RWA 2010 - Day 3

Hey all,

Tonight’s blog post will be short. Not that there isn’t a lot to tell – there is – but because it’s almost 1:00 a.m. and I need to get to sleep for another full day tomorrow.

Today was a full day in terms of panels, workshops, and pitch appointments. I pitched to both a publisher and an agent, both went well despite the usual wracking of nerves preceding the actual event.

The lunch speaker was Jane Ann Krantz, a hilarious and insightful author of more than 100 novels. It was fascinating to hear her speak, and nice to meet other new folks at lunch again.

Because of pitch appointments, I weaved in and out of several panels. Lit Agent Jessica Faust of Bookends had a panel with 3 of her authors, and they discussed how the author/agent relationship worked. Great to see how they all interacted, not to mention get a feel for her style. I’ve seen her on panels before though, and I always get something out of it.

I tried to go see Cherry Adair’s goal setting presentation, but it was standing room only and I was wiped at that point. I wound up attending the chat w/Nora Roberts instead. I’ve seen and heard this Q&A with Nora in the past, but as always, Nora is a funny and entertaining speaker and it was worth it to go again.

Last but definitely not least was Christie Craig’s “Learning from Rejection” panel, which was wonderful. Rose Hilliard from St. Martin’s Press, Kim Lionetti from Bookends also gave insight into rejections and how to learn from and grow despite the painful parts of the rejection we all must go through in order to become better writers. Christie brings copies of her rejection letters to this speech, and drops them on the floor. It takes her about 3 minutes to do so because she has thousands of rejections to prove her point – never ever give up.

Tonight, everyone kind of went their own way for dinner and evening plans. I met up with some friends from Charlotte, NC and we ate at the Polynesian restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. Even though the hotel is part of Disney and is on the acreage property, I haven’t been near Disney since I was about 6 years old, and the hotel is not close enough to see the Magic Kingdom. We took a bus, then the monorail, which went past the castle all lit up in lights, and got to our polynesian restaurant.

Wow. More food than one could ever eat, but amazing. What was more amazing is we were able to see the fireworks display over the Magic Kingdom from our restaurant window. I realized I hadn’t seen that sight since I was a kid, when my grandparents took me to Disney. Kind of a tugging on the heartstrings feeling to see it now, all these years later. We had a wonderful time, laughing and chatting. I met some new people, reconnected with old friends, as is the way with conferences.

And now, I must sleep. Hope you are having fun wherever you are :)

Elaine