Heading to Surrey
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 a great conference and a great learning opportunity. Thanks for the opportunity you give each of use aspiring authors each year to learn, and rub elbows with those who have been where we are. Thanks for the chance to pitch and be inspired. Thanks for the chance to share our work, which is in fact all we really want to do, tell the stories we love to the world.
And thank you Vicki Pettersson for your advise and encouragement to me. If I’m ever published I know that it will be in part because you took the time to talk to me, see me and encourage me.