So,the first day of the NECRWA conference is done. What a day! So glad I came. Two perfect standouts for me today. One was the Angela James master class b4youhitsend. I learned more in two hours with her in this class then I did in four years of college english and writing courses. The second was the dinner’s key note speaker, Bella Andre. She detailed her remarkable journey to publication both traditionally and digitally, and she made us all remember “It’s all about the book,” and “keeping your promise to the reader.”
I consider myself an okay writer when it comes to the mechanics of the craft: punctuation, tense, word use, etc. I’m usually a pretty fair to good editor of my own work. But after hearing Angela James speak for two hours about how to make your manuscript as perfect as it can be, and all the mistakes she’s sees with submissions, I will admit I am an absolute novice when it comes to editing. Simple things, like knowing when to capitalize words or how to use adjectives and adverbs correctly, I thought were second nature to me. Noooooooo. Right after I publish this I am going straight back to my WIP (Work in progress) and use the handouts she gave the class to go over every line of my manuscript with a fine tooth digital editing comb. The class was pared down from an 8 hour workshop to 2, and believe me, even in those two hours my head was spinning with knowledge. I fully intend to take the 8 hour course when it is given and will consider it some of the best money I’ve spent all year on my writing career.
Super Best-Selling novelist Bella Andre’s speech was an inspiration. I am significantly older than she is and just starting out on my writing/publishing journey, but she said so many wonderful things that just touched my writing heart, the most important of which is to always keep the promise you made to the reader. The book is the most important and vital thing – not checking your social media for sales numbers, or reviews. The book itself, the story. That’s what should be uppermost on the mind of the writer. I am going to print that out and keep it next to my laptop at home. Every time I write I will see those words and remember.
Day two promises to be another gem -even though I have my two pitches!! Oh well, what’s the worst that can happen?
Details to follow tomorrow.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 