ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you would like to contribute to the Author's collection basket that we'll have at the raffle for our upcoming conference, please contact Amanda at irisjewel [at] hotmail [dot] com.
If you've registered for the conference, March 15th is the deadline to pay (if you're paying by check at a meeting, next week's Monday meeting is your last opportunity). Payment can also be made online.
Nominations for the officer posts are open till March 18th. This year the offices of President, Treasurer, Conference Coordinator, Publicity, and Education Chairperson are open for election. New persons would assume office in July and serve the group for two years. (Each year half of the officer positions go up for election).
We vote on March 25th at our Monday meeting at the Lutheran Church. If you aren't able to attend you may vote by absentee ballot. Currently the following people are on the ballot:
President: Gregory Kompes, Jo Wilkins,
Treasurer: Karlo O'Hanian
Conference Coordinator: Darrah Whitiker
Publicity: Angelina Hill
Education Chairperson: Beverly Bradley, Darlien C. Breeze
BRAGS and QUOTE:
None this week.
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
Next Monday we'll meet at the Lutheran Church on Tropicana at 6:30. Writer's Pen and Grill meets next Wednesday. For more information about upcoming meetings scroll down and view the calendar on the previous blog post.
WRITING TIP by Jo Wilkins:
Special details – when using description, make your vision of the event come to life by using all your senses. If you can feel, smell and see the person/place you are describing, your reader will too. Use those senses to describe it. If your character is lying in the grass, take the readers there too. Let them feel the blades of grass edging across their legs. Let the smell of it waft into their nose. It’s up to you to make them want to live all the experiences in your story.
DID YOU KNOW?
There is a writer's conference coming up in Idaho. If you're interested check it out at: www.idahorendezvous.com
At the upcoming Spring Fling (a great event) Henderson Writers' Group member Gregory Kompes is headlining with a psychic intuitive hour. The library is interested in featuring local authors at this book fair, if you have books contact them and see if you can get in!
ARTICLES:
This week we have two great articles from Jo and Darlien about pitching and working with agents. Enjoy:
ON PITCHING and BIOS
When you attend a conference and intend to pitch your work to an agent or publisher, be prepared. Do your homework. Know in advance if they want to see a synopsis or not. You wouldn’t go into a job interview with a bank if you wanted to work as a mechanic, so do your research. Follow the links provided by the conference to the agent’s or publisher’s website. Seek out what they have listed and what they are looking for. Look at the books they have sold previously.
When you sit down before them be prepared with a synopsis and Bio. Have an elevator speech (a 30 second blurb about your book) memorized and let it roll off your tongue in as natural a fashion as you can. If you don’t know how to make one, look at the program descriptions in any TV Guide and mimic that. Then shut up for a few seconds to let them review the material and ask questions. If they don’t ask questions drop a few hints about your character or plot, but don’t bore them with a blow by blow discourse on exactly what happens in the story. And by all means, if you see their eyes glazing over, change tactics to a lighter explanation.
-Jo Wilkins
WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN
How I wish someone had mentioned that agents and publishers are not fire -breathing dragons.
Never having met one face to face, my only knowledge of them consisted of form letter rejection slips.
I firmly believed their vocabulary consisted of some version of, “ No thanks. This isn’t right for us but good luck, keep trying” Honestly, I seldom read past “no thanks.” Little did I know at first, that this is actually preferable to no response. When you are waiting- - - forever- - - the mystery continues. When you get a reject letter, the mystery is solved, now, you know for sure.
Imagine my surprise when I learned that these people are really not out to get me. In fact, they want me to succeed. Success for me spells success for them. Agents and publishers view each author they meet with hope in their hearts. Is this the next Harry Potter or Steven king block buster?
I’ve learned that the agents and publishers taking our pitches are human beings. They have the same concerns as the rest of us. If they offer advice, listen carefully, this comes from experience. Thank them and be grateful. If they ask for your first chapter or two try to confine your cartwheel to the corridor outside the meeting area. When you meet them later, offer to buy them a drink. Like I said they're human too.
-Darlien Breeze
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