Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Writer's Resource: WriteOnCon - A FREE Writing Conference With No Travel Needed!


It was about a year ago that I finished a very rough draft of my manuscript and started my research on the wonderful world of publishing. During my early digging, I stumbled upon a game changing opportunity - WriteOnCon.  A free, multi-day virtual writing conference. No travel necessary. No entrance fee. No hotel room. All you need is a computer, a desire to learn, and perhaps a pair of comfortable elastic wasted pants.

Several things happened to me during the 3 day event:

1. I found my first beta reader
2. I entered my first contest
3. I got invaluable feedback on my query
4. I got "ninja-ed" by an agent (my first full request!)
5. I spent 3 days in my cube pretending to work while I devoured the information from the many amazing sessions (luckily my computer monitor faced away from my coworkers...)
6.  I learned so. freaking. much. about the industry, what to expect, and what I needed to work on.

I am SO excited to know that it's coming back, and it's only a month away! Squeee! 

Check out the early info on the homepage, and mark your calenders for August 14th and 15th, when the fun begins. 
Preparing for WriteOnCo
Bring it on, WriteOn!
What can you look forward to?  The same things you would at any conference, except you can wear your pajamas. 

There are agents.  There are informative sessions.  There are thousands of fellow writers to virtually mingle with in the forums.  There's a forum to post queries and first pages for feedback from writers.
The biggest highlight for those with finished manuscripts are the ninja agents - they lurk around the forums offering up critiques, partial requests and even the occasional full.  In fact, that's how I received my first ever full request from a real live agent. (!!!)
I cringe when I think about how rough my manuscript was back then, but it was encouraging to have a professional in the industry respond to my writing so early on.  

This year, my manuscript is polished and ready to go.  So bring on the ninjas!  Bring on the forums!  Bring on the fun!

Hope to see you there.  (I'll be the one in the pink onesie.) 




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