I volunteered for the editor/agent appointments on Saturday. Not that anyone ever really volunteers—we all fight each other tooth and nail, desperate to get in close enough to stalk and hunt these people. The closer you get, the better life gets, like a constant adrenaline rush.
Editor, agent--within ten feet and closing fast! It helps if you know what they look like. I woke up late, dressed as fast as I could, rushed over for the obligatory stale bagel, and ripped down the escalator. Turns out the time was wrong and I wasn’t just early—I was super early. A good thing since I was sweating and bleary from lack of sleep.
The room was almost empty. Not that it stayed that way.
Funny how there are always people who never show up or are late. It’s a job interview. Everyone else was there for hours, and these guys breeze in after we start loading. One woman came up to me as everyone was sitting down to the tables. We’d given her appointment away and she was furious. She wanted us to run over to the other woman and pull her out of the chair. Three emails and you figure people would realize they were supposed to arrive fifteen minutes ahead of time.
One guy came up during the appointments, said an agent requested his full and he wanted us to hand deliver it while he waited around to answer questions. Yeah, right.
After the appointments let out I hit up a lecture and went back to the room. It’s been weird. Maybe it was the heat, but I felt it more—the noise, the pressure. Like being in a big psychic vise. Cool because me and Teresa did more plotting. Chellesie came back and got all dressed to run after an agent.
The agent (in the black dress at the end of the hall) was faster. Maybe she was trying to get in line.
Or find the woman in the bridal gown...
Or maybe eat a little more chicken...White this time. People were fighting it—you could tell. By the third day no one wanted another piece of chicken. There were strange vegetables. Mini rutabagas, hard cauliflower, some random red thing with seeds and sweet potatoes.
Or maybe she just wanted to watch the ceremony and wind up the conference.
It was over too soon...
...and then we were gone. We'll be back next year.
7 comments:
It looks like you had fun, and at least that chicken is recognizable as chicken. Not too shabby.
Now that it's all over and you've had time to think, what was your favorite part of the conference this year?
seriously? I know it sounds geeky, but the five intense minutes of free advice on my wip from Brenda Chin (who was sitting in with my targeted editor), and the trouble shooting I did later that night with Chellesie and Teresa. I was tired, red-eyed, and freaked out, but...I'm moving quickly through my requested partial, trying to make it work for them. It needs a serious revision.
....and getting to listen to Christie Craig in person. I cried, of course. She had something like three or four hundred rejections and she brought them with her.
...and Debbie Maccomber.
Totally awe-inspiring.
Now there's a lucky break, two editors for the price of one. She's over Harlequin Blaze, right? And a requested partial? Go you!
I've considered ordering some of the workshops to listen to, but there are so many. Any suggestions?
People amaze me. And so does all of the freaky, colorful looking food you've snapped photos of during this trip.
Good luck on that partial and the revision! Like Hailey said, go you.
Hi Andi! You know wherever you go, it's got to be chicken. It's almost mandatory. I never thought I'd miss the appetizer spread they usually do for the Golden Hearts, but at least it was variety.
Nah, Brenda Chin is in charge of Blaze, but Lara Barth is an American editor. Very home and family with strong sense of location. Something I've always focused on, but in a sidelong way.
She said, "It's so different. It's either going to work, or not work. When you're done, send a partial."
lol. Honesty. Pretty cool.
My suggestion for the conference CD would be to buy the whole thing if you can afford it. It's eight dollars for one, and 130 for the whole thing. It's about a hundred lectures.
I love the Christie Craig lecture, but it's what I need right now.
I hate to say that the lectures I went to blurred, but even the "big" ones all felt regurgitated somehow. And they overlapped badly. Some people were simply in awe of the names, but I met a couple of craft geeks and they felt the same way. Looking for something different. Something to go click.
I'll probably find something once I start going through the mp3s later, but if it's out there, I haven't heard it yet. The whole conference DVD doesn't ship till close to the end of August or early September.
If Debbie Maccomber did anything, I'd like to listen to it. She was a wonderful speaker at the Golden Heart and so nice.
Oh! I like the facebook and blog lecture, but I think you're beyond that. I was trying to integrate my blog with my FB and they suggested turning your FB to private and starting a public FB "page" for your public persona. I'm still building mine, but soon now...
A requested partial sounds good to me.
Yay and hoping for the best...!
me too, Deanna. :)
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