Throughout the day the ball kept tossing between e-publishing and print publishing. The media is changing, but hasn't changed yet. There are a lot of "dead tree flesh fetishists" out there. (Thank you Minister Faust for that quote.) I am one. After hearing the description of a transmedia campaign, I can safely say, I'm not ready to embark on THAT. I'm definitely one for taking my book and curling up in big comfy chair. Still, I know that value can be found in the electronic media, and I'm thrilled that my book will be released electronically as well as in print.
The first of my sessions was on Young Adult Fiction and Fantasy. Perfect, right? Definitely my favourite. From that I came away with a little vindication in my personal writing process, an idea of what publishers look for, what editors might ask, and generally an echo of my experience. Met some other authors that I hope to workshop with in the future. (I'm looking at Twilla and ArmT3Homeless.)
From there, I had lunch with some lovely ladies who are just breaking into blogging and online media, so I'm just going to wave at them if they follow the link I gave.
In the afternoon, my second session was on anthologies, and I learned to seek these publications out and submit, submit, submit. After all, I'm feeling fairly confident in my short story abilities. I couldn't say why I haven't tried shopping these out, except, perhaps, lack of confidence.
The last was on 21st Century Publishing. I took the least away from this one. The first panelists described the back end of publishing, something I don't have a lot of involvement in and left me feeling very underqualified without my publisher present.(Have I mentioned Martin Sisters lately? They are awesome.) The latter described a transmedia release that boggled my mind and wouldn't fit ANY of my current WIPs. It sounded daunting and huge and completely out of my control. I'm reminded that it is the EDGE and what we are moving toward, not where we are, but it still left me gaping.
Then came the Writer's Circus. That's right, we were asked to do tricks! So here's what I had:
That's not the exact picture I had, but there's the plant. There were a variety of other pictures and we had to write a poem based on one. Being the botanist, I, of course, took the native Alberta species.
Inflated, flush
glowing under dewy skin
open, welcoming
sweet fragrance, enticing
tongue touching sweet nectar
trembling as the taster feasts, flies
The Lady's Slipper
One size fits all.
The second station had a variety of phrases face down on squares of paper and we were to write a short story or poem based on the one we picked. Mine was from The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman and is italicized in the piece.
Shivering in the drizzle, she shrugs her coat higher on her neck. The icy droplets that had collected atop the shiny synthetic collar spill down her back. Her shivers increase, more violent, and not entirely the produce of water.
She feels the eyes on her. He watches from two paces behind her, following - never nearer, never trailing. Surreptitious glances give her only more discomfort, less certainty.
Hair matted by the rain, a beard raining drops its own, and downturned corners to his mouth all add to the fear building in her. This is her bus stop, but she fears to pause, fears his approach. Finally, stumbling, she grabs the bus stop bench to keep from falling and gasps breaths after holding one for so long. She could bear his expression, so fixed and intense that he looked more like a mask than a man, more like a phantom than person.
"Are you alright?" a soft voice asks from her elbow, steadying her.
The clouds seem to break, though the drizzle continues. His expression is no longer rigid, no longer frightening. His cheeks pull up slightly as he smiles.
"Keep dry," he says before walking on.
Blogs I found through the Get Published convention:
Michelle Earl
Melody
(sorry Melody - I've forgotten your last name *blush*)
Goliath
Have you been to any good conventions lately? Which ones? Where? How well did you network? Better than me, I hope!!
How is the convention going? Stop by and grab your goodie! :)
ReplyDelete