My bag!
Look at it! I love the cover. I want to write a book with that scene in it just so I could have that cover on it.
Books, books and more books! I spent $110 at the literacy signing, and the rest were FREE! The publishers set up book signings for their authors, where they sign their books and give them to you for free. As you know, I LOVE meeting authors. Meeting so many of them was my version of Disneyland. : )
Speaking of the literacy signing, I was in line at Susan Elizabeth Phillips' table when a redhead in a walking cast cut me off. I thought I recognized that redhead, and sure enough, it was Janet Evanovich!
In JE's official talk, she made me cry when she described giving up, dragging her box of rejection letters to the curb and taking a normal job. She was out picking up her daughter from something when her husband and son showed up to tell her, "Your editor just called..."
All the keynote speakers were fantastic: Linda Howard (bless her heart) and Eloisa James "Art Garfunkel born into the Bach family"
TONS of great workshops. My favourites: Donald Maas explaining how to avoid creating a "MWOO HA HA" antagonist, Jenny Crusie explaining propping up the sagging middle with a clothesline analogy, and Robin Wells' Power of Significant Detail, complete with clips from Gone With the Wind, Office Space and It's a Wonderful Life.
I met the Smart Bitches AND got a signed copy of their book, Beyond Heaving Bosoms. I read it on the way home - hilarious, and filled with recommendations now on my TBR list.
Also met a bunch of people I formerly only knew on line from the Chick Lit loop and the From the Heart groups. Also got to spend some time with fellow Ottawa chapter-mates.
I stuck with my strategy of floating around solo instead of sticking with any one group, and the results proved that it's definitely the way to go. I met many people from across the US and Canada in various stages of their careers, each with an interesting story.
And, yes I did have a scheduled pitch and managed to do an impromptu pitch when a fellow writer introduced me to her agent. Both requested to see my work, so I have 2 submissions to polish. : )
As you can see, it was action-packed. In E's words, on the first night I sounded like I'd had 7 Red Bulls with an espresso chaser.
People were really dressed up, especially for the awards gala - see below.
No kitten sweatshirts!
I loved it - definitely worth every penny. : )
The only lowlight was non-RWA-related: at the airport something on me beeped and I got sent into the wave machine - a tube-like scary phone booth-ish contraption that looks like something out of Star Trek. grrrr. I had the exact same outfit on when I flew IN, why did it beep on the way OUT? After apparently seeing me NAKED grrr they decided I was NOT a security risk and I got to go. grrr grrr grrr
I'm beginning to really hate flying. Too bad I also hate driving. I need to find high-speed trains to take me to my destinations.
Apart from that, I am now trying to get caught up, unpacked and working on those submissions (that just means pulling together whatever the agent asked for: 2-pg synopsis, bio, 1st 10 pages, or whatever).
Next up: the reading pile!! Where to start? YA or ROM Suspense?
3 comments:
Where can I try the Wave???? I hear they can read your thoughts with it too ... and it can warm up coffee and pizza.
So JE cut you off, but made up for it by giving you two copies of her "How I Write" book? Or did you steal an extra for spite?
Looks like a blast. Two submission requests! You rock!
There might have been some back-room book trading going on. Most of the books I was able to choose, but some were given to us by default, so I tried to trade for books I knew I'd either use or be able to give to someone who wasn't able to attend.
Post a Comment