy with a gun.
4. As I was pacing the terminal and listening to "Augustus," a biography of Augustus Caesar, I happened to walk as far as terminals A1-A and A1-B, the international terminals. They're newer, rarely-used and cleaner-looking than the rest of the San Jose airport. There was one other guy in the terminal, standing there talking on his cell phone. He was obviously looking for some privacy, as the minute I stepped out of the long hallway and into the football-field-sized room, it became too crowded and he left. I walked to the far end, hearing one of the white courtesy phones start to ring. The sound of a phone ringing in a giant, empty room is a very lonely, creepy sound, and the creepiness was only made worse by the fact that as I drew abreast of the phone, it stopped ringing and the silence was even louder.

The plane ride was uneventful, I got to bed at a little after one and was here at the conference bright and early at eight this morning so that I could be sure of getting parking. I've laid out my schedule, which says that I have tonight off, but otherwise I'm here until 9:30 every night. *sigh*