The power of commitment

It’s true what they say: once you make a commitment to something, the Universe has a way of supporting your plans…

I came back from the Willamette Writers Conference re-energized about my fiction. Not only did my meeting with a literary agent end on a positive note (she wanted to see some of the pieces and loved the title of the collection!) but a couple of new story ideas began percolating in my mind.

Maybe, I thought, it will happen. Maybe my fiction collection will actually hit published status!

And to further encourage me, the mail brought an acceptance from The Chaffin Journal for “Aunt Aggie and The Make-Up Lady”—my lighthearted “day in the life of” type story.

An interested agent, a few new fiction ideas and now an acceptance—who am I to argue with Fate?

Of course, the risk is always there that I will: a) get so busy with assignments and corporate projects that I will lose my “fiction focus” or b) the “fiction well” will dry up, rejections will flood my mailbox and the agent will decide that the collection just isn’t her thing.

Knowing that, I will have to make sure I stay committed to my plan of allowing time each week for fiction—no matter what. No matter what other personal or professional obligations I have. No matter how many rejections hit my In-Box. No matter what. Because staying committed is the only way I can reach my goal.


Now, on to another completely unrelated topic—or maybe not because it is about commitment—I want to share an email I received from Tadeusz Glowinski: “Thank you very much for interesting in my matter. Simply, I look for good People on the World who can help for my GLOWINSKIS' LIBRARY. In my GLOWINSKIS' LIBRARY there are much parts but the best is special books collection (for books with autograph or dedication). See please, how much these books I have in my library, from whole the World.”

Mr. Glowinski began his library in 2000 and since then he has received books from all over the world. (Here’s some links to his story: http://glowinski.olesnica.pl/index.php?lang=en&page=ja, http://thesop.org/index.php?article=7495 and http://writerschatroom.com/2008/09/help-teddy-build-his-library-in-poland.html.)

If you would like to donate a book, you can send it to: Tadeusz Glowinski, GLOWINSKIS' LIBRARY, ul. Waly Jagiellonskie 20, 56-400 Olesnica, Poland — Polska. Or you can contact him at teddy@olesnica.pl or teddy@box43.pl.

Maximizing your conference experience

I recently came back from presenting a writing workshop at a great conference in Portland, OR, (thanks again to Ann Buenzli and the Willamette Writers for inviting me!), at which I had the opportunity to meet with several agents and publishers.

Now, you would think that, not being a novice at attending writing conferences, I would have been better prepared. And I thought I was.

I had all my handouts ready for my classes, made sure I had business cards and bookmarks to accompany sales of my book, The Gifts of Change, and, in preparation for my own “pitch sessions,” had a one-page book synopsis as well as a short bio on myself.

While the workshop went well, my first pitch session disabused me of the notion that I was fully prepared for all the conference opportunities. The agent asked for the names of contributors to the book I was pitching—a second self-help project featuring experts in various fields. I drew a blank. A big fat one. One the size of the largest glacier you can imagine.

The second meeting brought up the question of guests who would be part of my “Take Charge of Your Life” radio show—a major part of my platform. While I had all the names (including some high-profile celebrities and medical experts) all nicely laid out on an Excel grid, I had neglected to take the basic step of printing them out. You guessed it. Another blank.

Shame on me for wasting such valuable opportunities. I should have known better. I did know better. It was just that, being so focused on my “presenter persona,” I overlooked the very obvious fact that I was also there as an attendee.

So here are some of my tips, culled from what I experienced and what I learned from other better-prepared attendees:

1. Always have business cards and make sure they not only provide your contact information but your area of expertise. I met with several authors who would be perfect for my radio show, but their business cards merely had their name and e-mail. Yes, I could have noted pertinent information on the back of them, but wouldn’t it be better if the people had put it all there in the first place?
2. If you have “pitch sessions” scheduled, bring along plenty of information. In addition to a one-page synopsis and short bio, have the following: chapter titles and summaries, names of contributors (if applicable), and a short list of your current marketing and PR activities (where you’ve been interviewed, what you do to promote yourself, what your previous books were about and how sales turned out, and any other platform-building activities you undertake). Make sure each handout has your full contact information and have enough copies so you can hand them to each prospect.
3. If you are doing a book signing (generally an option for presenters), have some signage for your table. Use an 8-by-10 clear plastic easel to display a color picture of your book jacket, set out bookmarks and other relevant handouts, and, if you have an e-mail list, have a notebook and pen so people can write their names and e-mail addresses. (To avoid the whole illegibility issues, you might want to bring your laptop so they can type the information right into a Word document.)

For those of you who regularly maximize your conference experience, please share your tips with the rest of us by clicking on COMMENTS below.

And if you are looking for a conference to attend, check out my Writing Conferences section at The Writer’s Place.