The Work Begins

Okay, after all that pre-conference pitch talk, it's over. And it was a fantastic conference. Next year, plan to attend the Ozarks Romance Authors' Conference. You'll be glad you did. BTW, it's not just for romance writers.

Agent Louise Fury with L. Perkins gave great advice and was hilarious. Avalon editor Lia Brown was encouraging, warm and also had several publishing gems to share.

Amazingly, I had two pitches. I thought I had only wrangled one. Turns out, I found out about my second pitch at the exact minute it was to occur. Upon discovering this, my eyes bulged, my stomach lurched, and Cecily, the conference chair, asked if I wanted to reschedule. I knew I'd just get nervous so I went, even though that meant showing up a couple of minutes late (and if you only have ten minutes, that's precious time evaporating quickly) so I walked fast to the room.

I knew enough about Avalon that they didn't accept long works, and my women's fiction is 90,000 words. Lia asked if I had anything else. I told her aobut my romantic suspense and she liked the story! Hooray!!! I told her it's about half finished and she asked for a partial whenever it's ready. Yippee. I'm excited to roll up my sleeves and work on it.

My original pitch (the one I knew I had) was with literary agent Louise Fury. I didn't think she represented women's fiction but I still had that pitch in my head (since it's a completed ms), as well as a pitch for a picture book series I'm co-authoring with my daughter. We're about 75 percent finished. Happily, Louise liked my women's fiction premise, asked me to send a partial, AND she wants to see the picture book when it's finished. She also gave me advice about my upcoming project.

That's three separate projects. Plus, I have another one that I haven't yet announced but will soon. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about it but I'm excited, too.

I'm so proud of all my writer friends who got up the courage to pitch. Fingers crossed that many of us will have success. How did your pitch go?