Monday, May 31, 2010

I'm Doing Something Right...Part One.

Hey guys. I've gone longer between posting than usual because I've been crazy busy over the past week. This is a busy season in the book publishing world, especially in New York City. BEA (Book Expo America) was taking place at the Jacob Javits Center and I was attending the Backspace Writers Conference. If you are an aspiring author, I can't recommend a better conference for you to attend than Backspace. It is chocked full of literary agents, authors, editors and publishing professionals of all types and they're there to help you make your dreams come true and become a published author.

Honestly, people leave Backspace feeling one of two ways for the most part: you're either super happy because you heard really good stuff about your writing or you've pretty much been told (nicely) that your writing sucks and it's back to the drawing board. I am happy to say that I received very positive feed back and left the conference in the happiest of moods. This was not the case last year when I was clearly making newbie mistakes (too much backstory anyone?) and hadn't fully honed the craft of creative writing.

They held a contest modeled after American Idol in which three literary agents (two of which represent the authors of The Art of Racing in the Rain and Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction)  decided who would make it past the first round and the audience would then decide the winners. I'm tickled to say I won second place!  When I was called up to get my prize(a fifty dollar gift certificate), I knew I was doing something right.

So many people approached me afterwards to offer me congratulations and tell me how much they liked my writing it was down right embarrassing. And I wasn't even the first place winner, but I sure felt like it! I can't imagine being any happier. Someone said I was the "star" of the conference. I don't know about that, but I'll tell you one thing, I don't know how any celebrity could be arrogant. To receive that kind of attention is incredibly humbling to me. I felt like I wanted to do more than say "thank you" effusively, over and over again, but that's all I could do. I guess writing a good story that people will enjoy is the next best thing.

This past week, two agents expressed interest in reading pages from my manuscript. Now this doesn't mean they're going to ultimately like the story or want to take it on, but at least I know I'm headed in the right direction and I'm getting positive nibbles.

Well thanks for "listening" guys. It's back to writing!

Toddles!

18 comments:

  1. Congratulations!

    And here is some more good news: You won A Small Fortune on my first-ever Rose City Reader giveaway!

    I'll email you too so you can send me your mailing address.

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  2. Thats awesome news!
    Congrats! I'm willing to bet if someone said that you were the "star" of the conference, you must have really rocked it. :)
    Love, Hannah

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  3. Thanks guys!

    It was a nice surprise to win that book Gilion. I've emailed you.

    Hannah, you're too sweet. Okay. I'll think positive. I rocked it! (in my own tiny way) :-)

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  4. That's awesome! It can be tough getting negative feedback sometimes, but when you finally hit that moment when it turns around and you feel like things are going right, it makes it all worth while. Plus, you know you're finally headed the right direction.

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  5. Exactly. And the negative feedback was hard to hear, especially when I was so sure I had it all together. I had a lot to learn but my desire to grow from what I learned is paying off.Thanks for dropping in with kind words.

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  6. congratulations! i love the agents who attend backspace. when i was doing my agent search i often found out most about them from their backspace profiles. sounds wonderful!

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  7. You are going places lady!! That is so cool that you won 2nd place and yes know exactly what you mean by the experience being so positive it felt like you were the Grand Prize Winner, good for you June keep up that hard work because now you are one step closer to that dream of publication!!!

    I am so happy for you!

    jackie b central texas

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  8. Priya and Jackie,

    OMG. Thanks guys so much! *covering face with hands* I have a long way to go, but it's nice to know that hard work and diligence really do pay off. As always, your positive vibes are super appreciated. Love ya! *grinning big at you girls*

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  9. The universe loves you right now! I have an award for you, stop by and pick it up: http://bibliophiliac-bibliophiliac.blogspot.com

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  10. Thanks Lisa. I just left your site to pick up my award. The stars do seem to be aligned my way these days. Thanks for thinking of me.

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  11. That is just fantastic! Congratulations!

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  12. Thanks so much Kate for the kind words and for dropping in!

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  13. Congratulations June!! Fine tuning your art and then putting it out there for the whole world to criticize is not easy.

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  14. You are so right Patsy. I just have to do my best and remember that everyone is not going to like everything. Stories are so subjective. It's really a matter of personal taste, even if the writing is stellar. Thanks for the encouragment!

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  15. Wow, I have just been away so long. Many congratulations! You sure are going places and we all knew we had a star in you!!
    I am super excited for you and for some insane reason - grinning :)

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  16. Kavyen, you are cracking me up right now. Thank you girl for your enthusiasm! *laughing my head off* I hope I get a book published and live up to your high expectations of me. A friend read a passage yesterday and started crying, so I struck a cord somewhere! Love ya!

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  17. I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I have yours.
    Very insightful! I am now a follower.
    God Bless, Bob West
    http://westbob.blogspot.com/2010/05/god-vs-science.html

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  18. Thanks Bob. That's quite a compliment. I'm going to check you out right now!

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