Little did I know when I started this year I would be spending a good chunk of it preparing and attending writing conferences. I always knew they would be part of my future at some point, but this was the year the conference bug kicked in and told me to get off my butt.
Last weekend marked the last of my conferences for this year: The Writer’s Digest Annual NYC Conference. This was by far the biggest and most impressive of the shows I attended this year, if for no other reason than the venue! I haven’t been to New York City since before 9/11 so it was amazing to see how much everything had changed in the past sixteen years. But honestly the scenery was just the icing on the cake because the show by itself was amazing.
We started off with an “introductory” session by Gabriela Pereira of DIY MFA fame, a sort of workshop/class/ice breaker. This class was no joke as it was about three hours long and included a ton of information. I discovered ou
t of the four types of protagonists I was an Underdog, though I desired to learn more about Survivors because that type of personality tends to elude me (Disruptor and Protector are the other two types in case you’re wondering). That is also the type I wish to write about more, I feel Underdogs are overdone, and the other two don’t really fit my style right now, though I’m sure that will change over time.
On Friday we began with a great class by Chuck Sambuchino about how to perfect our “pitches” which we would be using the following day during the PitchSlam. Despite already having my pitch down, I learned some very valuable information during this session and modified my pitch accordingly. The rest of the day flew by as I learned and learned (and learned!) with fantastic sessions going all day long. I didn’t even notice the passage of time as it felt like the sessions were over almost as soon as they began! And what conference would be complete without meeting some like-minded individuals? Everyone was so friendly and approachable, it was easy for an introvert (imagine that!) like me to make friends. I had a bit of a cheat at DFWCon because I already knew a few people from Twitter and we’d agreed to meetup beforehand. Here I was completely on my own, but it ended up being a great motivator.
-On that note, I’d just like to say I can’t believe how nice New Yorkers have become. They put the South to shame, and it is a complete 180 from the last time I visited.-
Saturday the PitchSlam loomed large over most of the attendees, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it ended up going very, very well. It was an insanely efficient event, the slam was broken up into four different one-hour sessions to cut down on overcrowding, and all the agents were in one large room so when you entered, you could go to any one of them. With about sixty-five agents attending this made for very, very short lines. In fact, I only waited in line twice and got to pitch to eleven different agents in the hour! Highly efficient, highly effective. This had to be one of my favorite parts of the show. I was in a bit of a daze after the Slam but got right back on track and even got to attend the Keynote address by David Baldacci (he wrote Star Trek: Destiny which I stupidly forgot to bring with me to get signed! Argh!).
Sunday was more awesome presentations, the only way I can describe it is an onslaught of information, which sounds like a lot, but I loved it. I have over twenty-five pages of typed notes from the show and it will take me months to digest all this information. So that is what I’ll do; take everything I’ve learned, not just here, but at DFW and ConCarolinas as well, go into my cave and hibernate with it for the winter. Maybe by the time the next ‘con season begins I’ll have something worthy to present.
