1. I
wish I hadn’t stressed so much.
a. Let’s
get this one out of the way because it’s one of those obvious and often useless
pieces of advice. Prior to going to this conference, I read not to stress out
but nothing was going to prevent that, so here’s what I have to say. Try to
remember that when it’s all over you will think you wish you didn’t stress it
so much so it’s not going to be as bad as what you’re stressing. At the same
time, don’t stress your stressing. Just try to roll with it as much as you can.
But be prepared to stress and bring some help like Vitamin C, a sleep aid,
headache medicine, food, Abreva, etc.
b. However,
a warning about stressing it. I was stressing it so much, I was having an
adrenaline rush for the first 5 hours and it really burned me out for the next
day.
c. Also,
the one thing I was really stressing was meeting agents and when I couldn’t
find any to talk to or meet, I started to really flip out so when I did finally
meet one, I talked her head off and felt pretty dumb afterwards. If you stress
too much, it will show.
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| photo ©2008 , Flickr |
22. I
wish I volunteered.
a. First
thing I learned when I got there was volunteers get to sit in the classes for
free. Sure you won’t get the full conference experience but you will get to do
many classes for free, meet lots of other writers who are volunteering and
coordinators who are usually people in the business. I’m really happy that I
paid for the first one and got to have the full conference experience but it
was uber expensive, so in the future I’m volunteering and doing this thing for
free.
33. I
wish I had better prepared for Obama.
a. So
Obama was speaking at the Masonic center right next to the conference hotel.
The conference coordinators told us to be prepared for the street to be closed
to traffic so I made sure to arrive a good hour and a half early. The street
was to open back up around the time the conference that day ended but what I
didn’t realize was that I parked in the same lot as the place the president was
at, so it was all blocked off, and I didn’t get to leave for a couple hours
after the conference ended. Why is that a big deal? I hadn’t checked into my
hotel yet, the next day the conference started early, I still needed to shower,
I was hungry and exhausted, and it was midnight.
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| photo ©2009 , Flickr |
44. I
wish I called and cleared up parking with my hotel.
a. So
after the Obama fiasco, I set out to drive back to my hotel and like an idiot,
I didn’t print out directions to my hotel, just from my hotel to the conference
hotel. Just follow the directions backwards right? Wrong, ONE WAY STREETS. Plus
in San Francisco they have NO TURN signs everywhere so I kept getting close to
my hotel but then I couldn’t turn! Even worse when I finally did get on the
hotel street I couldn’t figure out where the parking was or turn around or
figure out how to get back. I had to call the hotel from my car in tears
telling them I couldn’t find their parking lot, and they informed me, they did
valet parking only. Oh.
55. I
wish I had brought a larger variety of food and got food on the first day.
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| photo ©2010 , Flickr |
a. I
was so nervous on the first day, I never stopped to eat on the drive up. I had
this impression that if I got hungry one of the hotels I was at, either the
conference or my hotel, would have snacks or a café available particularly
because the conference mentioned a café in the brochure. Turns out nope. The restaurant
at the conference hotel was wicked expensive and the café only served coffee. I
didn’t even get to my hotel until midnight, and they didn’t have anything
either. I don’t even remember a vending machine. All I had to eat on that first
day was granola bars. I brought tons and tons of granola bars for snacks along
with some string cheese, apples and bananas. I had a banana but the apples
turned out too difficult to pull off in public. When I woke up the next day, I
swear I had lost weight.
66. I
wish I didn’t waste my time hunting down agents like game hens.
a. When
I first arrived, I intended to find every agent and editor I could and talk to
them prior to the agent speed dating. The first day, none were in sight, but on
day two there was a social mixer. Myself and other conference attendees saw
this as the opportunity to talk to industry professionals and everyone squished
into this teeny tiny room with some hors
d'oeuvres and
two drink tickets and the hunt was on. Problem was agents and editors aren’t
stupid, and they didn’t want to get attacked in a crowded little room so almost
none came. I turned down an offer to go to dinner with a writer I met and
circled the room like a vulture only to end up disappointed and hungry at the
end.
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| photo ©2010 , Flickr |
I did happen to meet one agent that night. It was at the very end when I
had given up and slumped down at a table with a couple writers I knew. I
introduced myself to someone I didn’t know and long behold the woman was an
agent who represented historical women’s fiction. I effectively gave my pitch,
and she responded well then asked another question about the book, but without
any more memorized lines, my excitement overwhelmed me, and I just spewed out
all this information about my book which is not what you are supposed to do. It
was embarrassing and unnecessary because I had plenty of time during the pitch
sessions and could have talked to her then without the extra time word vomit
all over the place.
77. I
wish I took pictures throughout for my blog.
a. I’ve
done all these blogs on the conference, and I don’t have any pictures from the
conference. I could have taken them and used them here!
88. I
wish I didn’t have certain preconceived notions.
a. I
did a lot of research on the conference before I went and read a lot of blogs
like this one getting tips and ideas, but I also got a lot of personal experiences
from the bloggers. As I’m sure you’ve gotten from me. There are good
experiences and bad experiences, anecdotes, and plain old good and bad luck.
When I went to the conference these were all swirling around my head, so I had
a lot of expectations that turned out to be wrong. So for your benefit here is
my wrong expectation list:
i.
There are going to be agents everywhere, I’m
going to talk with all of them, and land one. WRONG.
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| photo ©2009 , Flickr |
ii.
When you pitch to an agent all you are doing is
asking permission to send them a query, which you could do without their
permission. WRONG. You can do it without their permission sometimes, but you
don’t get that we met factor. Plus a lot of agents that frequent conferences
either give preference or only accept queries from conference goers.
iii.
All I’m going to meet is freaks and crazy people
who think they are writers. There will only be a select few who are at a higher
level. WRONG. Almost everyone will have
fantastic ideas and amazing books. There will only be one or two crazies.
Crazies can rarely afford this kind of thing.
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| You're not going to meet a bunch of nuts - photo ©2008 , Flickr |
iv.
This is either going to be really great or a
complete waste of time. WRONG. There were classes and experiences that were
awesome and others that I left early because they were a waste, but that’s just
me. The same classes may have been awesome for others. These things are so big,
some of it will be great and some won’t. It’s for people of all levels so just
do your best to stick with what’s at your level.
v.
I won’t get caught up and I’ll keep my head on
straight. WRONG. Midway through day two, I was starting to lose it. I was losing
my confidence. I started thinking I couldn’t get an agent, I couldn’t get
published, I wasn’t good enough, this is all a huge waste of money, etc. How
did I get out of this funk? First off, I recognized that I was in it and tried
to give myself a break – I relaxed and reminded myself what I was getting and
benefiting from. Think happy thoughts. I let myself go out to eat that night
and get to bed early. I also talked to people and admitted I felt like I was on
a rollercoaster and it turns out so were they. That was comforting. I wasn’t
alone. Think about this ahead of time, what could you do for yourself to help
you get out of a funk?
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| Keep Your Head on Straight! - photo ©2011 , Flickr |
vi.
This is all about meeting an agent not about
meeting other writers. DEAD WRONG. The most important thing you will gain from
this experience is connections with other writers. Not only are you making
contacts with people who can support you, give you advice and ideas or even
reading feedback, but maybe one day can help you when they get published with a
blurb or something. The most valuable thing I left the conference with was a
bag full of business cards and an invite to a writers’ group that I absolutely love.
I hope some of this was helpful. Please send
me any questions or comments via email or the comments feature on this blog.
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