Writer's Digest Conference 2014

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Earlier this month I tore myself away from the laptop to attend the 2014 Writer’s Digest Conference here in New York City. For me, heading into the beautiful Roosevelt Hotel was equivalent to Indiana Jones stepping off the cliff in The Last Crusade. It was a huge leap of faith. In my writing and in myself.

I purposely filled the month leading up to the conference with CampNaNoWriMo, a writing challenge of 50,000 words in 31 Days. I reached my goal in the wee hours of July 29th which left me with three days to stress and panic about what I’d signed up for. I had to remind myself that my desire to learn and eagerness to meet other writerly folks outweighed the scary unknown.

Then, day one arrived. Hello nerves!

I arrived earlier than planned because the conference's hashtag on Twitter [#WDC14] was full of people already there and I felt like I was missing out. Showing up early paid off and I was let into one of the Pro sessions, Do You Really Want to be a Best Seller? Here’s How. led by Larry Kirshbaum, a Senior Literary Agent with Waxman Leavell Literary Agency. When the session ended, the Grand Ballroom filled with others like myself, that had signed up for the next day’s Pitch Slam [for a detailed post on my pitching experience, click here], where Chuck Sambuchino prepared us with his Pitch Perfect session.

All of the conference sessions fell into one of the following categories:

  • How to Get Published
  • How to Write Better
  • Platform and Promotion
  • Self-Publishing

I mostly followed the How to Write Better track, attending sessions like How to Write a Page Turner, You Have Three Pages to Win Me Over: Essential Advice for Your Opening Pages, Setting and Description: Where Are We and How Much is Too Much?, and Working the Muddle Out Of Your Middle.  Led by editors, agents, booksellers and authors, like Jacquelyn Mitchard [uh, The Deep End of the Ocean anyone?], the sessions were so chock full of information that by the end of the conference my head—and notebook—were filled nuggets upon nuggets of advice and encouragement.

As if that wasn’t enough, every day ended with a Keynote Speaker. All of them inspired me with their stories. Here are just some of the quotes that I know I'll lean on again and again:

Dani Shapiro
[Author: Slow Motion, Black & White, Family History]
"It's hard to give yourself permission to call yourself a writer."
"There is no such thing as a magical place of arrival, there is only the solitary self facing the page."

Harlan Coben
[Author: Six Years, Missing You, Tell No One]
"Only bad writers think they're good."
"Don't be a douchebag."

Kimberla Lawson Roby
[Author: The Prodigal Son, A House Divided, The Perfect Marriage]
“It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 80 years old. It’s never too late to live out your passion.”
"Double your determination and keep moving right along."

I was nervous going into the conference, but by the time it was over, I was sad to see it go. I felt myself grow with every session attended and every conversation had, whether it was with one of the speakers or a fellow attendee.

Speaking of, it was beyond amazing making writer friends on similar paths to my own. Friends that send you tweets like this when you feel like you're drowning in post-pitching nerves:

I can't recommend the Writer's Digest Conference enough. I walked away excited about my future in writing...whatever it may be. I learned a lot, I laughed a lot, and I worried about passing out while pitching a lot. What could be more fun than that?

Fiction Friday: [Full of Facts]

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For the first time since the birth of this blog, there will not be any fiction in this week’s Fiction Friday. Not wanting to leave you empty handed, I now present to you…Fact-Filled Friday:

Fact 1: I participated in CampNaNoWriMo this month and…I won! Yay! I left the preset goal of 50,000 words and at 2:30am on July 30th, I’d reached 50,293. Then, I got this:

Fact 2: Despite committing to write a ridiculous amount of words in a ridiculous amount of time, I left New York City to attend a gorgeous wedding (congrats Lauren & Franklin!) in a gorgeous town (Healdsburg, CA). This is definitely not NYC:

Fact 3: I’ve heard back from all of the Beta Readers except for one. The nervousness I had sending my baby—I mean my book—out into the world has been replaced with an overwhelming sense of pride. Not only was the feedback more positive than I’d prepared myself for—because, of course, I’d armored up—but the readers proved to be smart and insightful with their critiques. I’m really excited about jumping back into the book and doing some tweaking. If you guys are reading this: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Fact 4: Today is the first day of the Writer’s Digest Conference here in NYC! I am super excited…and nervous. It will be my first writerly step on the road to becoming a published author—aside from writing and editing the book, of course. Nerves or not, I’m ready. Armed with notebook and pen I’ll be diving in head first and wading through the amazing sessions they have lined up. Also, I'll be participating in Pitch Slam which is basically speed dating, but with agents and editors. Stay tuned for posts of what I hope to be an awesome experience at the three day conference. Please wish me luck!

Fact 5: Next week, we will return to our regularly scheduled program…

How to Finish Your First Draft [A Guide for the Poorly Disciplined, Fragile Creative]

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Considering the fact that I just finished the first draft of my first novel, I am in no way purporting to be some kind of expert. What I am is an often times undisciplined individual that is probably not fun to be around when I fall into a creative rut. So if you're anything like me I just might be uniquely qualified to help you get from page one to a completed first draft. Here's a list of the things I did, learned and remembered to get it done:

  • "The First Draft Of Anything Is Shit".

Please excuse the expletive, but I didn't say it, Hemingway did. Yep, Ernest Hemingway.

I hung this quote by my desk as a reminder on the not so good days that it was okay. I learned to take pride in the fact that I had written anything at all. And to remember that even Ernest Hemingway wasn't always thrilled about the words on the page, but he pushed through because he knew it would all get fixed in editing.

Trying to be a perfectionist when writing, especially the first draft, is a losing battle.

  • Advice is just advice.

My favorite form of procrastination is doing research. I mean, at least I'm being productive. Right?

When I started to research writing a book there was one piece of advice that popped up in almost every article.

That advice? Write every day.

Ugh.

You know how sometimes you're just not in the mood to do something and no matter how hard you try to push yourself it just isn't happening? Well, I guarantee you that you will have plenty of those days on your journey toward finishing your book. You know what else? It's okay. I didn't write every day and I still have 379 pages of double spaced goodness waiting to be edited.

Don't get me wrong I loved the advice. They were all right, you should strive to write everyday. What I had to learn was not to feel like a complete failure on days when the words just weren't there.

So embrace the advice that you are given, but keep in mind that the world won't end if you deviate from it, it's just advice.

  • Change Your Scenery.

Writing at home is great, especially if you have a dedicated space and a cozy environment. The problem for me is that home is also where I have other things to do.

I want to start the next scene, but I should wash the dishes. I know I should write one more chapter, but why not take an hour to eat lunch while searching the internet. I need to make a new playlist because it'll make my writing better. What's on the DVR?

After doing some research*, I came across this list of places in NYC that were writer friendly. I ventured out with my laptop and a renewed determination. Being surrounded by so many people allowed me to feed off of their energy. My daily word count grew and I was flooded with some truly inspired ideas.

I settled into a great balance between writing at home and going out into the world. I even had a weekly date with a friend in the midst of her own writing projects.

When you're staring at the screen, but you're thinking about doing laundry...get out of the house!

*Sometimes research is research. Although, I'm sure I was procrastinating this time, too.

  • Use A Timer.

Now this is advice that I wish I would have followed sooner.                  

I will admit that, initially, I didn't use a timer because I was scared. I didn't know if I had the discipline to succeed and I was afraid of failing.

What if at the end of the hour I had nothing? I felt that if I failed on such a small step in the process, I would most likely fail at the project altogether.

Then one day I decided to finally put on my big girl pants. I was over halfway through the book so I figured, what do I have to lose?

I chose to write in 3 one hour sessions with 15 minute breaks in between. During the hour there would be no phones, no internet, no interruptions. If I actually had to research something I would do so during the following break.

I could not believe how focused I became during those hours. I found myself pushing against the clock and I loved it.  I went from a daily word count of 500-1800 words a day to 3000-4500! Even better, ideas were coming at me from every direction.

I will definitely use the timer method from word one of my next novel.

  • Suck It Up.

Let's say you've gone two days [or more] without writing. At this point, if you are like me, you feel like a failure and now doubt that you'll ever finish your book.

Instead of stewing in 'whoa is me' land try this: SUCK IT UP.

You're going to waste your time brooding and do you know what's going to inevitably happen? You'll come out of your writer's block or rut or whatever you want to call it and then you're going to write.

So how about we start cutting out the middle man? During the in between times instead of moping around, be productive. Maybe, you know, do some research.

  • Believe You Can Do It.

If you only remember one thing on the list, make it this one.

From the moment you decide to write a book until you type the last word, believe that you can do it.

As much of a hippie dippy, power of positive thinker as I am, when you are pursuing a creative endeavor, especially one you've dreamed about for so long, self doubt loves to rear its ugly little head. This is why I like to intersperse my blog posts with inspirational quotes. Simply searching for ones to use has proven to lift my spirits and get me back on track.

Whether you search out quotes, develop a personal mantra or create your own cheerleading squad of family and friends, do what you need to do to keep believing. After all, as Henry Ford said:

“Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right..”

Do you have any more suggestions to add to the list? Will you use any of these suggestions outside of writing? Let me know in the comments below!

 

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