The blush of Spring is gone. The warmth of Summer has faded. Conference season is ended…or has it?
Not for me. This writer is off to New Jersey for the weekend (with Tiffany, who may not survive the drive) to the Put Your Heart in a Book Conference.
As of the beginning of this week, I hadn’t done any planning beyond getting my books shipped out to the hotel. I barely got my fees paid in time. Didn’t sign up for any agent appointments. No time for shopping, although I did get my hair done (can’t skip that)! Packing will have to wait until the night before, and so will googling for directions.
But on the advice (and a little nagging) of my fabulous critique partners, I did prepare a pitch for a new book I’m thinking of. It’s a sci-fi romance in a post-apocalyptic world. A seasoned bounty hunter meets up with a brilliant scientist in a society that has been forced to retreat beneath the surface of the earth after the outside atmosphere becomes uninhabitable. Can you guess which is the hero and which is the heroine? I don’t have much actually written on it yet—maybe just a chapter—but I like where it seems to be going and I think this is the one that I want to use to try and land an agent.
And no, I’m not going to share the pitch line.
So, what else do I need? Business cards? A synopsis ready and all printed out nice and neat? I’ve never actually been to a conference before, and I’m kinda nervous to tell the truth. I hate everything in my closet. I hate driving in strange places. I don’t speak well in public (although I’ve been forcing myself to do just that at my monthly Chapter meetings as practice).
Not for me. This writer is off to New Jersey for the weekend (with Tiffany, who may not survive the drive) to the Put Your Heart in a Book Conference.
As of the beginning of this week, I hadn’t done any planning beyond getting my books shipped out to the hotel. I barely got my fees paid in time. Didn’t sign up for any agent appointments. No time for shopping, although I did get my hair done (can’t skip that)! Packing will have to wait until the night before, and so will googling for directions.
But on the advice (and a little nagging) of my fabulous critique partners, I did prepare a pitch for a new book I’m thinking of. It’s a sci-fi romance in a post-apocalyptic world. A seasoned bounty hunter meets up with a brilliant scientist in a society that has been forced to retreat beneath the surface of the earth after the outside atmosphere becomes uninhabitable. Can you guess which is the hero and which is the heroine? I don’t have much actually written on it yet—maybe just a chapter—but I like where it seems to be going and I think this is the one that I want to use to try and land an agent.
And no, I’m not going to share the pitch line.
So, what else do I need? Business cards? A synopsis ready and all printed out nice and neat? I’ve never actually been to a conference before, and I’m kinda nervous to tell the truth. I hate everything in my closet. I hate driving in strange places. I don’t speak well in public (although I’ve been forcing myself to do just that at my monthly Chapter meetings as practice).
27 comments:
Please God, say we'll survive the ten hour drive. :)
I don't have cards. didn't do my hair. I'm not sure what I'm wearing. I do know the workshops I want to attend. I'm anally early for everything, So the day you could register for the conference I did. The day you got confirmation so you could register for the agents, I did. I'm geographically challenged so no maps for me, I'm liable to get us lost.
This is my first conference. EEEK!
Post Apocalyptic books are all the rage now, Kris!
AND I HAVE TO SAY IT HERE! OMG I FINALED IN THE GOLDEN PEN! SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay yay yay to Tiff!!!! And have a great time on the trip. You guys will do us all proud. I'm hoping for DC next year. We'll see....
YAY TIFF!!
hey! simone is going also! and i think maureen. there will be a good toronto turnout!
your new book idea sounds great. i love a little sci-fi now and then. reading 'driven' right now, a lot of fun
and: yay tiff! momentum building unstoppably! sorry i didn't have more of a chance to chat on the weekend
YAY, Tiffany! You deserve it, chica!
And, JK, great book idea. I'd love to read it. And I'm very curious as to which is the Hero and which is the heroine.
I'm guessing the bounty hunter is the heroine. LOL! And yay! for the conference. This was my first conference ever (last year) and I had a blast. But I will warn you, driving around this hotel is INSANE!!! Once you get there, DO NOT LEAVE unless someone else, preferably who lives in NJ, drives. LOL! I'm NOT kidding.
You've got your pitch (which sounds great) and your friends and you're ready to go. That's all you need. Just be ready to talk to lots of writers. You're going to think you've died and gone to heaven. :)
WHOOHOOOOOOO!!!!! TIFF!!!!!! Congratulations. That world domination plan is coming right along. LOL!
Thanks everyone! I'm still squeeing. :)
Yay, Tiff!!!
Don't kill each other in the car! I can just envision the fights over music. LOL.
You'll have to take lots of pictures and share them.
Congrats, Tiff! What credentials you're building!
I hope both of you have a blast at the conference. I always love the post-conference reports.
Kris, as an almost pathologically shy person who has been speaking in public all her adult life, my advice is to write down what you want to say. I find that even if I never refer to what I've written, it gives me much needed confidence to have written the words.
No fighting over music, I promise.
Janga, that's great advice, and since I pathologically make notes and lists about everything, it might actually work out for me.
Don't worry, Tiff, you'll survive the 10 hour drive if you don't bring any Nick Cave with you. She won't have any reason to beat you to death otherwise...you're perfectly charming.
You know, I can see the bounty hunter going both ways. (I was kinda liking the girl being the brilliant scientist, because I don't think you see a lot of that either in books. But both would be good.)
Congrats Tiff!! That's awesome!
I can't wait to meet you all there!
I am still working on my pitch and I've been messing with it for a week. *bleck* I'm sure I'll figure it out. I am excited though, for the workshops and the chance to talk books with others who are as obsessed as me. :) It's my first conference too. I think it's going to be fun.
JK, that idea sounds great!
Hey Marn, this is going to be an extra thrill for you because you're a finalist in the PYHIAB contest! Yay!
YAYAYAYAY Tiff!!! I'm so excited for you!!
Have an awesome time in New Jersey. (Although that part of New Jersey, which is just tons of highways, isn't very exciting.)
And, take lots of pics :)
JK - I don't have any real expectations about the contest, honestly. LOL! I was happy to final cause I'm excited about the feedback from the judges. It was my first contest and everything, and I've heard such incredibly positive stuff about the other competitors, I'm just happy to be in their company.
Well, I'll be happy to be in yours *g*, can't wait to meet you!
Congrats, Tiff!!! Yet again. I seem to be congratulating you a lot lately. That has to be a good thing, right?!!!
Road trip... sounds like fun. I love living vicariously through all of you as you get through all these fun and terrifying hurdles. Read: better you than me! LOL
You'll do great Kris. I always find denial works great for me in these situations. Concentrate on the trip, the hotel, the company, the food, etc. and all the other stuff (meeting authors, pitching and so on) will take care of itself.
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier.... Be wary; NJ has turnarounds we call jughandles. Basically, almost all turns, including the left turn, is made from the right lane. They just swing you around in a circle and make you go through another light.
At least in South Jersey it's like that. The North Jersey folks are a bit different. I'm just warning.
Oh, and NJ drivers can be pretty pushy, but it's mostly bluster. So, bluster along with them and you should be fine.
Oh, and JK I can't wait to meet you all too!! And hopefully I'll get to hear more about this post apocalyptic book. Sounds fun, I love bounty hunter books.
Hey Marnee, I've driven in Montreal. You can't get pushier or more aggressive drivers. Trust me.
Irish, I've definitely got the denial thing down pat :)
Oh good then, you won't be caught unprepared. I just remember coming here for the first time (I grew up in the country so this was a huge culture shock) and being floored by the nastiness. LOL!!
But the jughandles still annoy me. It's as if they wanted to cover the state with as much concrete as possible. LOL!
Marn - you ruined it! Since I had to learn about the jughandles on my own last year, I was going to leave JK to figure that out on her own. LOL!
I've driven in some crazy places, but I NEVER want to drive in NJ again if I can help it. Oh, and have plenty of $1 and change ready. They have tolls every 100 feet!
yeah, the Garden State Parkway is annoying. It's a different amount of toll each time, like 45cents, then 2 dollars, then 50 cents. Though they were talking of raising fares, so who knows what it's like now.
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