Today is June 18th and I have 23 days left until I attend my first national conference. I am so excited to be going and meeting with other writers, publishers and agents. Many of my friends will be there from the Black Diamonds and we will be mixing and meeting other authors along with editors and agents.
I wonder what it will be like attending my first national conference? Will everyone be friendly and as open as the writers I have meet so far? Will I know what to say if I am seated next to a publisher or agent or Nora Roberts? Will I get tongue tied?
As I look back on my writing journey, I am very thankful I did not attend the Reno conference back in 2005. I was just starting out with my writing and had only attended one RWA chapter meeting. I was really shy and had a lot to learn about the craft. This last year has been such a learning experience. Based on what I have learned over the last couple of years I feel I will be able to learn and absorb so much more at the conference.
One learning experience I had this year was my first contest. I came in last, which was the best experience I have had to date. It was the first time I took a chance and let someone read what I had written. I received some good advice and have rewritten that paragraph. Actually, that gave me the courage to have my Starbucks writing partner read it and based on our discussion I tossed the whole thing out and started Chapter 1 with Chapter 3. This knowledge has helped me grow a lot as a writer and I think will help me in my experience at National, including my editor appointment.
I am so excited for the experience I will gain by attending national. I will learn more about my craft, make new friends and hopefully only make a small fool of myself. I have heard from others that one should not slide her/his manuscript under a bathroom stall to agent or editor. But I will be assertive and take every opportunity to talk with an agent or editor at the appropriate times or places. I will have an elevator conversation prepared in case I am in line, elevator or getting a cocktail. This way I can make small talk and not start stuttering like Elmer Fudd. Of course there are no guarantees, so if you hear about the crazy women who was tongue tied and sounded like Elmer Fudd that would probably have been me.
Yep, 23 days and counting until I experience my first conference and begin another first step in my writing career.
Lyn Emerson
Black Diamonds
Vice President
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3 comments:
About five years ago, I was at conference in Fersno, where I did see a woman slide a full thick manuscript under a stall door to an agent! The entire restroom went dead still, with roaring silence. It felt like all the air got sucked out of the crowded space. There had to be twenty women in the restroom at the time. We all looked at each other, then at the prep, and ran like hell for the door. To date it's one of my more memorable moments at a conference. Several years later, I think I could still recognize the unfortunate fool of a girl who threw her manuscript at a peeing agent. When I'm at conferences, I always look for her in the restroom.
Conferences are fun, and interesting experiences. You'll have your own, 'I can't believe I just saw/heard that,' moments that will define conferences forever, for you.
Lyn, it is an experience never to be forgotten. I saw La Nora waiting for an elevator in Reno, and my brain froze. Thank Goodness no one talked to me, because I couldn't have answered. LOL
Tongue-tied is okay, tongue loose is a whole 'nother story. :)
Lee, I will be on the look out for the manuscript under the stall trick. I too will also run like hell if I witness, do not want to be mistaken for that poor person.
Jill,
I am hoping for smart and witty or tongue tied. Diffently I don't want a loose tongue. I too will have a frozen brain if I were to see Nora. :)
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