Writing seems like a good place to start with the tale of my recent adventures however so let's roll with that. Fair warning in advance, the timeline of this blog will be all over the shop, but hey, who cares?
So, we got back from Canada this past Monday and the highlight of Canada for me would have to have been the writer's conference. Oh my Gods, that shit was amazing. Listen, if you write or if you want to write, you need to get on this wagon. The general consensus from both attendees and presenters was that SiWC stands out from the crowd in that it's possibly the only conference where people don't get clique-y. The presenters (that is to say well known authors, agents, editors and publishers) are on the same level as that chick who hasn't even started her book yet. They sit with you, have dinner and drinks with you, listen to you ramble about your work, offer pointers, etc. They are hilarious and even more importantly, approachable. The SiWC really underlines the "we are all in this together, we are all people, all peers" thing. So if SiWC is the best there is (and I'd believe it) then you have a year to save up for the next one. And hopefully I can meet you there, because I plan to go again.
I'm told if you can claim the expenses back on tax if your work sells too. So that's nice.
I learned SO MUCH. But one of the things I learned that I didn't expect was that I'm not a "beginner" like I thought I was, and that's kind of nice. Having an actual finished manuscript put me in the minority of attendees, and set me apart in the pitching room. I'll get to that in a minute.
Of course I was scared shitless, but I tried to put that aside. I sat with people, I made small talk. I shamelessly used my internationalness to my advantage because I was something of a novelty, being Australian. You wouldn't think it, being an international convention, but that's how it was. I put myself out there. For the first time very I actually talked about my work - with my voice! - and that was hard, so I practiced in the shower with Obi. Haha. It was a game-changer for me to get out there on the scene and immerse myself in what my industry is doing.
The workshops were fantastic. I took a lot of notes that I've yet to process. The dinners were not at all what I expected, but during them I managed to make two good friends who I am keeping in contact with. Hilarious women who I can share this crazy adventure with. And even the whole breastfeeding thing went fairly smoothly. Obi was an absolute fucking champion about it, and to be fair, so was Selene.
He'd drop me at the conference in the morning around 9ish, bring the baby to me twice throughout the day, pick me up after dinner and repeat the process the next day without so much as a groan of protest. He was, of course, late every damn time! But that was alright. He got a reputation for being "husband gold" when word got out of his stellar supportive efforts.
Of course, on the last day I was there at lunch with my two new friends who had also hit it off, and time truly got away from me. I remembered to look at my watch twenty minutes after I should have been getting in the car, and spun around in my seat just in time to see Obi driving off through the massive hotel windows. Oh shit! Oh no! I had no way to get home. I had no phone! He probably assumed I'd gotten a life with someone else. So with some hasty words I gave chase, knowing he'd circle the building to get out the driveway on the other side. I learned that running in Doc Martians is nigh impossible. Circling the hotel from the other side, I was damn-near in tears, unable to find him. Still I kept on, on the off-chance he'd been going slower than imagined. Hoping for a miracle, like a garbage truck blocking the exit. No such luck!
Then I spotted the car, half way down the hill. Had he pulled over to help the baby with her binky? To make a call? Had he seen me or not? Waving my arms like a crazed loon, tears on my face, I rushed down the hill... and embraced his arse where it stuck out of the back seat. He'd been parking; getting the baby out of the car so he could come into the hotel to find me. Of course he wouldn't just abandon me!
On the second day, I had a pitch appointment booked. In case you're unsure what that's about, it's a ten-minute interview. Generally the writer memorizes a speech about their novel in the hope an agent or publisher will be suitably impressed and take on their work. Well, I wanted to have a spiel memorized, but being on holiday is not conductive to getting work done. I was lucky I'd scraped together enough time to finish my final round of polishing and edits. I'd braistormed at least - on the hotel notepad at Whistler while the babies napped: what else was I to do? More pressingly, why the hell didn't I take my laptop with me?! - but I was so nervous I probably would have forgotten anyway.
You need to arrive for your pitch ten minutes early. While I was waiting I struck up a conversation with a nervous lady with a cast on her arm. She was pretty cool, I'm now stalking her on twitter. Anyway, all too soon the time was upon us... and I bungled it. To say I was completely out of my depth and my own worst enemy would be an understatement. I had my hookline, and that was it. So I gave that, and the agent I spoke with was kind enough to lead me out with questions. She's like "don't be scared, we're just two people having a conversation". Awkward. Anyway, I blundered though as best I could and then at the end she goes "Well it's all in the writing, I will have to see a sample of your writing...blah blah." Now, I'd read that this meant no. Brent Weeks has a bunch of good information for novice writers on his website and as someone who had their first novel rejected 32 times, I'd assume he knows a no when he sees one. So I wasn't terribly excited when she gave me a card and instructed me to send 25 pages and my query to her manager. But I wasn't sad either, because I'd gone in knowing I'd get a no. I've never heard of an author getting a contract from their first every pitch or query. I was there for experience and I'd gotten that.
Later in the day I wound up sitting behind cast-lady at a workshop. I hadn't recognized her (mostly because when I met her the first time there was no blood in my optical nerve. I was busy panicking too much to see anything!) but she recognized me, and asked me how I'd gone. Well, she was ecstatic about a request of 25 pages and high-fived me in front of everyone
Apparently that's an uncommon outcome. I'm starting to believe that, because the submission guideline on this agent's website requests 4 pages. So if she truly didn't care, I'd think she'd have told me to send the standard 4. I sent off my query yesterday. If within 12 weeks I don't hear back, I know it's a no.Which I'm sure it is. But I'm good with that!
Whistler was the next best thing about Canada. It was amazing. Unfortunately we didn't do anything because it poured rain and the people we went with had all been there 100 times and just didn't care. They wanted to hang out, they'd come to be with us but they didn't want to spend money on a tour or get wet, or go to the indoor stuff (like museum or aboriginal centre) with me. So we did some shopping and listened to them complain about the price and quality of dinner (it was the Keg. I had no complaints.) and then it was time for my kids to nap and thus my day was basically over. They nap for 2-3 hours and then there'd be dinner, baths and back to bed. So I wasn't terribly thrilled that I'd found this wonderland and couldn't enjoy it. Obi's all like "what are you guys doing now?" to Grandma, his uncle & the uncle's defacto. And the consensus was "gonna hang out in the hotel and read". Who goes away just to sit inside and read? Stay home to do that shit! Anyway I'm like "Well if Linda is going to sit in the hotel and read, she can do it in our room and watch the kids!" So she did. I didn't leave her the whole three hours, even though I totally could have because my brats are napping champions and wouldn't have missed me, but it gave me the chance to see a bit more of the village.
My sister in law and her husband drove up just for the day, and they were pretty disappointed in the lack of anything happening too (we could have done something in the morning, but they didn't get there til lunch. By the time everyone ate my kids were screaming for their nap and it was all over.) but before the gave up and retreated home, Amanda was all "Body shop are doing free nail art". She was obviously very keen, so I went with her only to find out that she dislikes all that girly shit as much as I do. It was both of our second times ever getting our nails done. (My first was for my wedding, lots of hand photos you understand) Turned out she just wanted an excuse to hang out with me, and vise versa. Haha. Luckily the art was terrible, because I wrecked my nails pretty soon after, looking after the baby.
But it was nice to just... hang out and be nice to each other. She was actually really fantastic for the whole Canada visit. So, two places I'm dying to go back to, SiWC and Whistler. <3 And I have to leave this ramble here because Isis would like some attention now. I will try to be less absent from LFAD...
Missed you guys! xx
I'm so happy you had such a great time at the convention!!!
So glad you had a few moments to catch us up on Zephii-land