Whew! I Made It Out Alive!

It's Monday, July 20, and I'm still shaking from head to toe. How can I describe the RWA 2009 National Conference? I'm not sure it's possible! Thank you, thank you, for all of your support and prayers while I was away. Your well-wishes make such a difference in my life. Although we have not met in person, I feel we are all kindred spirits. I appreciate you all so much.

Here are a few conference highlights and lowlights:

I met Stephanie Laurens. I met Stephanie Laurens. Yeah. I did. And I almost cried. I could barely speak. I was a complete idiot, grinning, babbling, and here's a picture of the two of us!! She's one of the coolest, classiest, nicest women I've ever met, and I would have loved to ask her a million questions. Yet, I stood there like an imbecile, just basking in her presence. It was awesome!!

Stephanie Laurens and I. I'm the one grinning like a fool on the right! Meeting her was like meeting a movie star. I'll always cherish this picture!

(Funny story. My roomie met her the next day and told her about me. My roomie said, "Stephanie, I'm going to tell Jill you remembered how weird she was," and Stephanie said, "I don't remember anyone being strange. Oh, no, don't tell her that!" Guess what my roomie did? She told me, "Yeah, Stephanie remembered what a spaz you were." I was laughing, yelling, "I know! I was a spaz!" and then she came clean. We laughed so hard!!)

Let's move on. Pitching. Wow. Both of my appointments were on Friday. I woke up with a horrific migraine. I barely made it out of bed, but after a few Motrin tablets and a coffee, I could speak without sounding like a head wound victim. I'm pretty sure my eyes were not focusing properly, though.

My first pitch went well. The agent was professional, friendly, and I was very impressed. I then went straight back to bed with more Motrin and repeated the process later in the afternoon, when I pitched to my target editor. She also was very professional, very honest, and later that evening I processed things both the agent and editor told me. I could see myself working with both women. (And yes, I got two requests for partials, although my book may not work for the editor and she was up front about why, which I appreciated.)

I spent hours in workshops. It's one thing to read guidelines online and another to hear what an editor is looking for from her own mouth. After listening to agents, editors, authors, and publicists speak, I felt like I took a crash course in publishing. I met many warm, inviting, and generous writers. Some were best-selling authors. Some were on the cusp of being published. Some were not entirely certain they want to write for a living. And everyone I met amazed me.

I dare any writer at any level in his or her career to not feel elated and humble in a room of two thousand writers. Talk about inspiring. I can't even express.

What did I take away from the conference?

1. I'm refocusing my energy on what I write best: category inspirational romance (aka: Steeple Hill Love Inspired). I'm not edgy or gritty, and I think targeting suspense is not appropriate for me right now.

2. I can write more. Stephanie Bond gave an incredible workshop on making a living writing romance novels. She broke down how to make money, how to keep your money, how to squeeze out extra pages every day, and how to make annual goals and keep them. If any of you get a chance to take one of her workshops, do it.

3. Steeple Hill authors are genuine, welcoming, and extremely inviting. They went out of their way to include me and I am very thankful to them all.

4. I will not even dream about sight-seeing when I go to another conference. There simply isn't time!

5. Free Books!! I bought tons of books at the Literacy Signing (proceeds go to charity) but I also got plenty of free books. In a few days, two boxes of fresh books will arrive and I can't wait to touch them all.

Again, thank you all for your comments, prayers, and thoughts while I was away. I can't wait to catch up with you all and see what I missed.

Have a wonderful Monday!

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