Thursday, October 28, 2010

What I brought home from the Writers Conference...

Well, I brought home a terrible chest cold! Blech. So, I spent most of the day Monday in an airplane, and I've spent the last two days coughing. I'm trying to shake it off, but it is hanging on tight.

However, there were more benefitial things I brought home from the conference as well. :) I will have a few more posts in days to come, but today, I thought I'd list some of the most valuable things I brought home from the conference.

1. A better understanding of the relationship between agent and author. I know it's been said a million times that an author shouldn't be so anxious to get published that they just jump at the first agent offer that comes their way. Now granted, some of those relationships go on to work out beautifully. However, after attending this conference, I wonder how I could have ever imagined an agent/author relationship WITHOUT meeting the agent first. This was probably the hugest thing I brought back from the conference with me, an understanding that I need to "click" with the agent.

2. Writer relationships. I am so excited to followup with some of the new friendships I made with other writers at this conference. It's interesting how we are naturally drawn to like-minded people. But frankly, I was really impressed with the out-going friendly nature of the writers at the conference.

3. Vision. I've said before that sometimes this journey feels like I'm putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but the pieces and the picture keep changing. It can be frustrating. However, after this conference, I feel like I can *almost* grasp the vision. Getting published the traditional route takes more than great writing and more than a great concept. It takes: a great concept that fits within an identifiable genre written extremely well queried with a fantastic letter to the right agent on the right day in the right time frame for the concept to be accepted by and editor for a publisher's list that has space for that idea now.

Finally. I think I get it. (Please don't tell me I'm wrong. Just let me live in my cold-medicine-cloud-induced-fantasy-world for a day or two.)

Check back tomorrow for notes from more conference classes.

What the best thing you've brought back from a writers conference?

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