Weekend Recap: As the title might suggest, I was at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference all weekend, and I am EX-hausted. It was a great weekend, but for an introvert with a dampened spirit, it was a lot. But let us embrace the exciting moments and talk about the highlights!
Highlight #1: My carful of New Jersey ladies: As I am the only PPWC volunteer that lives in the Denver Metro area, I am pretty much always the one to get the privilege of the DIA pickups and drop-offs. I’ve been doing it for years, and sometimes it’s amazing (like when Husband and I returned Bob and Jane Stine to the airport) and other times it’s less amazing (like the time my carful talked only to each other, and not to me, making me feel less than). So I never know what I’m getting when I swing into the airport. This year was a real joy. I picked up three lovely ladies from New Jersey and had an excellent time talking with all of them on the ride down and back – as well as a fair amount of time in the Green Room. They were all three spectacular humans, but one especially clicked with me, and I think I have a great new friend. She was also interested in my writing, but I deal in YA, and she deals in adult fiction. If I ever write anything up her alley, I think we’d have a great working relationship, but even if I don’t, I hope to continue a friendship with her.
Highlight #2: My book was in the bookstore: That’s right! Milestone complete! I had a box of physical #KissMeKieran books delivered to my house so that I could take them and consign them to the PPWC bookstore. I took ten and came home with six — one I donated to the silent auction basket Mom and I put together, so that means I sold three. And two of those three I signed! It’s a very small thing, but a very large impact. I almost cried signing my own books to these other authors. I love my stories so much, and I truly hope I’m spreading a little joy and distraction to others with them.
Highlight #3: I pitched three times, and had three interested parties: Whew. Nerves were high! I didn’t even know we weren’t still doing the query sessions like we’d done the last several years. I had no idea we were back to pitching. So I had my query letters printed and ready, but they were pretty much stiff tissues if I cried or sweat too much. XD I had to figure out and memorize a pitch before my appointments on Saturday. I had help from one of the editors I drove from DIA, and I felt like I had a great pitch. All three times it went well — including the time I pitched to my hopefully new friend that doesn’t even represent what I write. One wants a synopsis and 30 pages, the other — from HarperCollins — wants the full thing. She said she’s looking to get more supernatural in her portfolio, and I sound like what she’s looking for. So, my fingers are crossed, but I am still assuming another round of rejections, as that’s how it’s gone every time before. It’s always a no, until the one time that it’s not…
Highlight #4: Robert Crais’s Speech: Bob was at the very first PPWC in 1994, and he has had a soft spot in his heart for the conference since then — and his speech reflected that. “I believe in this conference.” He doesn’t do the conference circuit anymore, just us, because we are what a writer’s conference should be. We are a community that genuinely wants to help all our members succeed. He made me laugh, he made me nearly cry, and he read part of a poem by Tom Lux that will stick with me. It was inspiring and emboldening, and probably one of the best I’ve ever heard.
And now, I have a month or so to breathe before the Postmortem meeting, and the next conference planning begins. Next year I’m Associate Con-Admin, keeping budget and organizing appointments. Wish me luck — in all things!
