A Life in the Day

Image Courtesy: WikiCommons I'm in historic Charleston, South Carolina attending the PubSense Summit and, as always, I spent a good part of my afternoon yesterday, sitting quietly taking it all in. People-watching. You can learn so much about where people are, where they're going, what they hope to accomplish just from sitting quietly and absorbing your surrounds. The hotel has a Starbucks in the lobby so after picking up my grande soy Oprah Chai Tea latte and an egg and cheese sandwich, I went upstairs to the mezzanine and sat down to enjoy my vittles. It was my only moment of anonymity and I cherished it as much as I cherished my Starbucks semi-healthy meal. I watched people move from one panel to another, talking about their projects, what they were working on next and talking to the panelists who had just finished their session. It was a great way to get to know the people in attendance and sort of prepare myself for the panel I would be on shortly. Image Courtesy:...

I'm at the Florida Writers Conference in Lake Mary, Florida this weekend and having a great time talking to prospective clients, other industry professionals and the amazing staff and faculty of the FWA. While I'm here, a few of my clients are attending GayRomLit in Albuquerque, New Mexico (and getting up to all kinds of fun shenanigans if the FB pictures are anything to go by). Before they attend conferences, my clients usually ask me what should they be doing (especially if I'm not attending and there are pitch appointments available) so I thought it would make for a good blog post. If you're an unagented author at a writer's conference, your focus should be to pitch your work to as many agents and editors as you can. Get your work and your face in front of these amazing individuals who will eventually fight each other for the privilege to say they signed you. If you're already represented however, what are you supposed to do? Talk to editors and agent...