Posts by Christine

Heading to Surrey

Posted by Christine on Oct 21, 2009 in General | 0 comments

I am leaving tomorrow for my annual pilgrimage to Surrey for the Surrey International Writers Conference. The first year I went I got one piece of advise from a writer that made a world of difference to me.  The writer was Vicki Pettersson. The truth is she probably gave the same advise to a dozen different writers but it meant a lot to me that she took the time to encourage me and elicit this particular commitment from me.  That and she recognized the color nail polish I was wearing, I will never forget that. :)   Because I always do my best to keep my commitments I did. So what did Vicki tell me to do, and what did I silently promise myself I would do? Well see that year was very special, it was my first conference and I won the writing contest.  I was so excited, I never wrote a short story before and I never won a contest. Vicki while very kind was also serious with me, she told me not to come again next year unless I was bringing a manuscript with me to pitch.  She told me not to become a conference junky.  Just going from one conference to another for the high of it and never finishing a project I started. The advise made sense – the experience really was a high.  I loved every minute of SiWC.  I met incredible people, learned amazing information and was treated like a real writer. Not to mention no one teased me about my pen fascination.  I could easily imagine doing it again and again.  It was so much fun to be surrounded by writers. Still I took her seriously.  I went home committed not to attend SiWC the following year unless I was ready to pitch a manuscript. So last year I took a completed manuscript with me to SiWC and I pitched.  I even had a request for a partial.  And got a very nice personal rejection.  It was awesome. This year I am taking another manuscript with me to pitch.  This one’s different from last years.  I was already writing this one last year at Surrey.  I even gave my teaser pitch about this one to the agents I pitched to last year and they encouraged me to contact them when it was complete.  Now it is – and revised – twice. I love this story, and I am ready to pitch it. So for the third year in a row I’m attending SiWC, the one and only conference I attend each year.  And it really is a high each and every year.  I come away recharged and ready for the rest of the year.  I look forward to it and plan for it all year.  I learn so much each year. Thank you to those who put SiWC on each year for...