How'd It Go? and Updates

Welcome boys and girls!  I promised you an update and here it is: I'm sick!  Just kidding.  Well, I am sick but that's not the end of my update.

As you probably know, I attended the Writing For The Soul conference in Denver a couple weeks ago to pitch my book to agents and editors and meet other writers.  It was an amazing weekend.  I'm not capable of giving a coherant narrative of the events so instead I will provide snapshots:

*Liz Curtis Higgs is a phenomenal speaker, encourager, and all-around great person.  I was in tears during her talk on opening night.  Afterwards, I stood in line to have her sign a book and gave her a hug.  I shared how touched I was by her message and we talked about the book I had inside of me waiting to get out.  She locked eyes with me and told me my book was already written.  Already written.  God knows our words before we speak or even think them, and my book was already finished. I cannot adequately describe this to you but her words cut straight through to my heart and I stood bobbing my head and swiping at tears and knowing I was meant to be at this conference. What a way to begin!

*My first pitch.... well, I chickened out and didn't even pitch in that first meeting.  I shrank back and claimed I was only interested in learning and asking questions without first even trying to sell myself and my idea.  Lesson learned.  After that point, my pitch went over pretty well with my appointments with mentors, agents, and the editor from Zondervan.  I was very excited and encouraged by all of my appointments. I had two requests from agents and one from an editor "in a few months". 

*Jerry Jenkins himself critiqued my first page in his Thick-Skinned Clinic.  Um, yeah.  Okay, are you ready? Yeah, it was interesting.  I guess I uh, had some dialogue that was a bit too, you know, realistic.  He taught me about "on the nose" writing.  Adding too much small talk in a scene that, while realistic, slowed down the action too much. 

       Note: I've since re-written my first page. *grin*

*Friends! I made a lot of new friends at the conference and I hope we keep in touch.  One of my new friends landed an agent while there--an agent who wasn't even on the panel but drove out to meet with her!--and I got to watch the progression of that success story go from her nervously entering first appointments to finding overwhelming interest to landing a contract.  Amazing and inspiring.  It was also so much fun meeting up with my friend Jessica Patch after chatting all these months online.  We met at the airport and stuck together quite a bit all weekend.  I also got to meet COTT's marketing rep Jennifer Slattery after working together for months.  Very cool!

*My plane home was a later flight and I had time to kill. Brandilyn Collins was in the lobby after the conference ended and I had the opportunity to chat with her at length which was pretty neat. She insisted I really needed to go to the ACFW conference.  She wasn't the first to mention it, so now it's on my prayer list to attend.

I've got to tell you, the very best thing about the conference is all the people you get to meet and talk with.  Having dinner with editors, agents, authors, speakers, it's very cool.  Not in a star-struck sort of way, just in a really neat 'no walls' kind of way.  I highly recommend you go to one!

Books I purchased at the conference:

• Orson Scott Card's Characters and Viewpoint
• Brandilyn Collins' Getting Into Character
• Liz Curtis Higgs' Rise and Shine

So... now what?  When I got home I jumped right into my duties with COTT and pondered my post-conference action plan.  I joined ACFW. I am working with a mentor now to whip my novel into better shape and decided I would let the agent know it would be a little while before I sent my materials, for that reason.  That was difficult to do, but necessary.  I devoured Orson's book--well, the portions most relevant to me anyway.  I am working on fleshing out my characters more and highly recommend his book.

I got an idea for a non-fiction book while driving my daughter to school the other day.  My husband thinks it's a really good idea so that's encouraging! I sketched out my thoughts but I'm not sure when I will begin really working on it.  I have a lot to do working with my mentor on Beauty For Ashes. And I haven't forgotten my next novel, it's just sitting in a folder on my desktop waiting.  Yeah, free time is not in abundance around here these days.

So, I'm entering the Genesis contest through ACFW within the next couple days. This week I am meeting in person with my mentor and hoping to make progress on the novel.  That's my top writing priority.  Next on the list is finishing my proposal (that pesky marketing section is still laughing at me), and after that anything new will get my attention.  I'm praying about the ACFW conference in September.  Agents? Well, I'll wait until my mentor feels the manuscript is at a point where querying agents is a good idea.

It's a long, long road to be sure. But connections and feedback are the best ways to move forward.  Writing is a lonely process, but writing well--and getting published--is not.  If that's you, then get out there. Join critique groups, get to a conference, participate on blogs... do something to connect to the bigger world of writing. 

The keyboard will still be there when you come home.

Going Up?

The Elevator Pitch.  Maybe you've heard it talked about but didn't know what it was.  Or maybe you know but have placed it at the bottom of your priority list. 

Nuh-uh.  That changes today.

What's an elevator pitch, you ask?  Let me throw you in the deep end.  You're in an office building heading up to the 8th floor.  Suddenly, Karen Kingsbury steps in with you and hits the button for the 7th floor.  Your palms start sweating, your mouth goes dry and you blurt out some embarrassing remark about being a writer.  She smiles and asks, "So what's your story about?"  You've just passed floor 2. 

Quick! What do you say?  It better not start with "Uhhh" or "My story is full of romance, action, adventure, lost innocence, redemption, relationships..." (There goes floor 5).  "Um, the main character is a guy in his 40's-- well, later we find out he's really 82, but anyway... "  ding, ding, ding!  "Oh, here's my floor" she says, "Good luck with your book" and off she goes.  Yeah, you've got to do better than that.  Give it a hearty try right now.  You have 60 seconds. 

....
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How'd you do?  I know how I did the first time I tried. 

Your elevator pitch is like your query letter, squeezed and shaved and peeled down to its core.  And it's very hard to squeeze only the most important things out of your marvelous masterpiece.  After all, your novel is a complex tapestry of emotions you've spent months or even years weaving together.  How can you find which thread to pull without the whole thing unraveling into an undiscernable mess?  Trial and error, critique partners, and a few tips to get started.

Step #1: Which character is MOST IMPORTANT.  If your life depended on you choosing only one, who would that be? Forget everyone else for now.  For me, that's John.

Step #2: What's the BIG EMERGENCY that character faces-- the one that sets everything in motion?  This shouldn't be too difficult but depending on your story it might not be as obvious as it sounds. 

Put these together in simple terms. Here's mine: John's wife and daughter are killed.

Step #3: What does your MC do that makes EVERYTHING WORSE?  Chances are there will be a series of bad decisions or events that will set your MC up for a fall.  Pick the biggest one.  Mine: John sleeps with a prostitute.

Step #4: What TEST does your MC then face? For John, it's how he'll handle the resulting pregnancy.

Step #5: This is really more of a tip.  You don't have to (and shouldn't) resolve the story in your elevator pitch.  You want the person to feel they have to read the book to find out.

Another important tip (this is huge) is remembering that this is going to be a CONVERSATION.  It will not be read on a sheet of paper or computer screen, it will be heard coming from YOUR LIPS.  So make it sounds CONVERSATIONAL.  You probably don't have a voice like Movie-Preview-Guy, so don't try and insert dramatic pauses or anything that requires an embarrassing tone of voice to get the impact of the statement.  Example: You aren't going to say: He'll finally find love... a love like none he's ever known before... the love... of GOD. You'd say something more like: He'll finally realize the love of God is unlike any other.  That's not probably the best example but my point is- say it aloud and make sure it sounds natural. Record yourself even, if you have to.  Just don't sound like a weirdo.

So here's a couple of tries for mine, and I hope to get some real-life practice with them on friends over the next week so I'm prepared before conference:

1) My story is about a man whose wife and daughter are killed in a fire. He blames God, ditches his faith, and tries to deal with his grief on his own. He finally reaches his breaking point and repents when he wakes up next to a prostitute. He's forgiven, but he finds that newfound faith— and even falling in love again— is not all sunshine and roses when the now-pregnant hooker knocks on his door.



2) My story is about a man in rebellion, angry at God after the death of his wife and daughter-- until he wakes up next to a prostitute, comes to his senses, and repents. He starts putting his life back together, even falls in love, and everything is looking up. But then the prostitute shows up on his doorstep, 6 months pregnant with his child, and John has to decide whether to try and keep his secret buried or risk everything by bringing it to light. Between John, his fiancé, and the pregnant prostitute, it's a very different kind of love triangle.

Let me know what you think.  I hope you've gained something from this post- motivation to get moving if nothing else.  I am providing a couple of excellent links for further reading.  Happy Hunting! (For agents that is)

http://www.businessknowhow.com/money/elevator.htm
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/01/elevator-pitch-part-1.html

What's Going On?

Hello, dear readers. My apologies on the lack of posts lately, but I've been very busy.

Last week I started homeschooling my 7th grade daughter for the first time. It's been quite an adventure! Things are going well so far, though we are still getting the scheduling down and hopefully can shave some time off our day soon. Science has been a blast with 3 experiments under our belts already! Algebra is going great- I'm thankful for our online course through yourteacher.com. History has begun with the creation account in Genesis (far cry from public school!), and the History of Art is a fun addition to our day.  It's very rewarding but keeps me quite busy as you can imagine.

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary!  Last night we attended a dinner cruise in Newport Beach with delicious filet mignon and salmon and a decadent chocolate mousse dessert.  We also danced and watched the sunset and took some pictures.  It was a lovely night, punctuated by the fact that our 14 month old behaved well for my parents (which had been a major concern).

I have begun fundraising efforts for the WFTS conference.  I need to raise about $800- I'd love your prayers in this area!  I'm having a fundraising party/event at my mom's house in a couple of weeks and just praying for a good turn out, lots of fun and love from friends, and of course hope to put a dent in my fundraising goal.  Anyone with fundraising experience want to give me tips?  I'm having a candle party, raffling off a centerpiece, and conducting a Ping Pong Tournament (fun!).  We may also wash cars.  Sound good?  I'll probably put some stuff up on Ebay this week as well.  Maui Jim sunglasses anyone?  All this is par for the course in publication efforts, unless you are wealthy, which I'm not. =)

In the meantime I have about 6 weeks to enter my book in the Operation First Novel contest, so I've been poring over my manuscript to make sure it's ready.  Some days I feel confident I stand a good chance, other days I think mine will be among the first stories cut.  But whatever happens, I'm doing my best and leaving it in God's hands.

So, these are but a few of the things going on in the Massaro household right now.  Real life is much busier than just this, if you can believe that.  (Check out my recent facebook post on my son's school schedule!) But God is so good, I am so blessed!  Can't wait to see what's in store over these next few months.  Stay tuned, my friends!

~ Michelle

the THREE THINGS

Hello everyone! Today I want to talk about the re-focusing of my publishing efforts.

I've had to really think about how to proceed when I get to the end of my agent list, which is getting close. I'm not done querying yet, but I've been reflecting on the process and have come to realize there are three things that go a long way in helping you secure an agent. And here they are:

1) Endorsements/referrals - this means having published authors who have read your book, liked it, and are willig to be quoted as saying so- and who will refer you to their agent so that they'll read your query a bit more closely.

2) Publishing credits- if you can sell an article to a magazine or newspaper, this will positively affect your query.

3) Face-to-face meetings with agents- this is done at conferences. Many agents will only accept queries from writers they've met at conferences or who are referred to them by one of their current clients (#1).

So... I have decided I need to seek after one or more of these three things. The one I can begin to work on most quickly (which means you can too) is getting something published in a magazine or newspaper. This isn't to say I'll be successful right away, but it's something I can take action on. So I've pulled out my trusty Writer's Market and have begun looking for opportunities to submit freelance work. (I suppose I need to also actually write something.)

Next, I have to get serious about getting to a conference. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until at least February. I don't have time to save up for the ACFW Conference in September, nor am I able to leave my son that soon because he is still nursing. So, the next one is the CWG Conference in February. That's a long time to wait! And patience is not one of my virtues. But it's the only way to get a shot at some of the best agents in the industry. So a few months of waiting should be a no-brainer. A conference is also a good place to meet authors who may endorse my book or refer me to their agents. Of course the friendships to be made will far outweigh this benefit, but networking is important.

So, I'll need to start saving my pennies! I'm not sure how I'll do that. Maybe I'll have a couple of candle parties. Or maybe I'll even sell an article or two and use that to help pay for a conference. Amazing how all that could work together, huh?

*In the meantime, I'll let you in on a secret (shhhhh): I have an idea for another novel percolating in my brain.

The idea isn't even in the infant stage yet. Not even an embryo- more like a zygote. But it's there and it's growing. It's exciting to have this new idea to hold onto while I make my way impatiently down the publication road. I've mentioned it to only a couple of people, and you will be the first to hear about any progress I make right here.