WriteOnCon Online Conference

There has been some amazing information shared so far on the WriteOnCon site. I just wanted to share (probably what several others have shared already) one of the posts I especially enjoyed. Without further ado...

(This really speaks for itself)

Writer's Conference Photos

Sorry some of these are not the greatest quality. I am a writer, not a photographer. And it took me long enough to get them on here, right?

Uh, yeah, just ignore the ugly person to the right. The cute one, on the left, is Jennifer Hunt, Editorial Diretor at Little, Brown Books (also Sara Zarr's editor). She was very nice and down to earth.

Here are a couple of pictures of the book signing segment of the conference. Mary E. Pearson is there at the table (above). You will also notice (if you look closely) our very own Elana Johnson of the Blogosphere, chatting with some personages.

Alane Ferguson was a riot. I really loved her class on first pages. I could listen to her speak all day long and then some.

Here is some finale silliness that they put on for us. The pictures just don't do it justice. Mary Kole is seen sitting there, in the blue. And at the microphone is author, Carol Lynch Williams who, along with Lisa Hale, organized the conference.

The video below explains it better than pics.

Tons of silliness. Tons of fun. Hope I can go back again some day. It was great!

Utah Writer's Conference

Sorry I took so long to talk about the Writer's Conference. I also would have pics but those will have to come later. (Sorry sorry sorry...but they will be well worth the wait, I hope =).
The conference was held in Sandy, Ut at the Waterford School. I only went to half days (unfortunate this, because I heard SOOO many great things about the morning classes). Here is a rundown of what we did:

Monday we had intros to the 'staff' (authors, editor, and agent). I couldn't stay for anything else that day because of babysitting issues...

Tuesday: Christopher Robbins (he was sure to make sure we knew he wasn't the cartoon character =) did an impromptu talk on the world of publishing, how the problems with the economy affected book sales, and what the future holds. Actually, he said that the children’s book market wasn’t really affected. People still want what’s best for their kids, and obviously that means books. As for YA, it was a little affected, but the future is bright. Adult books were the most affected, but I’m sure they will also get better.

He really emphasized what Publisher’s costs were because many writers are always under the impression that they are scanty with their pay-outs and picky about whom they take on. Really it came down to the investment they put in to each writer and he listed all the costs related to each book (and each department that works on said book). This I realized, as I am sure most of you do. There are a lot of people that work to put out a book. It costs a lot. Paper costs a lot. This:   Publisher

is the publisher that Mr. Robbins heads up. He made it a point to let us know that they are doing their part in using as much recyclable material as possible with each book they print off.

Another interesting thing (that again, should be obvious, but I didn’t really think much about) is that besides we, as writers, being the best sellers of our books (word of mouth, etc), we should also be thinking of the future in terms of how to best sell or market our MS. There are new technologies coming out all the time and if we can think of ways to configure our work into the world of tech., then we have a better chance of selling it.

Just a thought.

(Sorry this is going to be a long post…hopefully it is helpful to you).

LATER: Ally Condie (novelist, who wrote ‘Matched’) spoke to us about her experiences getting to the point she is at now. I won’t go into much detail, but one point that really resonated with me as a mom was that we all have lives. Each and every one of us is busy. We have family, kids, relatives, friends, work, whatever. But we still write. If it is important to us, we do it.

Anyway, maybe I shouldn’t go into too much detail about the conference or this post will end up being longer than all the posts I have on here altogether. Needlesstosay, I met and talked with several authors, including Alane Ferguson, Ann Dee Ellis, Mary E. Pearson, Sara Zarr, Ally Condie (as noted above), etc. As well as agent Mary Kole, and editor (of Sara Zarr) Jennifer Hunt. Alane Ferguson was great! She talked about first chapter blues. Ways that we can do a good job (cutting out first scenes that start in dream sequence, characters alone, thinking, writing for YA but focusing too much on adult characters…because we ARE adults and it is easy to escape into the mind of an adult character, and there were more…just basically making us CARE about the MC and jumping right into an emotion-packed sequence…but not TOO emotional, otherwise we don’t care) Blah blah blah…I can hear all your thoughts. You are all so brilliant and don’t need my blathering =). HA!

Anyway, she, Elane, did what she calls ‘Flash Critiquing’ of a couple of first pages from people in the class. She would have done more, but time was afleeting.

The Closing Ceremonies were an excellent array of silliness and prizes. Sadly, I didn’t win anything, BUT I DID get a copy of one of Sara Zarr’s books for asking a question of her editor, Jennifer Hunt, while the latter spoke to us about the publishing world. (Sara Zarr handed it to me personally! Swoons. JK =) (I’m trying to be modest and humble about this…can you tell? NO really. I am.)

On another note: I just finished ‘The Adoration of Jenna Fox’ by Mary E. Pearson. WHAT A BRILLIANT BOOK!!! No wonder they are making it into a movie! (check into that, I will). (link to her news) She really is a superb writer and really inspires me. There are certain things I really wanted to do, sort of like on the old movie ‘Willow’ where the magician of the village asks Willow ‘which finger holds the power’ (or something like that) and he wants to pick his own finger but thinks that is stupid. That is how I feel. There are things I really wanted to do in my book, but discarded those ideas because I thought I was ‘up in the night’. Now that I have been on my own personal journey of writing I am going to go back to those ideals and weave them into my story.

There is no holding back.

The only person that can make me fail,

Is

MYSELF.

Always remember that! (well, in your case it would be YOU that makes you fail, not me…please don’t come after me… =)

Just let loose those creative genes and be daring! Let go of all inhibition (unless that other inner voice is telling you, you really are being crazy =).

Sorry, again, this is a long post. I really learned a lot. But those of you who can’t make it to a conference, don’t despair! There are other ways to learn. The internet is a wonderful tool. Use it correctly and it will help you overcome your obstacles. I love it! It is my learning tool, my helper, my non-living teacher. There are many resources out there. Use them!

My secret adiction

Before I go into a post all about how awesome the writers conference has been, I thought I would gather my thoughts (and photos) and decide what to write. Didn't want to plunge in without a moment after it was all over to download and otherwise process the events.

Meanwhile...

I purchased three books...actually, I take that back (see, this is why I have to think before I write), I bought two books (the third was graciously given to me by Jennifer Hunt and Sara Zarr...more on that later). These books I plan on using for inspiration for my next stint of writing. I already started Sara Zarr's book 'Story of a Girl' and am already pumped up.

Anyway, more on my point for this post...I happen to have a weakness for The Lord of the Rings. I have read the books several times, of course watched the movies. But something I do that may seem crazy to anyone but myself (and my husband can attest to this because he does it with me) is that I watch ALL of the discs of the making of the movies in the extended collectors adition. I also love watching the entire movie with the commentary (and I'm talking about EVERY movie, Fellowship, Two Towers, etc) listening to the actors, art dept., you name it, ALL the commentary. (I know, crazy right?) This is something that absolutely fascinates me to no end.

If I didn't have children (which would be sad, because I love them to death)...IF I didn't and IF I knew what I know now, had the experiences etc that I have now, I would have LOVED to go off to New Zealand with my husband and work on the LOTR Trilogy! That would have been the absolute best. I don't even care what dept. I would do anything just to be apart of something so amazing.

My point with this is...I was watching 'The Making' of LOTR tonight instead of reading (because I just had to =) and it got to the part where they talked about the editing of the film. Well, it was totally inspiring.

When they showed the part where Gollum dies and the ring is destroyed, they decided to change the sequence. Originally it was very quick. Gollum falls. Ring sinks. The end. The hobbits get the heck out of there. Well, to make it more dramatic, they decided to prolong the agony, so to speak. This made it so much more enjoyable. They followed two struggles:

One: Sam trying to get Frodo not to let go and...

Two: The fall of Gollum and the demise of the ring.

This cutting back and forth really impressed me with my own MS. How can I make that moment, where the 'bad guy' is conquered, more dramatic? Do I just kill them off and that is it? Or can I go back and add, drag out (in a teeth chattering way) the final demise? Now, this may seem obvious, but it really hit me just then for some reason.

I know I can do better.

Now I have been inspired. I have more of an idea on how I can do this. And now I know I can do it. (Thank you Peter Jackson!)

But in all earnestness I have always been inspired by JRR Tolkein as well as Peter Jackson when he turned those amazing books into film. Very great. Love it!



Now..to the rest of the conference. I will try to gather my notes soon and create a post on my experiences. In the meantime, if anyone has questions about Writer's Conferences, please email me. (this is my first, so I am in no way an expert, but I will do my best =).

Tomorrow is the last day. I am in part happy that it is over (no more long drives and painful 'goodbyes' with baby) and in part very sad. I really have loved the experience.



PS. If this post was poorly written, just keep in mind that I wrote this after 11pm at night...WAY past my bed time! =)

Writers Conference Update and yet another contest/web conference!!!

Okay, I know my title was a mouthful, but stay with me.

The writers conference today was VERY exciting. (((I saw Mary Kole!!!))) I didn't get to talk to anyone yet because I was only there to get my badge and go to the orientation (we'll call it: Babysitter Mayhem Monday), but I was still psyched about being there! (Watch out I may use exclamation points quite often in this post!!!). Tomorrow there will be much more to say about the conference, so stay tuned.

Speaking of conferences, Elana Johnson and friends have come up with a very cool idea: to have an online, FREE, writers conference! They, again, will have people like Mary Kole, Josh Berk, Mary Kole, Lindsay Eland, Mary Kole, and oh yeah, Mary Kole! =) I have a countdowner on my sidebar so y'all will know when it is, or you can head on over to Elana's fabu blog (Elana's fabu blog link) and get the details as well as some other awesomeness contests.

Thanks for stopping by.

Comment.

I love those things.

Yeah. That's it for now =).

I'm going to a Writer's Conference!

I am going to my very first Writer's Confernce! I am so excited. I had to share my news.

As a surprize for my birthday this weekend, my husband's family presented me with Utah's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference afternoon session packet. In the midst of moving and really not wanting to bother finding people to watch my three little angels, my sister(s)-in-law and mother-in-law took care of any worries I had about finding the means or a way to go. So, I will have to take good notes and tell you all about it.

For all you Utahns, or out-of-towners attending this confernce, let me know if you will be there and maybe we can meet up! I am so excited to meet agents, editors and writers alike. I have heard many great things about these conferences and can't wait to see how it goes and what I can learn. I am hoping this will be the first of many opportunities to go.

If you have gone to this or another conference, tell me all about it in the comments section! I would love to hear your stories, any advice you can give for people going, and any other little tidbits you would like to share.