Long time no post...
Oct. 8th, 2022 01:40 pm...except for random phone posts from Chicago. (YES, MY BOOK COVER CLIENTS, I WILL BE IN TOUCH WITH YOU SHORTLY!)
Spent a week in Chicago--thank y'all for recommendations, although I wasn't able to get myself together enough to reply to them before leaving, especially for the offer to potentially meet (however![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
myrialux will be sent back to Chicago again, depending on what the company wants to do in a group, so there will be future visits!). I'm mostly burned out at work, so I'm having a hard time doing work and editing and covers and family obligations and taking enough time for myself so I don't collapse into a wibbling mess. Which is why I'm not booking any more covers for the rest of the year.
I am, however, at the DFWCon writers convention in town. I went ahead and jumped on it even though it was the weekend after we got back from Chicago. I am currently holed up in the hotel room since there's no panel at the moment I want to go to and I've been temporarily peopled out. I went to a Writers Speed Dating event which is about finding other writers, not romance. I passed my email on to a woman who writes spicy contemporary and paranormal romance but lives in a small town and doesn't know anyone who reads or writes it, because I know a mailing list she might get some use out of. I also attended a workshop as an observer called So, Here's My Problem, where writers sign up to bring a problem they have in writing, editing, pitching, etc. to the panel. I attended a panel by Amy Collins, an agent, titled Overview of Pub Board and Acquisitions Process which was a fascinating look into the process of acquiring a book at a publisher. She's got a panel tomorrow called Query Homework, about what you as an author can do to help an agent (to help the editor, to help the pub board, etc.), that I plan to attend.
Lunch was not bad for hotel/conference buffet lunches (BBQ...this is Texas, you're contractually obligated to serve either BBQ or fajitas at one meal at every conference), which was accompanied by an interview with the writer Julie Murphy, which was interesting.
HOWEVER. The GOOD NEWS. If you buy a membership to the con, you also get a pitch session with an agent. I opted for an agent (you pick 3 and they match you with one) who offered consultation, and explained that my book wasn't ready yet, but should be in the new year, and I wanted help on developing my pitch. They agreed, and we talked--I gave my two-sentence elevator pitch and a little bit about the characters, and they asked questions, and I asked my big question which was "What genre CAN I call it?" and they suggested "historically-inspired fantasy," which sounds like something to go with. And at the end of the 8-minutes session, they said "This sounds right up my alley. Send it to me when it's ready," and gave me their card. I was not expecting that, and was very happy. :D
And now, I shall drink my Dr. Pepper to get rid of my not-enough-caffeine headache, and recuperate from being around PEOPLE.
Spent a week in Chicago--thank y'all for recommendations, although I wasn't able to get myself together enough to reply to them before leaving, especially for the offer to potentially meet (however
myrialux will be sent back to Chicago again, depending on what the company wants to do in a group, so there will be future visits!). I'm mostly burned out at work, so I'm having a hard time doing work and editing and covers and family obligations and taking enough time for myself so I don't collapse into a wibbling mess. Which is why I'm not booking any more covers for the rest of the year.I am, however, at the DFWCon writers convention in town. I went ahead and jumped on it even though it was the weekend after we got back from Chicago. I am currently holed up in the hotel room since there's no panel at the moment I want to go to and I've been temporarily peopled out. I went to a Writers Speed Dating event which is about finding other writers, not romance. I passed my email on to a woman who writes spicy contemporary and paranormal romance but lives in a small town and doesn't know anyone who reads or writes it, because I know a mailing list she might get some use out of. I also attended a workshop as an observer called So, Here's My Problem, where writers sign up to bring a problem they have in writing, editing, pitching, etc. to the panel. I attended a panel by Amy Collins, an agent, titled Overview of Pub Board and Acquisitions Process which was a fascinating look into the process of acquiring a book at a publisher. She's got a panel tomorrow called Query Homework, about what you as an author can do to help an agent (to help the editor, to help the pub board, etc.), that I plan to attend.
Lunch was not bad for hotel/conference buffet lunches (BBQ...this is Texas, you're contractually obligated to serve either BBQ or fajitas at one meal at every conference), which was accompanied by an interview with the writer Julie Murphy, which was interesting.
HOWEVER. The GOOD NEWS. If you buy a membership to the con, you also get a pitch session with an agent. I opted for an agent (you pick 3 and they match you with one) who offered consultation, and explained that my book wasn't ready yet, but should be in the new year, and I wanted help on developing my pitch. They agreed, and we talked--I gave my two-sentence elevator pitch and a little bit about the characters, and they asked questions, and I asked my big question which was "What genre CAN I call it?" and they suggested "historically-inspired fantasy," which sounds like something to go with. And at the end of the 8-minutes session, they said "This sounds right up my alley. Send it to me when it's ready," and gave me their card. I was not expecting that, and was very happy. :D
And now, I shall drink my Dr. Pepper to get rid of my not-enough-caffeine headache, and recuperate from being around PEOPLE.
