First writing conference

Last week I went to a writing conference. And before you ask, no, I did not get picked up by an agent. I got signed up for the conference late, so all the opportunities to get in front of an agent were taken. They were there, like right there, I was barely able to reach out and touch the hem of their robes.

In general though I met a lot of great people. Books that I can’t wait to read when, and if, they get published. And some that aren’t my type of thing, but good on them. (teen zombie/badger romances aren’t my cup of tea)

The conference was both encouraging and discouraging.

On one hand you have a lot of writers and illustrators in your same situation. They are writing, they think they have something great, and then they query agents for 3+ years. We can relate on the struggles, the heartache, the sheer amount of coffee being consumed.

On the other hand you have agents saying they get 5000 submissions a year and they know they are the gatekeeper to the publisher, but ::shrug::, sorry. Don’t get me wrong, most of them were very nice and know that they are having to pick their super favorite 5 books out of those 5000 when they would love to do a majority of those books.

None of these agents are like Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada, None that I met anyway… I didn’t “see” Anne Hathaway, so maybe...

Now try and convince the agent that wants more books about mermaids to represent a book that is about 3 brothers, cracking jokes, fighting beasts, and is nowhere near an ocean in a book with no mermaids (sorry to break it to ya).

If you know someone who is into that type of book without mermaids send them my way. I may be convinced to throw a unicorn in there. Depends on the offer.