In February I attended the San Francisco Writers Conference. I met other writers, presenters, editors, and agents. Everyone gave us their best advice and did it with kindness.
This conference would not exist without the many volunteers who gave their time before, during, and after the conference. Their smiles and friendly attitude added to the appeal of the event.
I prepared for the conference by writing and memorizing the pitch for my completed novel, Against the Wall. My critique group helped me ahead of time by giving their input to make it the best presentation possible. On Sunday morning the agents listened to many writers tell about their books. Each of us had three minutes per agent. I met with six agents and four were interested in receiving a query letter and sample pages from my manuscript. One agent said she was intrigued. My head swelled a bit at that compliment.
Now I need to compose four fantastic query letters and write about my book in one page. In addition, I’ll choose a sample of my writing I wish to include. This won’t be a simple process even though it sounds like it. Agents toss hundreds of queries a year because the writing in the letter is poor, the story is poorly written, or they aren’t interested. They need to market a superb book to publishing houses. I’m ready to accept the challenge.