For The Love Of Conferences Part 1

I wanted to talk about conferences and how important they can be to a writer's career, at every stage. Almost a year ago, I was sitting with 50,000 words of a YA manuscript and wondering what, or even if I should continue with it. The idea had been percolating for a while, so when I write, I write very quickly, and I knew that I would be able to finish it in the next month or so. But what then? I had thought about going to a big conference in the US, but I just couldn't pull the trigger due to the cost. When I finally decided to go for it at the last minute, the flights had gone up so high in price that it just wasn't possible.

Completely depressed, I began a search online for other upcoming conferences and I discovered something I had never heard about before: SCBWI. And it turns out they were running a conference in Niagara Falls that very same weekend.

Now, unless you've read my previous post about sending my last manuscript to exactly ONE agent, you will be surprised at how clueless I was. SCBWI stands for The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

But you knew that, of course ;).

So I contacted the organizers immediately and found out that the date for registration had passed. Despair.

But they volunteered to put me on a waiting list. Hope.

Then I found out there's a whole critique group component that is unique to this conference. Fear.

Someone dropped out and I got in! Excitement! And then Fear again!

In Part 2, I'm going to talk about what I learned at that conference and others and how they have moved my writing career along. But I wanted to get out the information that there are only 4 SPOTS LEFT for the conference this year May 3-5, 2013. Due to an administrative conflict, this is not a SCBWI conference for this year and there is no illustrators track, but it is still an amazing event. Look at the lineup!:

SUSAN RICH, EDITOR-AT-LARGE - LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
SUSAN HAWK, AGENT - THE BENT AGENCY
SARA ZARR, Y.A. AUTHOR
ELLEN HOPKINS, Y.A. AUTHOR
KIMBERLEY GRIFFITHS-LITTLE, AUTHOR, M.G, Y.A.
LORIN OBERWEGER, FREELANCE EDITOR - FREE EXPRESSIONS LITERARY
ROMAN WHITE, DIRECTOR, AUTHOR
LAURA BIAGI, AGENT - THE JEAN V. NAGGAR LITERARY AGENCY INC

I hope you caught that there are 2 wonderful agents attending this year! And you have to see the location to believe it - truly unique. If you are in driving distance to Niagara Falls and you are a children's writer, you should be there. I mean it.

Writer Jackie Garlick-Pynaert is the organizer and for more info or to grab those last few spots go to:
www.niagararetreatandconference.com.

Agents - What Are They Good For? Part 2

So, I finished Part 1 of this post by coming clean with my desire to be traditionally published. Don't get me wrong, I still think there are a lot of benefits to self-publishing if you have the right skills and mindset. But there's just something visceral about my desire to see my book sitting on the shelves of the local bookstore. Maybe someday that will be more in reach for the self-publishing author and for a few, it may already be possible. But I think that I need the affirmation that a professional - an agent - will give me by believing in my work.

I could go into all the important tasks that an agent takes on when she accepts a new client - editorial feedback, author branding, submission to the 'big guys', contract negotiation, foreign and film rights sales, being the author's cheerleader to some extent - but I'll leave that for future posts.

Today, I'm just thinking about affirmation.

I haven't abandoned my self-publishing goals completely - I'm working on some steampunk novellas that I'm thinking of  publishing through Amazon - but for now I'm slogging through the query trenches. Getting an agent is only the beginning of what I understand is a long and sometimes arduous process, but I accept that I'm in it for the long haul.

Bring it on!

I would love to hear any agent success stories so feel free to comment and share. Or just admire the lovely Rackham illustration below - I picked her because she looks tired, maybe because of all the querying she's been doing. See how she's cradling her tired and broken hand from pounding all those keys on the keyboard? But it's Brunhilde the valkyrie - so you just know that she'll persevere.

Agents - What Are They Good For? Part 1

Quite a lot I've decided!!

This week, an agent I queried a couple of months ago requested my full manuscript - she'd read the first 3 chapters and wanted to read more. I believe the best way to describe my response would be:

SQUEEE!

My manuscript is out there in various agent hands at the moment, but all those requests were based on online contests that I finalized in. I only began querying a little while ago and this is the first request based off one of my queries. So for me, it was a BIG DEAL.

Hey, I've read all the blogs of writers and their tales of the query trenches - I know that it could all fall through and I'll be left where I began. But right now, I feel that at least I'm on the right track as far as this writing thing goes.

But what's funny is that I never intended to go the traditional publishing route at all. For those I've talked to about my journey - and it hasn't been many until now - my intention had always been to self-publish through Amazon. I'm tech savvy, have the digital art and photography skills to create a killer cover, and I'm capable of self marketing. My first manuscript several years ago caught the attention of a high powered, rock star agent - but when it all fell apart, I lost faith in the whole process.

Now, the truth is, that manuscript deserved to die. I may re-visit it some day, but really, does the world need another Sword Of Shannara? Cuz it was definitely in that vein. And even if it did deserve to live, I should have sent it to other agents. But she was the biggest fantasy agent out there at that time and if she didn't want it, why would anyone else??

So, I was set on self-publishing. Until I went to my first writer's conference and actually met published authors, editors, and agents. I listened and learned and finally had to come clean:

Hi, I'm Heather and I want to be traditionally published.

Problem - to be traditionally published, you traditionally need an agent. And turns out, it's about as hard to get an agent as it is to get published once you have one!

Tune in tomorrow for Agents - What Are They Good For? Part 2

Pitch Madness, Pitchfest, & Secret Agent

It's been a very busy couple of weeks!!

Sadly, I didn't make it into the final round of Pitch Madness. I wasn't really expecting to since there were a lot of different genres that they were looking for - but still, I was a little bit sad.

And then I received an email that an agent was requesting my work. What?! Turns out, I had made the finals of WriteOnCon's Pitch-Fest and I didn't even know it! Somehow my pitch had been posted under an incorrect title. When I scanned the list of finalists, I was actually quite disappointed. But I never noticed at all how close one title was to mine - it was listed as BOUND IN BLOOD rather than BOUND IN BLUE and I must have been checking for just the word 'blue' as I was looking through the lists.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that when one door closes, another one often opens. I happily wrapped up my work and sent it off to a fabulous agent.

I also made this month's Secret Agent finals over at Miss Snark's First Victim - (I've linked directly to my entry). I got some great feedback from readers and the secret agent and the winner(s) will be announced soon.

Will any of these adventures lead to an agent and a publishing deal? I certainly hope so. But even if they don't, the great contests that I've been part of and the requests I've received from agents have helped build my confidence and skill. If this manuscript doesn't find me an agent, then I'm sure the next one will.

Or the next ;-).

It's Pitch Madness!

UPDATE - I made it through to round 2! One more round to go.

What is Pitch Madness you ask? It's a contest to match pitches with agents run by Brenda Drake and her team of slush zombies, of course. For more info, check out her blog at brenleedrake.blogspot.com.

Here's my pitch and first 250 words:

Title: BOUND IN BLUE

Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy

Word Count: 80,000

Rhi’s color synaesthesia is actually the manifestation of a mysterious power. Which would be great, except for one problem: King Arthur is coming back. And turns out, he’s not as nice as the storybooks say.

Fear is white and thickly veined with sea-green.

I reached over the bed rail and touched Mom’s cheek, but the industrial clock on the wall ticked loudly and I jerked my hand back fast. She was cold. But she was always cool and thin and strange with her pale, pale eyes. Now they were open and staring and I couldn’t bring myself to close them the way they always do in movies.

The only thing Mom was ever afraid of was a man with silver hair. I saw him once when I was little. Mom pulled me tight against her chest and the sound of her heart was a wave crashing against rocks. That fear crept out of her chest, crawled through my ear, and made its way down to my own wildly beating heart to take up permanent residence.

Rhiannon, listen to me, we cannot be seen. Hide in the shadows and be still and silent.

And as she held me, my fear broke apart like ice on a churning ocean and all the colors of my emotions erupted out of it—but the man didn’t see us.

I once tried to tell Mom about the colors I felt, but she just smiled and looked away. I didn’t try again. It would have been nice to talk with someone about it. I’m sure my colors would be pretty interesting to some psychiatrist bored with the usual budding Unabombers.

But fear is white and cold as marble and veined in an ugly sea-green that matches the color of the hospital walls.

Update On The Agent Blind Speed Dating Contest

Yoohoo! My entry received 1 full manuscript request (only 1 full was allowed per entry during the contest) and 2 partials from 3 absolutely amazing agents!

The contest at Cupid's Literary Connection is an wonderful opportunity and I want to publicly thank the anonymous Cupid for all her hard work in putting it together.

Cupid's Literary Connection Blind Speed Dating Contest

Well, it's been quite exciting! I'm in day 2 of the agent round of Cupid's Literary Connection's Blind Speed Dating Contest and I have one partial request already.

It's really quite an amazing contest - and a little complicated to follow. There were a total of 360 entries over a number of weeks and during each submission period only 9 moved forward - and I'm one of the final 56! This week 10 agents will bid anonymously to request either partial manuscripts (100 pages) or full manuscripts on the last day of the contest which is Thursday.

Hey, I'm just happy to have made it to the agent round and to have one partial request. But I admit that I have my fingers crossed for more.

The great thing about contests like this is the feedback in the early rounds and the feeling of validation that comes from having an agent actually wanting to look at something you wrote.

I have a few other irons in the fire that I'm also excited about - not the least of which was winning one of the 2 positions in the last YAlitchat contest which led to one full and one partial request. Writing and querying can be lonely and disheartening so I really appreciate these wonderful bloggers and communities who work so hard to help writers find their dream agents and, hopefully, eventual publication.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog! For those of you who know me, you are probably aware that I have quite a few blogs floating out there in cyberspace. For anyone interested in my photography and other pursuits, I will be posting the links to those blogs in the menu. But for now, not much works around here yet. I will be filling up my pages, posts and links soon though.

So why a new blog? Well, this blog is dedicated to my goal of being a published YA author. Until that wonderful day, I will be posting my thoughts on all things related to writing: conferences, inspiration, book reviews, etc.

I'll be talking soon about my journey thus far, but for now, I just wanted to say - Welcome!