SiWC 1916 accommodations

On Saturday, October 15th, my husband and I went to Vancouver. Our first trip back since our move to Penticton last April. The first five days were catching up with a few friends (couldn't get together with some, unfortunately) and taking care of Franciscan obligations. (See that blog entry.)
Then, on Thursday a friend kindly transported us from the Accent Inn, Burnaby, to the Sheraton Guildford in Surrey for the conference.
My husband had to amuse himself while I attended the Surrey International Writers' Conference on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The conference was excellent as always. I didn't manage to connect with friends as I usually do, and that was the only disappointment.
It's so hard to get to all the workshops I like, while still taking the opportunities to meet with agents for pitch sessions and with fellow writers for blue pencils (editing). Still it's worth the effort.
I want to get the calendar in front of me before I tell you what workshops I did manage to attend. For now, here's just the mechanics of getting around.
When I first booked my room at the Sheraton, at the same time that I registered for the conference, I didn't know my husband wanted to come, too. Not to the conference, but to the Lower Mainland, and to extend the visit to include our Franciscan obligations.
As a result, the Sheraton room was not very "handicap accessible" and I didn't think to change that before our arrival. We spent the first night in my original room, but my husband had so many difficulties that they finally were able to give us another room where he could be comfortable.
The staff were exceptionally helpful for the whole time we were there.
My conference registration was for the whole package--which included most meals. They were varied and quite good, but spoiled by the excessively long lines to get to the "buffet" (aka cafeteria style). Surely a hotel of this size and quality can feed a crowd (I think we were about 700 or 800) in a more efficient way that this. I've been to many large banquets where the meals were brought to the tables by staff, so guests could all eat hot food together at the same time, without having to carry the plates ourselves.
Other than that, the weekend was great! 

marketing

Some day, I hope, I'll have to look at how to market my book(s). Ever the optimist, that's me.  So when I do that, I'll take a closer look at the services offered by Raab Associates . At an  SCBWI conference several years ago, I bought An Author's Guide to Children's Book Promotion by Susan Salzman Raab (published January 2004, by Raab Associates, NY.) But I'm sure there have been many changes in the past eleven years. Still, I find the information in that book helpful and encouraging, and sometimes a bit daunting. Nevertheless, I am sure this contact would be very helpful in marketing my book(s)--whenever they may be ready for that step. As I said, I'm ever the optimist.

pick myself off, dust myself off, and start all over again

Not quite all over again--I have reviewed Angels in the Flames, and tweeked it, as I always do, but not started all over again as I have done on one or two other occasions.  No.  Just a bit of tweeking and yesterday I sent it off to three more Canadian publishers: Annick Press, Groundwood, and Kids Can Press, all in Toronto. I started off with western Canadian publishers, seeing as how the story is set in Vancouver.  Then moved eastward.  I don't like simultaneous submissions, but I thought I'd try it once more and hope for the best.  So, once more typing with crossed fingers.  I also have an article at BC Parent News, and am waiting to hear from them. And my play is with the artistic director at Christ Church Cathedral; I hope something comes of that, too.  So: three irons in the fire.  Someone once said that to be a successful writer, you need to have twelve irons in the fire.  I guess it will be a long time before I'm a "successful" writer.  For now, I'm just a struggling writer, like gazillions of others.

another disappointment

I got another rejection letter today.  Dundurn didn't find my historical novel right for them.  Okay.  I'm glad they were quick to respond.  I really hate waiting!  (Doesn't everyone?)  But also just don't like to send out simultaneous submissions.  I may have to change my tune on that.  Anyway, I have two more publishers on my list: Kids Can Press and Annick Press.  KCP says they accept sim subs if identified, and Annick doesn't mention sim subs in their guidelines.  Hmm.  What to do!  I'll have to print out sample chapters of Angels in the Flames and write up fresh cover letters and see what happens.  Can't have that ms sitting around here doing nothing.  I wonder if I should do another rewrite. 
Meanwhile, I'm working on a young adult murder mystery.  I read that Dahl (can't spell his first name without looking it up) used to give himself a year to write a book.  I've been working on the YA novel since last May, and hope to have it all "down" by the end of December and then spend the next few months, to May 2012, to get it ready to send out.  I have the outlines done for two sequels, so I'll start the next one as soon as the first is sent out. 
Seriously thinking about getting an agent.

what to do?

Angels in the Flames has been with Coteau Books for a year now, and still no word except responses to my enquiries concerning status.  Not yet read, I think.  Oh dear!  The slush pile?  Well, I have a list of half a dozen more Canadian publishers, and I could send it off to them.  Coteau said it's okay to sim.sub as long as I let them know.  I'll do that, of course.  However, I'm thinking of trying an agent again.  No luck last time (a few years ago, but I think that was for a different project, and I know it wasn't with the agent I have in mind). 
So, I have to prepare the manuscript once again for another journey.  Meanwhile, I keep hoping and writing, and so on.  Writing the book is only a fraction of the work that getting getting it published is.  Still, it's worth pursuing, I suppose.  If only for the experience.  Can't quit now.  I'm in too deep.

reading the SideStreet series published by Lorimer

I was able to get two SideStreet books from the library: New Blood by Peter McPhee, and Final Takedown by Brent R. Sherrard.  I've finished Sherrard's book.  Really good.  Quite different from other books I've read.  I've just started the other book, and it's different again, so far.  Very edgy, both of them.  Could I write one?  Don't know.  I'll give it a try.  Right now I'm working on two other novels and have other projects on the back burners, too.  Coteau still has Angels, and Baker has the play.  Slow going on Suite 101 right now, but that's okay.  Squidoo is on hold, too.  Can't do everything all at once.

the play

Yesterday, at long last, I mailed off a query letter with sample pages of The Wolf and the Saint, The Life of St. Francis of Assisi as Told by The Wolf of Gubbio.  I sent it to Baker's Plays in New York.

library visit

Yesterday I got an electronic reminder to pick up a book I'd requested from the Vancouver Public Library.  I'd forgotten I'd ordered it, because it's the second in the millennium trilogy by Stieg Larrsen: The Girl Who Played with Fire.   While checking it out, I commented to the woman at the desk that I hadn't yet read the first book, because the waiting list is so long at the library.  She advised me to go to the section that has mystery books in paperback, and look under L.  I did, and lo and behold there was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  So now I have these two humungous books to read in just a few weeks.  Meanwhile, I'm still in the process of printing out that never-to-be-done-with play, and reading juvenile books, and writing articles for Suite 101 and Squidoo and a YA novel for Lorimer before they forget about me.  With all this reading and writing to do, when am I ever to get any exercise?!

writing the play

I did it.  I finally figured out how to make the distinctive headers for each scene while having the pagination continue throughout the document.  I just have to fool the computer into thinking that when I tell it to start the pagination at the number it would have started at if continuing, then it goes well.  As for the needs of other play publishers, who want each act to start at page one, I do the same thing.  The big trick is to watch the tabs in the menu that want to "link to previous section".  No thanks.  Don't do that.  Now, all I need is ink in the printer so I can send the play out to those who want hard copies.  I can send the email copies any time now, I guess.  One more task to complete: take care of the "widows & orphans" in the dialogues so that the actors know where their lines continue on the next page, and where they don't.  All this fiddling!

writing the play

I've been working on this play one way or another since the beginning of April this year.  Thought I'd finished in August when it was given a dramatic reading at the Franciscan convocation, and then produced and performed at the Vacation Bible School at St. James Anglican Church at the end of August.  But, to get it ready to go to a publisher, the pages have to be just so--and that's different from an ordinary manuscript.  The headings have to be just so.  And that means I've had to learn how to divide my ms into sections.  Okay.  Did that. But microsoft promises that it is possible to have different headers for each section.  And I need to do that so that the whole play isn't labelled "ACT I scene 1" and paginated from page one all the way to page 79.  I need to have some pages labelled ACT II, and III, and IV, and have scenes labelled appropriately within each act.  One publisher likes to have all the pages 1 through 79; another publisher wants each act to be paginated individually.  If I ever learn how to change the acts/scenes, that will be good, but I'll never be able to paginate 1 to 79 if I do that.  grrrr.  Writing the play was the easy part!

Some News is Bad/Good News

The bad news is that Lorimer rejected my historical novel, Angels in the Flames.  First off, it's news because I had been told that Lorimer would respond only to accept a book, so I had just assumed that they were not interested and I should not expect to hear from them.  A long time had passed.  So, the good news is that they did indeed respond, even after all this time.  It's also not all bad news because, despite the rejection, the editor that while the novel did not fit their current needs, she "very much enjoyed (your) work".  Also, she encouraged me to look at their current editorial guidelines on their website, http://www.lorimer.ca/, for details on their current series.  They want contemporary young adult fiction that addresses "tough issues faced by real Canadian teens."  I have some stories floating around in my head and partially written, so I should get on with it.  I had planned to write a novel for Delacorte's competition.  As the work went on, I realized there's not much chance of having it done by the December 31st deadline.  However, it seems that Lorimer wants something similar to what I was working on, so that's a good start.  If I don't get it to Delacorte by the New Year, I'll keep at it and send it to Lorimer as soon as possible.  If they don't want it, it can go to Delacorte next year.  Meanwhile, Angels in the Flames is still at Coteau.  I hope they, too, will enjoy reading it.  But that they will also publish it!

writing hits and misses

The short story deadline has passed, and it never got written much less submitted.  I did a fair amount of research for it, but every time I started and restarted the story, it always came out more of the beginning of a novel with no place to go (plot-wise, that is).  Just as well I've abandoned it.  Maybe I can use some of the research one of these days.  Hate to waste it altogether. 
I've decided not to do nanowrimo this year.  It was fun last year, but "been there, done that" now, so I'll move on.  After all, I did accomplish the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  What I want to do now is rework that same novel into a YA novel and maybe, if it's done in time, send it to Delacorte for the YA contest.  That's due by December 31st.  We'll see if I can rewrite the novel in 60 days (minus almost a week, as it's already Nov. 4th). 
I'm still doing suite 101 articles.  I've got 9 published there, and have several more in mind--some more on language learning of course, and a couple of book reviews.  I can see this is an endless project, and that's a very good thing.
If I haven't heard from Coteau Books by the end of January, I'll email them to say that the historical juvenile novel will no longer be theirs exclusively.  Then I can send it on to someone else.  The only way it'll ever get published is if I keep it going.
This evening I'm going to a workshop to learn about internet presence for writers--websites, etc.  So far, my only internet presence is this blog and my suite 101 articles.

well, actually....

In my last post I said something about getting my ms back from Lorimer. If you read any earlier posts on that subject, you'd see that I didn't get anything back from Lorimer. Not even an e-mail reply. Just time lapses with nothing. Then, someone enlightened me that Lorimer does not deign to communicate unless it is to accept something. So, after wasting a few months waiting in ignorance, I finally got the book back into the swing from publisher to publisher. I'm beginning to think of it as a sort of dodgeball game with my ms as the ball being dodged by one and all. Most depressing. However, must keep it in the air if I hope to get it published. And I do hope to get it published. It's hard enough to accept rejection, though, but being totally ignored is worse! At least with rejection, it's possible to know that it's time to move on.
I've told Coteau Books that they have the ms exclusively until February 2011. Then, in March 2011 I intend to send it to the next in the queue. Well, that is if Coteau hasn't decided to publish the book. I can still hope for that! Until February.

the novel's next step

When I got ANGELS IN THE FLAMES back from Lorimer, I was up to my neck in working on the play, so it got put on the back burner. However, next in the queue, so to speak, was Coteau Books, and they take juvenile submissions only between May 1 and August 31. So, yesterday, I printed the whole ms again and sent it off this afternoon. It's a bit late, but I hope it'll be considered--and accepted, ideally.

publishers' information

I'm so glad that I'm a member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators). There's so much information that comes my way that I would otherwise miss. For example: today there was a post on the listserv for SCBWI/Western Canada that provided a link to Lorimer's guidelines. Now, I have a link for that on this site, but I don't check it every day--not even every week. You may know that I currently have a manuscript at Lorimer's and have been trying to learn the status of that ms, but with no results. So, in today's post I learned that Lorimer does not let writers know if their ms is not being considered. (Not even a "reply" to an e-mail ms status enquiry.) And, although I thought my historical novel would fit with a series they have, I see that they are not seeking historical fiction at the moment. So, now I can send my novel off to the next publisher on my list. And, I can try my hand at writing something that Lorimer (or another Cdn publisher) would like. Meanwhile, I'm polishing my puppet play, "The Wolf and the Saint", to take it to the Franciscan convocation and then produce it at St. James' Vacation Bible School next month.