Reno Conference–Day One

I’m going to try and recap the Reno conference as best I can. Unfortunately I didn’t have a digital camera with me, but if I can find some photos from friends, I’ll upload them. I’m not going to worry about Wednesday, as it was mostly just checking in and traveling, so let’s start with Thursday:

Thursday: I attended the Pro Retreat. It was an interesting workshop, and I stayed for most of it since I had submitted the first page and synopsis of my Victorian book, Wedded to the Enemy. The purpose of the retreat was to inspire the unpublished and to encourage us. We listened to a speech by Barbara Samuel which was nice, and then came the agent panel. I wasn’t sure if my stuff would be selected to be read, but it turned out it was. This part was an, er, “educational” experience. The three agents placed an overhead of our work up in front of approximately 500 people and read it aloud and commented on it. Good news and bad news with this–on the one hand, we could get honest feedback of our work. The bad news was, it was a butchery. The first person’s entry was slashed. They didn’t have one nice thing to say about the writing or the synopsis. Same with person #2. And #3. I had a hard time with this because…well, if you’re trying to inspire the unpublished, hacking their work to pieces in front of 500 people isn’t exactly inspiring. While honesty is good, I think it would have been better if the agents had taken an American Idol approach. Someone needed to be the Paula Abdul to salvage the poor writer’s broken ego. Instead, there were pretty much three Simon Cowells.

As for me, I’m pretty thick-skinned. I can take criticism. Also, I knew that my synopsis was awful because I tried to cram a 5 page synopsis into 1 page. I didn’t realize that it would be part of the critique–I thought it was so the agent/editor would have background information. So when my entry came up, I was expecting to be smashed on the synopsis.

To my surprise, they didn’t butcher my writing as much as the other folks. They commented how the heroine’s actions were contradictory to the dialogue (which I did on purpose), but they didn’t say anything truly negative. That made me feel pretty good, such that I didn’t particularly care what they said about the synopsis. You’re not trying to sell a synopsis, after all. Nobody reads those except editors and agents. On the whole, I did get some constructive feedback, so I think it was worth it. Still, I feel badly for the ones who were slammed. They didn’t deserve that. Everyone is a beginner at some point, and I think it’s important to encourage the beginners to keep writing, keep submitting, and overall not to give up. Next year, I hope if they do this again, the agents/editors will try to focus on one strength of the writer and offer some words of hope. Heaven knows there’s enough rejections out there.

Pajama Party

I came, I saw, I won for cutest pajamas at the Harlequin Pajama Party. Yes, there may be a blackmail photo of me on the eharlequin website I wore Curious George pajamas and won a little pillow that says “The Princess is Sleeping.” Very cool.

The conference so far as been a bit of a blur. I’ve met up with many friends, I learned how to knit with Debbie Macomber, and today I worked at the editor/agent appointments. Those were fun, matching up names and faces together. This afternoon I have my own appointments. Hopefully I won’t need a motion-sickness bag. If I survive without passing out or throwing up or making an idiot of myself, life will be good.

More later. . . .

Delta, Delta, Delta, Can we help ya, help ya, help ya

I believe I spoke with, quite possibly, the dimmest clerk alive last night. I called to ask whether any of the earlier flights to Reno had seats available so I could see about flying standby.

Clerk: What’s Standby?
Me: (slaps head against desk) It’s where you check and see about getting on an earlier flight the day of travel.
Clerk: Would you like me to price an earlier flight for you?
Me: :banghead: No, I want to see if there are any seats available on the flight from Salt Lake City to Reno.
Clerk: Yes, there are seats available from Dulles to Salt Lake City on the 7:55 flight.
Me: (resists the urge to slap the clerk silly):fryingpan: Are there seats on the flight from Salt Lake City?
Her: Would you like me to price that for you?
:angry:

It went downhill from there. But if all goes well, I may catch an earlier flight which will give me more time to enjoy the conference. Hope so! :headspin:

P.S.–Have you ever noticed how airplanes and hotels are FREEZING inside while outside it’s usually sweltering? It’s impossible to know what to wear.

Off to Reno

Today I’m going to my mother’s to drop them off for a weekend of Grandchild Spoiling ™. Why is it that grandparents taunt us by giving their grandchildren everything they want? You know all the things we weren’t allowed to do as children? Whatever it was, the grandchildren can do it. Ice cream for breakfast, chocolate for lunch, staying up past their bedtime, and all the other things that kids love are a given at Grandma’s house. I’m sure my kids will have a blast.

As for me, I’m off to enjoy my own week at Reno. I’ll try to check in and share stories. In the meantime, happy writing and wish me luck with my pitch sessions! :beer:

She’s back, folks!

Back from our trip!

After driving for twelve hours with two children under the age of four :hissyfit:, we survived. I have to give the kids credit–they never complained once. Of course, it helps that one of them can’t talk yet.

One of my favorite states to drive through is West Virginia. With its rolling hills and green mountains, it’s just gorgeous. I only wish it had been fall when we were driving through. The colors are amazing during that season.

There was one moment of levity during the trip. We had reached Charleston, WV when suddenly my son got a look of terror on his face and said those fateful five words: “I have to go potty.” And if you have a small child, you know that this doesn’t mean in the next five minutes. It typically means you have about 90 seconds before they wet their pants. And the next exit was five miles away. I had visions of stopping on the side of the road and hustling him behind a bush.

And so the coaching began. “Come, on, you can hold it. Be a big boy! You can do it! We’re almost there!”

At this point, the terror on his face changed to RAW PANIC. I’m sure he was praying for mercy. After my husband kicked the gas pedal up to 80 mph, we begged him not to pee in the car seat. “Come on, honey! It’s okay!”

Suddenly, there it was. The holy mecca of Charleston. The angels sang, the heavens resounded with glory, and the Wendy’s had a bathroom. I unstrapped my son from his car seat, and at this point his panic turned into sobbing. When I opened the restaurant door, he started screaming and stomping his legs.

But he made it. To reward him, he earned a small Frostie.

And all was right with the world.

Daily Deep Thought #10

If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid looking in a mirror, because I bet that will really throw you into a panic.

Date Night!

My husband is awesome. Last night we bamboozled my mother into watching the kids and then he took me out to dinner at one of the oldest houses in Bowling Green, KY, called Mariah’s. I was an expensive date and ordered filet mignon. After that, we went shopping and ended the evening going to Barnes and Noble. Does that man know me or what? I think dates are even better after you’ve had children because you value that “alone time” more. Sometimes you reconnect in ways you’ve forgotten. In any case, I’m still trying to convince him that a monthly date would be a good thing and Home Depot doesn’t count.

What’s the best date you’ve ever been on?

Weddings and Catastrophes

Every wedding has something that goes wrong. It’s inevitable. In my case, it was my naive belief that place settings weren’t necessary. Why not let people sit where they wanted? For all I knew, Aunt Hattie despised Uncle Lou. Why force them to sit together? So, my husband-to-be and I didn’t worry about it. Mistake! It turned out that when seats were filling up, people ignored the “Reserved” sign and filled up that table as well. It left my parents without seats. Luckily, they did find places at another table, but it always amazes me that there are people who really don’t think about those things. That was probably the biggest thing that went wrong, and I’m thankful that it was the only one–at least, that I know of. Sometimes people tell you stories years later about things you never knew.

We’re attending a wedding this weekend, and I’m sure it will be wonderful. I haven’t seen some of these cousins in years, and it’s fun to catch up. So far we’ve dealt with a few crises (the hotel booked us all in smoking rooms), but thanks to my aunt’s abilities to conquer Hotel Management (and use a few tears to good advantage), she worked it out.

I’m enjoying Kentucky (where the wedding is). I love visiting new states and new places. Even still, it’ll be nice to get home because Reno is coming!

So what’s the worst wedding crisis you’ve ever dealt with?

Daily Deep Thought #8

I wish outer space guys would conquer the Earth and make people their pets, because I’d like to have one of those little beds with my name on it.

Daily Deep Thought #7

I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children’s children, because I don’t think children should be having sex.