A Bridge to Publication - Bayou Writers' Group - Lake Charles, LA

Tomorrow is our Bayou Writers' Group annual conference. We have an interesting line-up this year. Check it out. You can get more info from our website: http://bayouwritersgroup.com .

D.B. Grady is a Correspondent for The Atlantic co-authoring Secrets: What You Need to Know About What You’re Not Supposed to Know with Marc Ambinder of National Journal (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). His debut novel, Red Planet Noir, won the 2010 Indie Book Award for Science Fiction.   Mark Harris is a contributing editor at New York Magazine and a columnist for Entertainment Weekly. His first book, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, won the 2009 Theater Library Association Award and a CODES Notable Books Award and was named a New York Times Notable Book and the year’s best nonfiction book by Booklist Magazine.   Anita Mumm, of Nelson Literary Agency (www.nelsonagency.com), is the first reader for all query letters and sample pages that come in through the slush pile. She takes pitches from writers at conferences across the country. Mumm has picked a number of exciting new authors for the company, including Jennifer Shaw Wolf, whose edgy young adult, Tigerseye, will be out in early 2012.

Turn Out the Lights - The Party's Over

The conference is over and I can’t think of one thing to blog about. I feel completely drained, sucked-dry from the entire experience. On top of that, for some reason I inherited two bank bags of conference funds. Okay, guys, I know I’m a control freak but this is ridiculous! If only our treasurer knew that I couldn’t count my way out of a paper bag if my life depended on it. Seriously. I counted the money over and over and over again before I finally got the same total more than once. Then when I got to the bank, the teller counted and came up with a different total. How on earth could that have happened? When she told me how much I was off, (thankfully in their favor) I realized I’d donated to our scholarship fund and hadn’t counted it. No, I didn’t major in math and if we’d had an exit exam in my day, believe me, I’d still be taking it, trying to graduate. Needless to say, I don’t believe in exit exams but that’s another story. Don’t get me started.

The conference was a success. Our largest yet. We had less than 60 people pre-register. Total head count was 86 I think. Six people who said they were coming, didn’t show. I’m glad. We didn’t have seats for them. We ran out of goody bags too. Five attendees didn’t get one.

Children's book editor Harold Underdown did an excellent job of staying on track with his critiques and was accessible to everyone who wanted to talk with him. We’d gotten word through the proverbial writers’ grapevine that he was a real bear with his critiques but he came across to me as a gentle man with a kind heart. He gave 100% to our conference and our members. I liked him a lot.

Gary Goldstein, senior editor at Kensington, is a real comedian as many of you know. He sat on a stool at the microphone, told stories about publishing, and made people laugh. I wish I wrote westerns. Wouldn’t mind him being my editor just because of his personality.

Chere’ Coen gave an interesting talk on NF writing and ideas for NF books. I’ve had a lot of online dealings with Chere’ but this is the first time we’ve met. She’s a cute lady with a lot of energy. I always enjoy hearing how writers fall into their book deals and how they get the ideas for books that actually come to be. BTW, all you Louisiana authors out there, if you don't know Chere', go to her Louisiana Book News and get your name on her list. You should be contacting her every time you have book news and that includes books going on Kindle. You know who you are. :) All you need to do is send her press releases of happenings in your life.


Our panel—Pam Thibodeaux, Curt Iles, Lesa Boutin and Wendy Lanier talked about small press, POD, Write for Hire and self-publishing. They did a great job. I’m not sure the audience really appreciated just how much experience and know-how these four had to offer. Pam is a White Rose Press author and has recently signed with Five Star. Curt is the most successful self-pubbed author I've ever known. He has an agent shopping his novels. My friend Lesa owns Boot In The Door Publications and has two YA books in print, and Wendy writes for magazines and has a number of books published as a writer for hire. There's not one question they couldn't answer.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was encouraging some of our members to meet with Gary Goldstein to pitch their books. It was good experience for them to sit across from a real editor and answer his questions. I’ve done it a lot and I’m always scared to death, feel like a fool, forget my pitch and … did I say feel like a fool? Every editor is different. While one may encourage dialogue by asking a lot of questions about conflict, characters and plotline, the next editor may sit and stare and never open her mouth. Ouch! That's when it's tough. Gary was one who asked questions—the kind I like. One of our writers got a request for the completed manuscript. Thank the Lord his book is complete and can be sent right away.

Looking at our evaluation forms, I’m dismayed by what people like and dislike, compliments & criticisms: Too many door prizes, not enough door prizes, love the humorous moderator; please less comedy and long-windedness, good food, yucky food, great bookstore, not enough books in the bookstore; Right down to our praying over the food in Jesus' name. Do evaluation sheets help at all? Well, only if we listen to them, I guess.

I know one thing for certain: putting on a conference is hard work, and there’s a lot more to it than one person delegating. Someone has to be on top of things and keep a running tally of what’s being accomplished and what’s left to do. This conference was a challenge for a number of reasons, yet it was one of our best and most successful. We all came together a couple of weeks ago, checklists in hand and got the fine-tuning done. It's over. We were a success. We're still friends. Now it’s time to think about next year.

Conference is Over-I can breathe again

First note: A good pair of conference shoes are worth their weight in gold. Yeah, a tacky cliche but so very true.

Our Bayou Writers' Group conference is over. It was great. From my point of view, it went smoothly, we had some wonderful speakers and I connected with some sweet people I used to know and made a lot of new friends. I absolutely love collecting writer friends, encouraging them, and watching them grow and succeed in their careers.

In hindsight, there are a few things we'll definitely be changing for next year. As always, experience is the very best teacher. That applies to writing too. Write, and you will learn how to write.

Here are some pics of our conference.

This is author Randy Denmon. His voice didn't carry and our microphone decided to be contrary, so Randy moved to the center of our group and it worked well. Rumor has it that Randy is our 'most quoted' speaker.

Our Boy's Life editor, Paula Murphey was super. She brought magazines and writers guidelines for everyone. We love personable and easy to talk with editors, and Paula is that and more. Here she is meeting with our friend Ray. Paula is excellent at brain-storming ideas with writers.

My good friend, author Barbara Colley, stepped in for a speaker who had a personal crisis and couldn't make it. Barbara is always professional and well prepared. She should be. She's published over 14 books, is excellent at promotion, and always willing to share information. Barbara even created a hand-out at the last minute. Visit her website here. If you ever need a conference speaker, she has my recommendation. You can also read my interview with Barbara here.

What can I say about David LaBounty, The First Line Literary magazine editor? Actually, I'll try not to go gushy. I have a weakness and an unnatural love for literary magazines. Reading them and submitting to them back in the 70s was my very favorite thing to do. I have billions of rejections. Very little success. David and his family brought back memories of when I traipsed around at writing conferences with my daughter and husband in tow. We always had a good time; we always had interesting family discussions, learned together and shared a lot. The First Line is a great publication and family effort. Check out their website and if one of their first lines grabs you, sit down and whip out that story. There's a lot to be said for spontaneity. Now, because David likes his privacy when it comes to the Internet, I thought I'd treat him to his anonymity but still share with my readers so here he is speaking to our group.

Bayou Writers Group Conference is Here!

Yes, conference is here. This weekend. I'm ready. Honestly, I'm ready to look back and say, well done.

What I'm really looking forward to doing is meeting the speakers I've been emailing for several months. I feel especially close to them since I hand-picked them myself. :) I'm sure the closeness is a wonderful figment of my imagination but I consider David, Randy and PJ all mine. Paula from Boy's Life is Angie's editor. I think we have a wonderful line-up. We've worked hard, and I hope everyone will benefit from it.

I'm also very excited about meeting writers who will be driving in from the surrounding area: Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and different parts of Texas.

If I stop to think about the 50, 60, almost 70 people attending this conference, hoping to learn something, make that needed connection, my heart leaps because I want so badly for them to get everything they want and need from our small conference. I feel obligated to them and to our speakers. I guess I put a lot of stress on myself for wanting everyone to walk away completely "writerly-satisfied."

This is the first time I've worked on a conference though I've been to many. I've complained about the lack of organization, lousy, unprepared speakers, even the food.

I'll never complain again. I'll say it louder: I'LL NEVER COMPLAIN AGAIN!

I have an enormous amount of respect for anyone who works on a conference committee and tries to guess what other writers want and need. And I have an enormous amount of admiration and respect for anyone who does it more than once. :)

I hope you enjoy our Bayou Writers Group conference. We worked hard--for you.