Write On Con - Day 2 Highlights

From Rise of The Planet of the Apes

I had a bit of a break down today. Somehow, with a combination of sixth sense/telepathy and an uncanny sense of smell, my husband knew I was at a loooow ebb and came home from work early. Took the kids to the pool and sent me off by myself. God bless that man.

I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It's good, see it. I only have two things to say: Andy Serkis needs an Oscar or three and Tom Felton needs to stop playing bad guys. If you thought Draco was an ass, imagine Draco being mean to animals.

All this is a long winded way of saying, didn't get to delve into Write On Con as much as I wanted today. But the beauty of this conference is that it's always there. You can 'attend' by reading the post/transcript or watching the vlog. And the magic that happens in the forum is priceless.

I do have to give a special shout out to the Barbara Poelle/Holly Root agent panel. In addition to query/agent/writing gold that you've come to expect from the fab agents on Write On Con there was: Red Velvet Cake and chocolate pudding; martinis; leeches and aaaaardvarks. It was hard to explain to my kids why I was barking with laughter alone in my office. "Are you watching a good cartoon, mommy?" 

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also, there's a great vlog by agent Kate Testerman. She outlines the check list you must have ready before you query. CHECK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF. You can't jump into the query fray until you have done everything on the list.

Tomorrow, when I catch up, I'm going to check out:

YA Muses - on Crit Groups

On Compactness by Weronika Janczuk 

Your Own Hero's Journey

PLUS all the new stuff for tomorrow. I'm feeling faint. But in a good way. 

Write On Con - Get Ready for Awesome

So, writers conferences are cool, right? But they can be exhausting. First you have to wear clothes. Not just any old thing you have to hand, but actual clothes that don't make people stand away from you. And, as if clothes weren't bad enough, you need to wear shoes. Probably pointy or uncomfortable. If you are slightly girly you might even have to slap on some make up. All this ON TOP OF being brilliant, erudite, attractive to agents and coherent.

UGH.

But Write On Con is the wonderful exception to the rule. It's completely, 100%, come-as-you-are online.

A combination of blog posts, live chat events, forum events and contests, it's all the good conference stuff and none of the bad. Except for the excuse to rent a bad movie in your hotel room. I would never have seen Beastly if it wasn't for that last writing con.

I can't wait to for Beth Revis on Don't Give Up (Tues 4pm) - One, because I loved loved loved Across the Universe and two because I need a talented stranger to tell me not to give up.

Also looking forward to Panel with agents Holly Root and Barbara Poelle (little girl crush on Barbara, if you hadn't noticed before)

Here's the link to the full schedule for the next three days. What are you looking forward to the most?