When an author gives you a week of his time, you listen to his advice. When that author shows up sick and battling a noncontagious stomach bug, what do you do? Pretend that you know that he doesn’t know your name? Give up and try again next year?
Not me. I didn’t give up—although, I did do that pretending thing. Not that I can blame the guy for (likely) not knowing my name. For days, the food going in his system was near zero—because for days, the food going out of his system was near one hundred percent.
Despite his state, the time he gave equaled the value of a year’s rent (and I would say even more) to me. It set me up for my future in writing. And I want to tell you all about that week: the time I spent at my first official writer’s conference.
Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (WIFYR) is a writer’s conference held in Utah. It happens once a year and offers inexpensive afternoon classes, and some can take afternoon classes and morning classes—if they make the cut and if they pay the $$$. My university offered a scholarship for this type of thing, so I snagged that before I ditched at graduation.
I enrolled in the full novel workshop. My manuscript went to the five other workshop members and the author mentoring us. Per his instructions, we waited until the conference to give our feedback. I already knew we wouldn’t go over mine the first day, but the sweat on my forehead evaporated when he suggested potentially going over mine on the second day. Me or this one woman.
On the second day, a hand raised. Sweat recommenced. This one woman asked if we could go over hers. She beat me to the punch, I thought. The teacher agreed.
Okay. Fine. One more day.
On the third day, we ran out of time to go over mine, but we finally set it in stone. We would go over mine on the fourth day. The only other person scheduled for that day was my friend, and she hadn’t submitted a full manuscript. It was about a third of what the limit was for the word count, so I reasoned that I would likely go first, and if I didn’t, we likely wouldn’t spend as much time on hers. Because of the word count.
As a writer, I should have recognized the foreshadowing.
My teacher had a boost of energy. He felt the beginnings of the end of his illness. With his mind more restored, he spent some time explaining a few of his most valuable tips. Then we reviewed my friend’s manuscript first. And by the end of reviewing hers, it was the end of our morning session.
Instead of going at the beginning, I would go at the end of the week. The fifth day. The last day.
By this point, I had every bumbling bee beating inside my heart. As my group gave me feedback, one thing stayed consistent: there were no major changes to be made. Multiple times, the author said I had a shoppable piece.
In other words, after making those few changes, my piece was ready to send to agents.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please excuse my “unprofessional” exclamation marks. I know that getting an agent is only one step of success on an arduous pathway. Your agent has to find an editor that will work with you, they also have to find a publisher that will publish your book, that publisher has to align with what you want, the publisher will likely not market your book, so then you have to try to get people to buy it, then your book has to make it past the gatekeepers (librarians, bookstores, etc.) who will show it to the world, and then people have to actually buy it.
However, starting the first step was enough. One small taste of success sent electricity down my tongue and coursing through my body. I felt so energized that I could think of nothing wrong in the world. All seemed right.
Along with that, a few other mini-miracles occurred that week. I won a book in a raffle drawing! I had the opportunity to pitch a children’s picture book to a founder of a publishing company, and with a change or so, he wants it sent to him. I made new friends and watched those new friends have success (requests for full manuscripts, a near guarantee of getting published, etc.).
I could go on. To say the least, I’m glad I invested my time in this conference. I’m grateful the scholarship made it possible for me to go. I’m especially grateful for my mentor from university, who pointed me in this direction.
For those seeking to further their passion or make a career out of it, I recommend finding events like these. Some are not as expensive. For the pricier events, many offer scholarships or funding for those who aren’t students, too. Do your research and try to find whatever is possible.
As I go forward, I’ll keep you all updated with my journey. Hopefully, within the next few years, I’ll have a book published and available for you to purchase. Until then (and even after then), I’ll continue to post on my blog.
With much love,
MRC 💛
Read MRC 