Resetting the Bar

OUTLANDER author Diana Gabaldon is a long-time supporter of SIWC

Last October, I once again attended the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in Surrey, BC, where I pitched my novel to Valerie Gray, executive editor for Mira. I’ve done this a few times, so I wasn’t, you know, cramping, but I still had a few butterflies. Mira, after all! But Valerie instantly put me at ease. Better yet, she took my brief synopsis, identified a couple of very specific problems and then – get this – spent about twenty minutes figuring out with me how to make it work. Never, did I expect an editor to engage like that with someone who’s never been published with them.

Then, after a full day of workshopping and appointments on Saturday, Valerie joined the RWA GVC cocktail party. As a brand new member (yay!) I enjoyed the opportunity to chat with numerous authors and aspiring authors. Among the already-famous were the lovely Kay Gregory, Mary Jo Putney, who is a fabulous speaker, and Anna deStefano, a relatively new writer who’s rocketing to stardom. What a treat to learn from these savvy writers!

 Anyway, I was all set to participate in November’s annual National Novel Writing Month, but through various workshops, the realization came to me that first drafts are something of an avoidance technique for me. I need to focus on revision, not the creation of new material. I’ve got three – that’s THREE – full-length manuscripts completed, but in need of pretty extensive revision. Among these are 1) the second in my Shelby James veterinary mystery series 2) a Mennonite family saga that I suspect might be best left in the drawer and 3) my first category romance novel. Oh, and I’ve got over 50K words in my third Shelby James book, from last year’s NaNoWriMo. You see? I need to polish and submit before I let myself get distracted by what Anna calls the “shiny new idea.”

So tomorrow, I begin looking at major structural changes to the romance manuscript. Once that’s done – and SUBMITTED – I’ll get the mystery done to my – and hopefully my editor’s – satisfaction. Then and only then will I allow myself to indulge in a shiny new idea.

Hm. So why am I posting on my blog, instead of working? Well, that was another goal I identified at the conference. Darren Barefoot gave us some fabulous workshops on the need for all authors, emerging and established, to create and maintain a web presence. Well, I’ve had a website for a few years, but have gotten so lazy about updating it that I couldn’t remember how to log into the admin page! Even I know that’s bad. So here I am, shrugging off my Luddite tendencies and embracing the web.

And it’s not even lunch-time yet.