EACH ONE TEACH ONE: EDITORS & AGENTS at WRITE ON CON

First of all, a quick, sincere apology:  I was volunteering at a great event last weekend in the Dominican Republic called “Kiteboarding For Kids”  that raises funds for organizations that help impoverished children on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. (Check it out! We're still collecting donations if you want to be a part of it!). Alas, I got so busy with that that I completely forgot to post on writermorphosis last week!  I am very sorry. : ( 

Huge thanks to those dedicated readers (I saw you all there on the stats feed graph) who sweetly showed up last Friday and Saturday to look for the missing post.  I’m so sorry! It was a colossal fail on my part!

But I’ve got a great post for you this week, to make up for it! It’s not an interview! It’s a bunch of them!  It’s an online writer’s conference for children’s/YA writers called WRITEONCON!  I attended this conference online this past week, and if you didn’t get there, I encourage you to go there now!  It's still open! I had never attended WriteOnCon before but the list of amazing speakers, video and blog presentations, and especially the interactive discussions with editors, agents, and authors were phenomenal.

So, in case you missed it, here is the info on how you can (and should) still attend:

WriteOnCon is annual, it’s free, it’s online, and it’s open to you NOW – even if you didn’t get to attend the live feed last week. You can still go online to WriteOnCon and read lots of great samples of query letters if you’re trying to write one. You can still go there and learn how to write a great novel summary, or a twitter pitch, or a novel even.  It’s all still there – for you.  Now.

I highly recommend you go there today to http://writeoncon.com/ .  And here’s why:

If you go to the website, click on “The Full Schedule” on the right hand side of the page, enter the site by creating a user name and password (your “profile”), then  return to the homepage at http://writeoncon.com/  and again click on “the Full Schedule” you’ll find links for various presentations and question/answer sessions by editors and agents that are still posted there for you to read.  It’s almost as good as having attended the conference yourself! And again, it's FREE!

Sessions you can go in now to read (find them listed on the WriteOnCon website under the dates posted below in the Full Schedule) include:

Tuesday August 14^th:

Revision Toolbox — Characters by author Donna Cooner

The Revision Checklist by Author Talia Vance

Hooks and Killer First Lines by international bestselling author Lissa Price

World-building in Science Fiction and Fantasy by author Mindee Arnett

What is Voice, and How do I Get it? by author Jennifer A. Nielsen

How to Get Started With Social Media: DON’T Do All The Things! by Publicist Meredith Barnes by publicist Meredith Barnes of Soho Press!

Choosing the Right Critique Partners by bestselling author Leigh Bardugo

Interview with literary agent Daniel Lazar

And the list goes on.  Lots of fabulous topics. So check it out!

Then there was Wednesday August 15^th  

Building Characters into Real People by very funny author Frank Cole (Definitely recommended!)

Elements of Writing (AKA Plotting) by Rhoda Belleza and Lexa Hillyer of Paper Lantern Lit

The Inside Scoop: Get Your Query Noticed by editor Leah Hultenschmidt

And the brilliant…

He Said, She Said, Creating Sexual Tension Through Dialog by author Jessica Martinez
I’ll be going back in to watch this one again and to take some notes related to my current manuscript, so thank you, Jessica! Excellent presentation!

There was also the very helpful and not to be missed:

Q&A/YA Twitter pitches w/ Editor/Agents Stacy Abrams, Heather Howland & Alycia Tornetta

And another one that I highly recommend:

All Your Publishing Questions… Answered! by editors Molly O’Neill and Martha Mihalick, and literary agent Holly Root  (They gave great answers to great questions!)

I also must say that I had the pleasure of meeting both Martha Mihalick and Molly O’Neill at a conference a few years back and they both exhibited a great combination of sweetness and honesty, which I loved : )  Here is a photo of Martha Mihalick signing my critique group’s “mascot” – the Hockey stick.  Yes folks – we’re “the Goalies!” : ) Loud and proud! Thanks for signing our stick, Martha! We love ya!

 

 So if you missed WriteOnCon just like I missed showing up here last Saturday to do the weekly blog post  --(so sorry, I really truly am, there was no excuse for it!) -- you can still attend WriteOnCon!  Head on over to see what you missed!  And for those who did attend, it was great to meet you at WriteOnCon and I look forward to seeing you all there again next year. What a great event for YA and Children’s authors!

I’ll be back here with our next post Next Saturday morning.  Until then, enjoy WriteOnCon and learn lots from all the great author, editor, and agent speakers there.  See you in a week - Janelle