I’m off to a slow start this morning. I’m back home after an amazing weekend at the Willamette Writers Conference, and though I’m happy, my brain is, well, mush. So let’s take a bleary look at last week’s goals and see if I can come up with something to shoot for this week.
Last Week
- Prep elevator pitches for Something Sulfurous and Victoria
- Prep additional Something Sulfurous pitches for #DVpit
- Draft packing list/pack for #WilWrite22
- Enjoy #WilWrite22
How'd I Do?
- Prep elevator pitches for Something Sulfurous and Victoria
- Prep additional Something Sulfurous pitches for #DVpit
- Yes and No. I didn’t really prep formal pitches/elevator pitches for Something Sulfurous or Victoria. I talked about them more organically with fellow writers than I expected, which I’ll talk more about in my Conference Wrap Up post later this week. However, I did participate in #DVpit and did get an agent like on one of them, which I’ll talk more about later in this post!
- Prep additional Something Sulfurous pitches for #DVpit
- Draft packing list/pack for #WilWrite22
- Enjoy #WilWrite22
- Yes and Yes! My packing list was surprisingly short, and several people commented on how little I brought for a 4-day conference (one carry-on sized duffel bag and a backpack). What can I say, I’m a simple lady who doesn’t need much. As for enjoying the conference… It was such a great weekend! I don’t want to go on too long about it here, but it was definitely the highlight of my summer so far.
- Enjoy #WilWrite22
Weekly Word Count: 0
Between day job work and this whirlwind weekend, there was absolutely no writing time. I only slept in my own bed two nights this week. Which does help explain why I’m SO EXHAUSTED today. I did squeeze in some me time on Thursday morning by finally adding those decals to my car. I’d been sitting on them since the winter, and I finally had the time and energy to put them on. I’m very happy with how they turned out!
So, #DVpit. For those unfamiliar with twittter pitch events, here’s the basics: you get six tries to pitch your book in less than 280 characters, including required hashtags for genre and the pitch event. Agents and Editors will go through the tweets liking (for agents) books they want to see more of and retweeting (for editors) books they’d want to see come across their desk. Six tweets, no more than one in any hour, and they all have to be different in some way, because twitter won’t let you tweet the exact same thing twice. So I had to write SIX DIFFERENT pitches for the same book. I spent the better part of two hours on this and it was QUITE the challenge. But, I got it done, and scheduled out all the tweets because I was going to be at school and unable to look at my phone.
SPOILER ALERT: I looked at my phone. A lot.
And an agent liked my final pitch! Now, I think it’s important to say here that, despite anecdotal evidence, the offer rate for requested queries and cold queries is very very similar. Just because this agent requested my query from this pitch event doesn’t mean they are more likely to offer representation. At all. But it’s good practice for pitching, it’s a way to build my online writing community, and it’s a way to build relationships with industry professionals over time. This was my first time participating in a twitter pitch event, so getting a like from an agent is VERY encouraging.
But it wasn’t all good news this week. I did get two story rejections, including one that was being held for consideration so, you know. That’s the life. I sent them out again, queried the agent, and moved on.
Speaking of…
What's Next?
- Read Victoria + make Revision Road Map
- Read a book
- Write something?
This is going to be another weird week. I’m back home and eager to settle into my familiar routines, but we leave for a family reunion on Friday. It’s going to be another busy weekend full of meeting people and being “on” in a sense of talking to strangers. This also means I need to make a packing list and pack – again. AND I have day-job responsibilities on Thursday morning. Soooooo, looks like today, tomorrow, and Wednesday are my reading days for Victoria.
I hear you asking, “what’s a revision road map?” Great question! This will probably find its way into another blog post at some point, but when I sit down to revise a book for the first time I do two things: 1.) I read it all the way through in one sitting (if possible) and try not to change anything. I might make notes in the margins if there’s something egregious, but I try to just read it. 2.) After that initial read-through, I jot down my impressions – what I liked, what I didn’t, where I think it needs the most work, etc., and THEN I’ll read 
through it again and make specific notes about where the biggest priorities are. By the end of this process I have an idea of what the biggest problems are, and what needs fixed in what order. Then I can make revision pass goals and get to work.
It’s a whole thing. And that’s what I want to get done this week. Then next week I can actually dig into the revisions themselves and get this book as good as it can be. I’m hopeful (with no reason based in reality) that this book is different enough that it won’t require much revision…
HA!
I’ll be back later this week to dump out all my #WilWrite22 thoughts, and maybe talk about revision if it goes well this week. Like I said, it’s another busy week, so we’ll see what happens.
Until then, Bloggos,
BZ
