LJWC report

I apologize, I apologize...

It's been much too long since I posted anything of much length or interest here or on my other blog. I've been plumb tuckered out and last week was supposed to be kind of a vacation, but ended up being an emotional rollercoaster instead for various and assorted reasons.

The La Jolla Writers Conference was amazing. If I had my choice of heaven, it would probably be a never-ending writer's conference. I didn't come back with any "bites" per se on my middle grade manuscript, but I learned so much I am almost overwhelmed. I had a great read-and-critique session with a childrens/young adult agent (Laura Rennert) who helped me see where I need to rework TF, which will thus heretofore be called CC. :)

Over the months, I've attempted to research where my manuscript might be considered cliched or overdone, but I think it's hard to know that for sure until you talk to someone in the business who sees submissions day in and day out. Just because you see a few published books on a topic doesn't mean they aren't getting a million submissions on the same behind the scenes.

So, I could just keep plugging on in my revisions and leave the story the way it is and throw caution to the wind, but you know, this is not the "project of my heart." It's simply a project I began to have some fun in between the more serious adult mainstream stuff I'm working on, so I'm willing to rework it and see where it takes me. I had great feedback on my main character, her unique present day circumstances, and my "voice" and humor from both the agent and another children's editor, so I'm going to capitalize on those. My manuscript went from about 200 pages to a shocking 80 when I pulled out all the material related to time shifting, but I'm okay with that. My kids and their friends are enjoying the original, and that's a wide enough audience for me for the first draft.

In the meantime, I have finished a short story and gotten some good feedback on that, although it needs some revisions, I'm working on an essay based on something that happened as a result of my trip, and I might go back to working on my first-ever adult mainstream manuscript before I earnestly get to work on GEW because I've gotten a second wind on it. (Oh, for more time!!!)

I met a lot of authors at the conference. The La Jolla Writers Conference people state they hand pick the staff (who are not paid) to find authors willing to sit and talk and eat with the attendees, and I found this to be true. None of the sessions I attended had more than about 5-7 people, except for keynote addresses and maybe one or two that had about 8-9 people. Several stood out for me especially.

Linda Lael Miller, a prolific author of romances (something like 80), is a smart, funny, down-to-earth lady. I had two sessions with her, including a group read and critique. She has to be one of the most encouraging authors I've talked ever talked to, either in person or online. Her words to me, both face to face as well as on a book jacket she signed, "Julie, you are very talented," will stick with me. Maybe she says that to all the girls, but it meant a lot to me. (And she also told me she didn't tell people that unless she believed it, so nyah :). Watch for the Lifetime TV presentation of Last Chance Cafe on November 13, which is based on her book of the same name.

Sara Lewis, led a session called "Finish what you started." This was timed perfectly as it came right after the aforementioned R&C session with the childrens/young adult agent where I realized I needed to revamp my "completed" manuscript a whole heckuva lot. Sara didn't have a chance to answer everyone's questions during the session, so she pointed to me and another lady and said, "You guys are eating dinner with me tonight." True to her word, she came and found us during the cocktail hour before dinner and took her time answering those questions. Neat lady.

It was really fun to sit in on a session with Catherine Ryan Hyde, who wrote Pay it Forward, and chat with her for a while during a book signing session. I'm going to read her book Love in the Present Tense when I'm finished with the other million I'm in the middle of. She has two more stories, Electric God (with Nicolas Cage) and Walter's Purple Heart, in film development.

The last two sessions I attended were led by Ken Kuhlken, who has written a series of private eye mysteries. His upcoming release,The Do-Re-Mi, is about a murder at a hippie folk festival in the early 70s. I think I might have turned him on to David Wilcox. :) Anyway, his first session was about finding your muse, and really resonated with me. (I also learned at this conference that to be a real writer, you have to use the word resonated a lot.) The second was another group R&C where I got some very encouraing feedback from him and the participants on a series of items I am using in my mainstream fiction manuscripts. Both sessions were positive ways to end my first conference experience. I started out in another session and for strange reasons I won't elaborate on here, moved to Ken's. I'd have to consider it "timing with a capital T." :)

All in all, I am thankful I chose this conference and saw it through. Couldn't have asked for a better experience, and if I can go again next year, you can bet I'll be there.