The Work Conference Update and The Power of Positive Thinking

So, do you remember that boutique conference I talked about a little while ago? If not, here's the post:

Spreading The News--The Work Conference

Well, guess what? I'VE BEEN INVITED TO ATTEND!! (Sorry about the Caps Lock and the exclamation points, but yeah, that's how excited I am.) 

I guess this is an example of manifesting your desires through positive thinking. 

Yes, the tuition is a little steep. Yes, I'll need a hotel room in NYC. BUT just think of the possibilities! I get one-on-one time with TWO, count 'em, TWO agents of my choice, along with workshops, panels, and socializing with other authors, agents, and editors. Woohoo! I'm excited and terrified at the same time.

Needless to say, Hubby knows just how much attending this conference means to me, so after congratulating me on the acceptance, drying my tears of joy, calming my fears, drying my tears of panic, and squashing some of my self-doubt, (yes, I went through a whole range of emotions) he offered to help with the expenses. He's a good man. I told you things would work out, didn't I?

So, I've been busy utilizing the recommendations that came along with the acceptance, and changing my query and the first twenty pages. I came down to the wire but finally sent in my deposit for the conference, booked my hotel room, and am almost finished polishing the pages I will send to my chosen one-on-one agents. 

It's a bit nerve-wracking. I want to get the most out of those sessions, so I want to make sure my writing is awesome enough to grab their attention. I also don't want to embarrass myself. 

But I will say that this acceptance has breathed new life into my manuscript and my motivation. I find myself staying up late, tossing and turning in bed, and staring into space at work while I sort out new scenes and fix broken plots. I haven't been in that 'writing zone' for a long time, and I've missed being there.

Did I mention how excited I am? Squee! 

The Work Conference is doing something totally cool that I wanted to share with you--they are offering a Cyber Ticket.  Here's the info:

The Work Conference: Private Event BroadcastTickets: $125.00
Though extremely limited attendance has already reached capacity, we’re excited to introduce our fully moderated, interactive, live stream of selected panels during the weekend. Tune in Saturday, March 19th for three panel-led discussions on craft and the publishing industry, then join us Sunday morning for a 2.5-hour query letter Master Class. Cyber-ticket holders will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact (via moderator!) with our panelists, all of whom are industry-leading agents and editors.
Included panels: SATURDAY // The Publishing Process (9-10am EST), First Impressions (11:30-12:30pm), and Plot vs. Premise (2-3pm). SUNDAY // Query Letter Master Class with Carrie Howland and Becca Heyman (9-11:30 am).This is a LIVE STREAM event. Ticketholders will receive a link to a private broadcast. Access to the link, the host site, chat features and streaming content is at each ticketholder’s discretion. Please direct all questions to theworkconference@gmail.com or @TheWorkConf on Twitter.

Now, you can attend the same panels from the comfort of your own home.

Of course, I'll share my experience when I get back, complete with photos and interesting bits, but I wanted to share this opportunity with you.

I also wanted to thank all of you who wished me luck and cheered me on. Special thanks goes to Courtney Rene for helping me polish my query and manuscript pages and most importantly, for boosting my confidence. It worked!

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Two Small Town Writers And One Large City

I'm sure some of you have one of those online friends--someone you only know through the cyber-world. I met Courtney Rene, or 'Cornty' as the people in Starbucks like to call her, back in 2008. She posted a story, which I loved, in a forum on the Institute for Children's Literature, and we became writing friends, swapping manuscripts for critique, offering advice, and sharing markets. Now, Courtney Rene is the author of FOUR YA novels!

When she e-mailed me, saying her family was coming to New York, I jumped at the opportunity to join her for a day in the city. This get together has been two years in the making. We had also planned to meet up Cindy, a fellow writer who lives in New York, but Cindy couldn't meet us until later in the day and unfortunately, Courtney and her family had evening plans. We missed you, Cindy!

In my younger days, I worked in various jobs all over downtown and midtown NYC. Since moving to Blairstown, I've only been back to the metropolis a few times, but I kinda sorta knew where I was going, so I mapped out some of the tourist spots in midtown.

I met up with Courtney and her beautiful family at their hotel. After swapping a signed copy of 31 More Halloween Nights for a signed copy of her long-awaited Shadow's End, (SQUEE!) we boarded a bus to Manhattan and started our day from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

We walked up 42nd Street through Times Square, and then through a beautiful, but disappointing-because-of-renovations Bryant Park, and then on to the NY Public Library.

Oh my! What a building! 

Of course, we checked out the two large rooms in the children's area, but there were no books in sight by Courtney Rene. :(

But the library had lots of marble and stairs.

They had old wooden phone booths and lots of stairs. There were individual rooms of books and inside those rooms were stairs. Did I say there were an awful lot of stairs?

Me & Courtney standing on the stairs in front of the library.

We walked up to Fifth Avenue and made our way to the American Girl store. We saw lots of overpriced dolls, matching girl/doll clothes, and bug-eyed little girls mentally writing their Christmas lists. Who wouldn't want Santa to bring them a $150 dollar baby grand piano for their doll?

 Aren't these dolls kind of creepy? Makes me think of Stepford Children...

St. Patrick's Cathedral was also going through some restorations. This church is almost as beautiful as St Paul's Cathedral in London, but not nearly as massive. For $2.00 we could have lit a candle (a stub of wax) at one of the many devotionals for different Saints, but we decided to move on.

 We made a quick detour into Rockefeller Center. No tree yet, but the skaters were already on the rink.

After a yummy lunch at Five Guys, we popped into Nintendo World, a pokemon-lover's paradise! I thought of you, Amanda!

 This picture of Link is made up of thousands of fan photos.

 Gotta catch 'em all...

We did some souvenir shopping, a couple of stops for coffee, and got sucked into a chocolate store. Our noses were pressed up against the glass, trying to choose the perfect piece of candy, but I never thought to take a photo of the little works of art.

We were running out of time, so we headed straight for the Empire State Building. We waited and talked and waited some more. We made it to the observation deck without giving in to the urgent advice someone yelled at us every 15 minutes: "...There is nobody on the deck to tell you what you are looking at. You NEED one of these maps. We have maps in 10 different languages..."

We were fine without a map.

It was a beautiful clear day, and not as cold as I feared it would be 80 stories above New York City.

Courtney and her gorgeous daughters.

Me and Courtney 

When I was getting ready that morning to meet Courtney, I was excited, but also a little nervous--like a fan-girl meeting her favorite author. But our easy conversations and lots of silliness (including duck-lipped, hiding-chins Empire State souvenir photos) seemed like we'd known each other forever.

Thankfully, I only got everyone lost/side-tracked/turned-in-the-wrong-direction once and we made it back to the hotel safely.

Next year, we're doing lower Manhattan--

The 9/11 Memorial 

and South Street Seaport.

Why not meet us there?