Melinda Jones Carroll: ANWA Conference

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

ANWA Conference

This last weekend I went to the ANWA Conference in Phoenix. I love writers' conferences! If any of you are aspiring writers, I strongly suggest you get yourself to a conference or two. It's a great way to learn about the business and network, network, network. Honestly, I don't know how an author would ever get published if they didn't have a support group around them. And there's no better place to find a writing/critique group, pitch an agent, learn from experienced authors, etc.

I even pitched an agent who really liked my idea and asked to see more. Yay! Of course, I'm pretty sure that she gave her card to everyone who pitched to her, but that doesn't matter. She like my idea, so I'm claiming it as a victory.

We learned some awesome stuff about writing, pitching, querying, etc. I stayed up until 2:00 am working on my pitch, then woke up again at 5:00. I would suggest getting this done beforehand-- it's not fun to survive the day on 3 hours of sleep. I would've been more prepared, but I thought I was prepared until I went to the pitch class the night before and discovered I had it all wrong. Just another good reason for writing conferences.

Thanks to all of the ladies at ANWA and for all the speakers/agents/etc. for putting together such a great conference.

3 comments:

Carroll FamilyMarch 1, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Yeah!!!
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Valerie IpsonMarch 4, 2011 at 8:12 AM
Congrats on the pitch! I got a "yes" as well. I don't know if everyone did, but we can still celebrate, right?

Friday night I tried to compare my prepared pitch with what Elana taught and I couldn't focus. I admire your ability to stay up till 2 AM to get it right!
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Jennifer GriffithMarch 4, 2011 at 3:06 PM
I did the same sleep routine, but with several wakeups between 2 and 5. By the time I pitched the next afternoon my eyes were bloodshot, speech slurred, who knows what I said! Lameness. But I agree--I learned a ton, met a bunch of great new people, and I even got to chat with YOU. Three cheers for conferences!
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About Me

I'm a wife, a mom, and a writer-- usually in that order, but sometimes I get my rolls confused.

I've been a lover of good writing and literature since I was a child. I have a BA from BYU in (of course) English Literature, and though I don't read it exclusively, I tend to find myself hovering around the Fantasy sections of the book store.

I've always loved writing, but I never thought I'd write fiction (if I had, I definitely would've taken more creative writing classes in college *sigh*). But two and a half years ago I was up at a cabin for a family reunion, driving through the pine trees and the rolling hills, when the thought came to me, "this would be a great setting for a story." My mind took off from there and hasn't slowed down since.

So now here I am, hearing voices in my head, waking up in the middle of the night with a great plot twist, and forcing my children to ask me questions three or four times because my mind is off wondering through enchanted forests and magical kingdoms.