Overcoming The Scary, Parts 1 & 2

Bonus weekend posts from MileHiCon:

As I posted previously, one of my goals this convention was to challenge myself to overcome my innate shyness and y'know, like, talk to people.

My progress so far:

Last night, sat at the bar at a table with a couple of authors and actually carried on conversations. Yay!

This morning, attended a panel titled "Scoring in the Elevator: Writing a Good Two-Sentence Pitch". Except that it turned out not to be a panel, but a workshop. Once I learned that, I nearly turned tail and fled, but instead I stayed and presented my pitch for "The Daughters of August Winterbourne". And as a result, I had five author panelists and a room full of other aspiring authors work with me to craft this pitch:

When the techno-plundering Tarmanian Empire kidnaps their inventor father, four sisters must pilot his airship across Victorian Europe to rescue him.

I like it!

More updates as they occur. (My next challenge is to BE a panelist, but talking about start-up conventions rather than my writing. Still, it's a start!)

Emerald City Writer's Conference

This afternoon I’ll be leaving for the 20th Annual Emerald City Writer’s Conference sponsored by the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America. This is my third year attending. Signing up for ECWC that first year was the best thing I could have done for myself as a “pre published” writer.

Writing conferences, especially those geared toward your chosen genre, are a great way to meet people of all experience and skill level. From NYT best selling authors to those who are just starting out and everyone in between you can learn from everyone. Conferences are also a great way to have face time with editors and agents. I’ll be doing my first ever live pitch to an editor and an agent this weekend. I should be nervous and I am but I also acknowledge the opportunity of what I’m about to embark on and the excitement of what it might bring my future.

Conferences are about networking and meeting new people (as well as connecting with old friends) but they also offer great workshops. From craft to business to technology, most writing conferences will offer a wide variety of workshops given by the best in the business. This year I’m looking forward to a session about writing a series and one on western characters which I have the privilege of moderating. There’s one hour block in particular where I want to attend all of the sessions being offered. Thankfully the planners are taping most of the sessions and making CD copies available in a couple of weeks to those who want to buy. (As an aside the RWA National conference has made the handouts from the last couple of national conferences available on the website.) We also have a book fair featuring 50 authors, most who are attending and/or presenting that is open to the public. Not to mention the basket raffle that is held on Saturday and Sunday during lunch. Last year I was one of the co-chairs of that event – it was a ton of work but a great time.

Then there are the keynote speakers. This year we are lucky to have Deborah Cook (at lunch on Saturday), Christine Warren (at dinner tonight) and Lisa Jackson (at lunch on Sunday). All of the keynotes in the past have left me truly inspired and I’d imagine these ladies will do no less. Then of course there is the Cherry Adair “Write the Damn Book” challenge which I accepted last year and completed. Getting recognized this evening by one of my favorite authors is going to be a thrill I know I’ll remember for a long time.

If you’ve never been to a writing conference I’d highly encourage you to find one in your area and attend. It will be well worth the money and I promise one of the best weekends you’ll spend – until the next conference!

Pitching – (or what am I getting myself into?)

Next weekend is the Emerald City Writer’s Conference sponsored by the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America chapter of which I am a member. This is the 20th anniversary for this conference. If you’ve never been, romance writer or no, I’d highly encourage you to check it out next year.

This year is my third year attending. It’s also the first year that I’m going to pitch at it. They have three editors and three agents attending. When you register you indicate your preference and find out who you’re pitching to when you get your registration packet upon arrival at the conference.

Pitching at a conference (from what I’ve been told anyway) is a group pitch. Meaning that you are with other people and you get literally a couple of minutes to make the editor or agent want to request pages from you. The ECWC has a great event on Friday evening called “Pitch Fest” where you can ask questions of the editors and agents and then get help from people who’ve done this before on toning up your pitch.

I have two things I can pitch depending on who I get. My historical western and my romantic suspense. I realized this afternoon I have no idea what I am doing. I mean I get a few sentences to talk about my story, make sure to mention the conflict and hope that it doesn’t sound like a snooze-fest. One thing I have in my favor is that I’m at my best when I’m presenting something to people whether it’s a job interview or at a meeting. Hopefully that will help.

So this weekend will be spent tightening up my pitches. Check out my post on Friday when I’ll be blogging (late) about the first part of the ECWC.