Off to the Writer’s Conference

I’m leaving Wednesday morning in order to attend a lunch meeting in Seattle with a client — and thus write off my gas as a business expense — before the PNWA conference begins in earnest on Thursday. I’ll have outlines and business cards in hand. I had hoped to shop a final manuscript, but alas, one cannot rush one’s critiquers, and there are three good critiques in the works that I should review before I finalize the book.

This conference is a watershed moment for me… if one is allowed to predict such things. I’ll behave like a serious writer from now on. $400 to meet with an agent and an editor means I can’t pretend to be “feeling out” a writing career.

I’m unprotected. My prose is no longer hidden behind a barrier of amateurism — it has to stand on its own instead of being hinted at in shy conversations. People will read my book and look at me askance if they didn’t enjoy it. I’ll be competing with the prose of the pros.

But I have always pursued forward motion on projects, ignorance be damned. The difference between a published writer and a wannabe is  initiative more than talent.

I’ll bring back pix and words from the conference.