Show the LOVE and Win Prizes!

It's time to spread the news!

What's better than attending an awesome writers conference? How about getting huge prizes just for talking about it! Storymakers is hosting an amazing contest, and I should know, because I WON this contest 2 years ago. I was treated to a seat at the table with some of the big names in publishing and I loved every second of it!

The following is from Storymaker's blog:
"Ah, love ... don't you just love love? The month of February is the best month of all for celebrating love ... no, not because of Valentine's Day, silly! It's time for the Show Your Love contest in conjunction with the LDStorymakers Writers Conference!

"Prizes: Three lucky people will win seats at a star-studded VIP table for Friday night's dinner. That's right - Kevin J. Anderson, Molly O'Neill, Holly Root, Michelle Wolfson, and Kathleen Ortiz will be your dinner companions. I recommend watching for parsley between your teeth. You're responsible for getting yourself to and into the conference, and we'll take care of the rest (except for the parsley) because we're good like that.

But that's not all - let me break it down for you.
First Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table, a query critique, and two-page manuscript critique

Second Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table and a two-page manuscript critique
Third Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table
Fourth Place Prize: Query critique and 10-page manuscript critique
Fifth and Sixth Place Prizes: Query Critiques
*Our special thanks to Holly Root, Lisa Mangum, Michelle Wolfson, Kirk Shaw, Kathleen Ortiz, and Weronika Janczuk for donating our prizes!"

There you go. How cool is that? For rules and details, please check out their post.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Storymaker's website --if you put your cursor over the conference tab, it will scroll down so you can peruse that info. They are also on Facebook.

So here's a question for you. If you could sit and have lunch with ANYONE in the publishing industry, who would it be and why?

Are Writing Conferences Worth It?

I've often heard writers question the value of writing conferences. Are they worth the time, money, travel, inconvenience to attend? My answer to all of the above is a resounding yes! Let me explain.

I have been active in the online writing community for about five years, especially on goodreads. I thought I was doing everything I could to connect with writers and advance my writing career. When a neighbor mentioned the Storymakers conference, I thought it would be fun, but had no real expectations.

Me, Sheralyn Pratt & Kimberley Little

The 2010 Storymakers conference, in Provo Utah, rocked my world. I met awesome writers whose books I'd already read like Jessica Day George, James Dashner, Dan Wells, David Farland, Aprilynne Pike, Anita Stansfield, Stephanie Black, and loads more.

Me with Don Carey & Tamera H. Heiner
(with red eye, *sigh*)

I also made connections with the publishing side of things. I had lunch with Krista Marino, the editor for Random House Delacorte Press, and in 2011, I became friends with Lisa Mangum, author of the Hourglass Door trilogy and editor for Deseret Book.

The classes were helpful and extremely relevant to my needs as a writer. They have breakouts to address every stage, published or aspiring, because no matter who we are, we always have room to learn.

Me with Lisa Mangum
(People say we look alike.
What do you think?)

Me laughing with Melissa Cunningham,
Jordan McCollum (across)
& Cathy Witbeck

Another HUGE plus for attending is that all attendees are invited to become a part of Authors Incognito, a sister group to Storymakers. Now I am a part of a whole online community that I didn't know existed. Now when there are contests, workshops, conferences, and other writerly things happening, I hear about it. I have editor friends who can beta read my manuscripts, people to comiserate when my muse flies the coop, or when I get one rejection too many on any given day.
How can you attend Storymakers this year? Check out their registration here for details. You meet some of the writers who are going on this blog.

If you live too far from Provo to make the drive, I suggest you find a writers conference near you and go for it. Your writing career will thank you for it.

Have you ever gone to a conference? Or wanted to? What did you take away from the experience?

My Successful Pitch

Hello awesome cyber-buddies! I'm thrilled to report that I got a request for a partial this weekend for COYOTE DREAMS! Yay! Would you like to hear my pitch? This is how it went...


After she smiled and shook my hand, she said, "so tell me about your story."
My pitch:

It's a coming of age story about sixteen-year-old Jenna who lives on the Sho-Ban reservation near Pocatello, Idaho. After her father has a near fatal accident, she has to run the family farm alone. But the dog that caused the accident is still harassing and killing her animals. This is no ordinary dog, but the fabled Coyote spirit.

Two neighbor boys, a farm boy and an Indian, offer to help, but their interest develops into something more than friendship. Jenna finds their attention both exciting and unsettling at the same time.

As the problems on the farm and the Coyote's attacks increase, she learns that accepting help is not weakness or failure. But when the Coyote goes after her little brother, she has to overcome her fears to save both their lives.

Coyote Dreams is 74,000 words and is similar to HATTIE BIG SKY, but with native mysticism and modern day characters.

Do you have any questions about my story?
 
The first thing she said was, "wow, that's a really good pitch. It sounded like the back of a book." Then she asked some questions and it ended with a partial request.
 
The reason why I'm posting this is because everywhere I turn people are saying shorter! Shorter! make it a one liner! Last year I did what they said and hacked at my poor query until it was something like this:
 
"After Jenna's father has a near-fatal accident, she must run the farm alone, but the dog which caused the accident is around and killing her animals. But this is not ordinary dog, it's the fabled Coyote."
 
The editor said, "so it's a horror then?" 
 
Um, no. Not even close.
 
I was so worried about getting it short, I'd lost the feel of what my story was about. This year I trusted my gut, listened to Elana Johnson on how to write an awesome query, and then followed the advice at Pitch University. And this time, I feel that regardless of what comes of this, I gave her a true look at what my story was really about.

***Update! I learned that your one liner/elevator pitch doesn't have to sum up the story, it can be a simple comparison to give the reader a feel for your story. For instance, my one liner for COYOTE DREAMS could be, "It's a contemporary coming of age story with Toni Hillerman aspects." Tada! Now you know it has some Native feel aspects but you also know it is a coming of age. I love learning new things!
 
Would you like to hear one more cool moment from this weekend? My boot camp instructor, Sheralyn Pratt said, "your writing is like the Mississippi; it's smooth and deep. It flows and takes you on this journey."
 
I'm going to write that one down in my journal. I'm still thankful that she said that about my story.

Come to Storymakers 2011 Writer's Conference with me!

Storymakers 2011 conference is coming May 6-7 in Salt Lake City, Utah!


Last year was my first year attending, and it was wonderful! I had dinner with Jessica Day George, James Dashner, and David Farland to name a few. I learned so much about how to be a better writer and what’s more, I made friends that are a big part of my life now.

The other day, my daughter and I were looking at books in a store and I pointed to eight different authors who I knew. It is so cool to know that those great stories were written by people who are nice and fun to visit with.

So, here’s the info if you’d like to check it out.

Storymaker's Conference

Storymakers Website

Storymakers Facebook Page

Storymaker’s Blog

It would be more fun to see you there in person, but if you can’t make it, I’ll still report back on the highlights and tips I find there.

BTW, If you register and blog/tweet about it, you can win a seat at the dinner table with Larry Brooks, agent Sarah Crowe, senior editor Marcia Markland, James Dashner, and Becca Stumpf. Details are  here  at the Show Your Love Contest.

A Panel Discussion with Stephanie Black

This is part 2 of 5 covering the awesome panel discussion. Part 1 is here.

I had the opportunity to visit with Stephanie Black over dinner with her friend, Gregg Luke, at Storymakers 2010. They both were very personable and open. A Whitney Award Winner, Stephanie is the author of several books, including Methods of Madness.

At the panel discussion, Stephanie said to “give yourself permission to write a lousy first draft. It means freedom.” When she writes, she presses forward, writing to the end of a manuscript. Then she goes through it three times before using her test readers. “It’s all about the rewriting.” In her recent blog post Finish Line Jitters on June 23rd, she opens up about some of the angst she feels in letting go of her manuscript.

She needs “something of an outline to get going.” When her children were young, she wrote during naps. They were “golden. Nothing else got done—unless it was an emergency…like my mother in law coming over.”

Writers must “give up TV or whatever and squeeze that (writing) time in.” She subscribes to the idea that you don’t have time for everything, so make time for the things that matter by eliminating the things that don’t.

In regards to a writing career and getting published, Stephanie advises “make sure you do your research so you can go about it the right way. Don’t just stumble around.”

I was impressed by how she maintained an air of professionalism about her while still coming across as a real, down-to-earth, nice person.

Have you come across any cool action filled novels that are clean like her books? Which are your favorites?

A Visit With Heather Justesen, Author of Rebound

I recently had the privilege of reading Heather Justesen’s new release, REBOUND, and I couldn’t put it down.

You can read my review HERE but I bet you can already guess that I really enjoyed this book.

Heather is a fellow member of Author’s Incognito and she was kind enough to answer a few questions about her writing experience.

1. How long from when you started looking did it take you find your publisher/agent?

The LDS market is very small, so there are far fewer places to submit, and we don't use agents. I started submitting my first book in early March and had a contract in late September—but Cedar Fort had only had my manuscript for a couple of months before they offered to publish it.

2. Were you surprised with how many edits your editor asked of you or was it what you expected?

Honestly, I'm not sure what I expected. I did very few edits—and I've since learned it was far fewer than most publishers go through. That means I have to be extra diligent about self-editing and getting good feedback from reliable sources--but then, that's true no matter what publisher you work with.

3. Did you ever feel like giving up on your quest to be published?

I took several breaks during my journey to being published (and it was nearly 10 years before I got a contract) but not because I decided I didn't care, so much as because I had other priorities that had to come first.

I love writing and can't imagine giving it up, but I've had my moments of doubt about whether I would ever see a book in print, or if I was wasting my time--I don't know anyone who doesn't feel that way from time to time.

4. What is the hardest part about writing for you?

Building enough plot to keep the momentum going. I started out as a seat-of-your-pants writer and had trouble pushing the book through to the end because I either didn't build enough conflict into the manuscript, or I wasn't using the conflict I had well enough, so I would start to flounder around 60%-70% of the way through. I still struggle with that, but I do some basic plotting ahead of time now, so I have a better idea of where I'm going.

5. What's the easiest?

The first kiss--that scene pretty much writes itself!

6. Has your family always been supportive of you being a writer or did anyone need convincing?

I still remember telling my mother-in-law that I was going to be a writer and her saying "That's a nice hobby, but what are you going to do for a living?" Then she read one of my early manuscripts and became one of my staunchest supporters. =)

As for my family, my siblings claim they always knew I would be a writer one day--apparently I was the only one taken by surprise. I guess I'm very lucky in that my Uncle Allan Burgess was published many times over during his life, so it wasn't this odd fantasy that my family scoffed at--it was a totally doable goal.

7. How many drafts of your queries did you go through before you found one that worked?

You don't really do a normal query in this market, because all of the publishers take unsolicited submissions, but I'm terrible and admit that I only tweaked my cover letters a couple of times each before sending them. I've since learned a great deal more about queries and am taking this a lot more seriously in future submissions, including getting feedback from people who know more about a good query letter than I do.

8. I heard you mention in Danielle Ferguson’s interview that your next few books don't have basketball in them. Is there a reason you held to the basketball theme for the 1st two and then changed out for the next?

I don't think that was a conscious decision, actually. The fact is, I established in the first book that Curtis played basketball, and I wanted to make him a main character in the second book, so it ended up being basketball related. The next book in the series uses characters that aren't basketball players--and those characters actually existed before either of the books I have published. Sometimes I make decisions about what kinds of things I want the characters to be doing, and sometimes they tell me how it's going to be. =)

9. what did you want to be when you grew up?

I ran the gamut, but in college I seriously considered marine biology, and even took a bunch of heavy chemistry and biology classes, but changed to English Lit partway through my first year. I really didn't know what I wanted to be when I finished, but I remember thinking I wanted to do something with books and publishing, because I love books so much--but I wasn't going to be a writer, so I didn't plan for that at all! Writing is something that happened to me, and I found that I loved it and couldn't let it go, so I went after it. It wasn't something I planned from childhood like so many people I know--if it were, I probably would have been published years ago.

10. Is there any fun thing about yourself that we don't know?

I'm mildly allergic to melons, so I can hardly ever eat them, and I have a real thing for Rice Crispy Treats using the cocoa flavored cereal. So yummy!

11. anything else you'd like to mention?

Check out my BLOG between June 21 and 25th for some really fun giveaways!

Thank you ,Heather, for both the enjoyable read and the interview. It’s been fun getting to know you better!