Writer's Conference Basics

I'm off to the Western PA SCBWI conference in Pittsburgh this weekend (with my husband and four-month-old baby in tow—wish me luck!). This will be the fifth writer's conference I've attended. I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of them.

If you're a long-time reader of Thinking to Inking, you might remember the conference survival guide I posted last year. This time, rather than advice on nerves or particulars of etiquette, I want to focus on the basic three things that I think are needed for a successful conference.

1. Do some research.
I've seen this over and over again at each conference I've attended. Do at least enough research before you go to know how traditional publishing works, what an agent or editor does, and what type of book you're writing. I've actually heard people ask agents questions in seminars like, "What genre is my fiction novel about my life?" or "Why do I need an agent? Don't you just want to take a cut of my money?" Trust me, you don't want to be THAT guy/girl.

2. Don't be a jerk.
This one is similar to #1, but it gets its own number because it's just as important. Agents, editors, conference organizers, published writers—they're all people too. (A friend of mine wrote an excellent blog post about agents in particular.) They have good and bad days, times when they feel overwhelmed, and times when they really just need to go to the bathroom or go outside for some air. You'll get your chance to talk to them. Treat them politely.

3. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.
This one gets all capital letters because it's really, really important. Follow the rules. If the pre-conference materials say to print out ten copies of your first five pages, DO IT. Supposed to be there at 10:30 am for registration? That's when you should arrive. Someone tells you that you have a certain time slot to pitch to an agent? Be there on time, ready to go. Conferences are set up to work as smoothly as possible, and it's people who don't follow directions that create snags and problems.

SCBWI Los Angeles 2013

My Top Ten Take-Aways From SCBWI 2013

(Still don’t know how I chose only ten)
(Please excuse all of my mistakes. Conference-groggy.)

10. Trend-wise: picture books still going strong, middle-grade is a sweet-spot (but editors are turning away more than they’d like because they’re very selective; ms has to hit middle-grade sensibility), YA is still thriving, but so much competition it’s hard to stand out. Editors are currently buying a ton of contemporary realistic fiction, and while readers are still fans of paranormal and dystopian, they’re a little tired of it so it needs to be really fresh to catch someone’s eye. Overall, sales across the board are good. NA is looking promising.

9.  Don’t write to trends. Lauri Halse Anderson kept spitting when she said it. Not sure if she faked it or if there are loogies in the ballroom. I was too far away to see. There were over a thousand attendees. She also commanded everyone to sit by a campfire with people you care about and tell stories sometime in the next month.

8. See yourself as a brand. Figure out who you are/what you have to add to the conversation, and also where you are comfortable building your brand (social media platforms you like, etc.) Take the long-view, and work to your strengths.

7. Mike Jung played the ukulele and sang to settle his nerves in that reallyawkward time when people are sitting and staring at the speaker before the session time starts. Arthur Levine then hopped up out of the audience and they sang a duet about how everyone should buy Jung’s book. What a great way to turn a dead time into an opportunity to be unforgettable.

6. There is a lot of opportunity to make money by filling the needs of readers who don’t want the book to end. The properties may be marketed into apps, video games, etc. Many books are coming out of other mediums, like apps.

5.  Slow your roll. Matthew De La Pena seemed to be echoing the recent popular article of Palahnuk’s talking about too much telling and not enough fresh specific showing. He said that writers should only tell when information would surprise the reader. Not sure I fully agree; as a reader I love the dance between interiority and specific action (and my favorite parts of books are always the interiority), but since it’s a hot topic of conversation I assume there’s a deluge of bad and not judiciously cut interiority. I’m going home to “treasure hunt” where mine is (I’m sure there’s still way too much).

4. Carolyn Mackler played the song a Canadian rock star wrote for her about how there is no one like her. She says she plays it for her when scraping goop off her counters. She wants us to all keep playing similar theme songs in our heads reminding us that there is no one like us.

3. Richard Peck laid down the law in a fantastic speech/rant where he cautioned us that anyone who isn’t deeply and actively troubled by the fact that the government can track what we’re reading hasn’t spent enough time studying the history of the past century. (Love him).

2.  In case you haven’t heard Judy Blume’s classic advice to begin the story on the first day something changes, hear it now. It was repeated several times in the sessions I attended.

1. Lin Oliver (founder SCBWI), Stephen Mooser (founder SCBWI), and Andrea Davis Pinkney (Jump at the Sun) are my heroes. Not only are they fantastic writers, but they’ve all also all looked at the landscape of children's literature, found gaps people might fall through, and built significant bridges. Tonight, I can’t stop thinking about them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Conference Survival Guide Part 1: Dealing with Nerves

Hello lovely readers! I hope the summer is treating you well, and that you're getting a lot of writing/editing/planning done.

Summer might be a slower time for the publishing industry as a whole, but it also means conference season is getting into full swing. Conferences can be a lot of time and work, but they can also be amazing springboards for your writing career.

I also attend conferences and trade shows for my career as a knitting pattern designer--in fact, I just got back from one last week. My husband and I are also gearing up to attending the Midwest Writer's Workshop at the end of this month. Inspired by this, I thought I'd do a series of conference survival tips.

This week's topic is dealing with nerves.

I'm going to start with the obvious. Going to conferences is scary. First of all, you have to meet dozens, sometimes hundreds, of new people. Many writers are introverts by nature, so the idea of making conversation with that many people can be terrifying. Add to this the persistent worry that your entire career might depend on what you say or do at the conference, and you've got a nice panic attack waiting to happen.

My advice?

Fake it.

You can be quaking in your shoes, but the truth is, it doesn't matter as long as you don't act like it. I've heard conference attendees stammer through apologies for being so nervous and seen them actually cover their face with their hands. One lady actually stopped in the middle of speaking and told all of us she needed a moment to take some deep breaths to calm her nerves. The truth is, I wouldn't have known any of those people were even close to that level of nervousness if they hadn't come right out and told us.

Faking confidence is hard, but it works. I've had people compliment me on how relaxed I seemed--when internally I was this close to running screaming from the room. Keep the focus on appearing confident and unconcerned, and I guarantee you'll fool almost anyone.

A few tips: do try taking deep breaths (but not during a speech, please!). Agent Gemma Cooper wrote a fantastic blog post with some excellent tips for conquering nerves that's well worth a read. Most importantly, keep the goal in mind. Whether you're there to pitch your work to an agent or editor, network with other writers, learn from workshops, or all of the above, focusing on the end goal can make all the difference.

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. 

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.)