Conference Confidence

So You Think You Have Nothing to Say?

Last month I drove an hour and a half to my first speaking engagement. I knew this day would come. The day when I couldn’t just hide behind my computer screen. The day when I would have to take my writing on the road and share everything I’ve learned as a writer so far. And…

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My ACFW Conference Journey

Since I started writing fiction seriously and pursuing publication in 2005, I never missed an ACFW conference…except last year. Each year my motivation to attend ACFW was different. Each year I had new goals and dreams. Each year I grew as a writer and took home something specific I would need on my journey ahead.…

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Know Your Editors

Nothing shouts “NEWBIE…UNPROFESSIONAL” like pitching an editor or agent a suspense story when in their bio it says they don’t represent suspense. So before you pull out your romance one sheet make sure the editor is looking for romance. You need to take it one step further and find out what type of romance or…

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Conference Notebook

There’s nothing worse than waiting in line for your editor or agent appoint wondering about the unknown…nothing worse EXCEPT walking into that meeting unprepared when the editor or agent asks to see your one sheet OR your first chapter and you fumble through your papers to find it OR don’t have anything to offer. That’s…

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One Sheets and Pitching

Welcome to the Conference Confidence Series: ONE SHEETS So you’ve worked on your pitch, gotten it down to a 30 second sound bite that will knock the socks of an editor. Now what if he/she wants to know more? That’s when I pull out my One Sheet. I rarely have to do a lot of…

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Perfecting Your Pitch

Conference Confidence Series So you’ve finished your novel and your ready to set your baby loose. But if you were asked to describe your novel in a few sentences, would you be able to do it? Some people call it an elevator pitch. The little sound bite that will catch an editor’s attention, if you…

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Conference Confidence: Why Are You Going?

Just because I’m not going to ACFW this year, doesn’t mean I can’t help you get prepared to have the best conference you can. I’ll be reposting my Conference Confidence series to help you get organized and prepare for your upcoming writers conference. I won’t claim I know it all, or know much for that…

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If you've been wondering where I've been…

I’ve been super busy planning the WIN-ACFW local conference. It ended yesterday and today I’m beat!! Last year we had one speaker, one room, and about 40 people. This year, I wanted to go bigger. Two speakers. Rene Gutteridge and Brandt Dodson…awesome, awesome, awesome. Plus we had an agent, Jeff Dunn, a publicist, Jeane Wynn,…

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Conference Time or Wondering Where I've Been?

As president of the local ACFW miniconference, I’ve been busy planning for NEXT WEEKEND! And let me tell you, it should be a full time job! But it’ll be so worth it. So if you’re anywhere near Oklahoma and have ANY desire to write fiction or just find out what it takes to write fiction,…

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Off to Christian Book Expo

I’m off to the Christian Book Expo where I’ll be hanging with writing friends like Cara Putman, Lynette Sowell, interviewing people like Colleen Coble and Brandt Dodson and meeting with my Agent Chip MacGergor. I bought this cool little Flip Camera so videocasts will be coming your way! Hopefully, they won’t be as challenging to…

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