~ ONE JOURNEY ~

~ There is only one journey: going inside yourself. ~
- Rainer Maria Rilke

The Conference ~ Friday, October 27, 2006

There is only one conference at this point, for me. The Surrey International Writers Conference. It totally rules, and I'm totally priveleged to be a volunteer there.

And I'm not just saying that. The conference is excellent. This year, I sat in on an excellent ghostwriting talk. I also listened to some really great sessions from editors and agents, including some panels that proved quite illuminating.

I ended up giving Mary Balogh and Anne Perry a ride to a signing, and ended up hitting it off so well with the two of them that we went for dinner after and had a great conversation. I hoped to catch up with Mary Balogh again afterwards, but didn't get the chance--everything was just way too busy.

I did end up chatting with Anne Perry again on the way to the airport, and that, too, was very interesting. They're both really neat women and it's cool to have connected with them. I also had a nice talk with Lilly Ghahremani, a literary agent who did an excellent talk on creating a platform from which to market your work. She says she'll be posting tips from her talk on her blog over the next while, so here's that link:

http://fullcirclelit.blogspot.com/

Alas, she does not represent what I write. I came away from her talk--and indeed, from the entire conference, full of enthusiasm and get-go. I hope I can sustain that once I'm back home and faced with the daunting prospect of reality--and rejection. I know I've gotta keep submitting stuff, and persisting (I'm looking into freelance non-fiction as well at this point). I just have to actually follow through with that. I have a tentative schedule in mind for how I might retain some focus on that end once I'm back home and in danger of falling into my own routine.

The above photo is: me, Diana Gabaldon, Michael Slade and Jack Whyte. Below is Mary Balogh, me and Anne Perry. Alas, the former is a little shadowy, as I think it was taken from too far away for the flash to have worked effectively.


::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 3:21 AM::::
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