Lessons Learned Part 2

Part two of what I learned at the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Conference

After three hours of driving, I arrived in Worthington Ohio at the Holiday Inn where the conference was being held. Because I hate being late, I got there early and had to wait for Stacey to get there. She is a slow driver! Coming from Michigan automatically means that I drive at least ten miles over the speed limit at all times…driving through Ohio was torture, their speed limit is only 65!

The next lesson that I learned was that I really miss my best friend!  Living 500 miles from Stacey is hard. I was so excited to hang-out with her for the weekend. I was planning on going to the conference all along, but having Stacey meet me there made it that much sweeter.

The first session that we attended was on pitching our novel to an agent or an editor. The pitch practice session was really helpful. We had a small group of seven aspiring authors and one published author. We pitched our novel to the group and then got feedback. Not only was feedback on my own pitch helpful, but listening to others helped me to hear what I was missing in my own pitch. I was really impressed with a few of the others pitches, I hope that they get published so that I can read their books.

After the pitch practice I had two hours until I was going to pitch my novel to Kristin Nelson. I made a few changes to my pitch and I practiced it a few times with Stacey and then I was ready. Well, as ready as I was going to be. I felt exactly like I was going to a job interview. That is what pitching to an agent really is. I am hoping that they will take me on as a client to help me find a publisher for my novel.

At 2:23 my time was up, I had seven minutes to sell my book idea to Kristin Nelson. I was nervous and I think my voice started out a little shaky. But, I got through my pitch. She asked a few questions and then she asked for me to send her the first 30 pages. I am pretty sure that she asks to see everyone’s first 30 who pitch to her in person, but I still have my chance to gain her interest even if I bombed in my pitch.

A week later I sent her my first 30 pages. I am still waiting to hear back. I also sent out my first three chapters of Dreamer to Emily Keyes another agent that I pitched to at the conference. I will save that for next week’s continuation of what I learned. I learned a lot at the conference, so I need to keep you all in suspense until next Friday! And hopefully I will have a positive update from an agent to share as well.