For most writers on the get-published track, a huge hurdle
is pitching a book concept and obtaining buy-in from an agent or editor. The
art of pitching is so in-demand as a topic that writers conferences often
provide attendees the opportunity to work on their pitches with established
authors plus make pitch appointments with agents and editors. M&M made both
opportunities available. Although I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into,
I volunteered to work with writers on tweaking their pitches at the Pitch
Workshop, organized by Ana Aragon, from ten o'clock to noon Friday
morning. I arrived a little early and introduced myself to GRW president Anna
DeStefano and Tanya Michna / Tanya Michaels, both warm and
welcoming ladies. Other authors soon arrived, the tables filled up with
writers, and we got to work.

Each writer at my table had a seven-minute pitch appointment
scheduled with an agent or editor on Saturday. Seven minutes was good news. That
meant we weren't dealing with the typical elevator pitch, where you try to draw
a comparison in hopes of making a connection and securing an appointment later
with the prospect — all in about thirty seconds. (Example of comparison:
"My book is 'Pirates of the Caribbean' meets 'House.'") Seven minutes
means that you have a "captive audience." So you craft your pitch to
build interest such that the prospect begins to ask questions: who, what, when,
where, how, why. But most importantly, you engage the emotions of the
prospect. What I initially heard was material with the emotional hit of a
resume. The information in the "resume" is important, but I told each
of woman at my table that they also had to make me care. "Tell me
something that grabs at my heart. How do these challenges affect your
protagonist physically, psychologically? Show me." When the session
was over, they each had a better idea of how to modify their pitches. I got
feedback from most of them Saturday. Prospects had requested partials. Huzzah
for my pitch students!

 From 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., I had the
option of attending a published author workshop on brainstorming. Instead, my
intuition prodded me to attend an intensive workshop conducted by Margie Lawson from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. One editorial comment I'm so tired of receiving
is, "Needs more emotion here!" I knew I wasn't quite grasping some
Big Concept that my editor was trying to impart upon me. Even though I followed
his suggestions, I always felt as though I were writing his words, not mine. I
wanted to change that, move my writing to the next level. The enlightenment I
took away from this workshop — a jam-packed amalgamation of Margie's workshops
"Power Up Emotion" and "The EDITS System" — was that body
language might carry emotion, but it doesn't serve the same purpose as showing
a character's involuntary physical reaction to emotion. (For an example, the
difference between making a character tighten his lips with anger — a
voluntary action — vs. having his pulse hammer with anger — involuntary.)
Grasshopper's editor had pegged her many times when she wrote the former but
the latter was needed. This realization blew me away. I examined a first-draft
of Chapter 1 from A Deadly Occupation (book 4 of my series), and
immediately I recognized passages where I was substituting the former for the
latter. I rewrote chapter 1 the following week. The difference was incredible,
as if I'd bypassed several tortuous drafts and gone straight into a refined
later draft. Many published authors don't take Margie's class — perhaps
because they don’t care about improving, or they don’t want to know what
they're doing wrong. If you do nothing else for yourself this year to improve
your craft, I recommend that you take Margie's online course on this material.
Huzzah for Margie Lawson! And thanks to Tami Brothers for organizing the
workshop!

 Tanya Michna provided words of
welcome for all attendees at a reception from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. I spoke with a number of romance authors who
all knew each other, but they each made me feel at home. To Rita-award winner
Catherine Mann, I finally admitted that I had a tough time reading a
romance all the way through. My modus operandi is to read a few pages
into a romance, lose steam, skip ahead to the sex, then close the book. I
wanted to know what it was about romances that drew women (and some men) to
them, over and over,  reading them page-by-page. After all, romance is the best selling fiction genre out there. What
voodoo does romance do-do so well for readers? Catherine said, "It's all
about the emotion." So that I could see what she meant, she promised to
give me a copy of one of her books. (And she made good on her promise the next
day, but I haven't had a chance to read the book yet.)

From 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., I attended a faculty dinner for
workshop presenters, editors, agents, and featured speakers. Margie Lawson sat
to my left, so I got to chat with her more, an honor. On the other side of her
was Haywood Smith, who writes wickedly funny hen lit about the Red Hat
Society in Atlanta. (Gosh, I wish the Red Hats would invite me to
join. They sound like so much fun. And I finally qualify for entrance.) On my
right sat Abby Zidle, an editor at Pocket Books, and one of the pitch
prospects. I talked with her about the pitch workshop that morning, and she
confirmed that most people who pitch give her the resume version, not the
emotional hit. She also said that if a writer's material sounds as though it
might fit with what an agent represents or a house publishes, the writer is
invited to submit a partial. Agents and editors cannot tell from talking with a
writer whether they actually know how to write, so they need a sample. In addition, Abby admitted that new clients are seldom found at conferences. She attends
conferences to get the name of Pocket Books out there and help writers. On that
final point, a pitch holds up under scrutiny and sparkles when the writer has
crafted her work well enough to recognize the deepest themes of her work,
beyond the superficial dressing. Only then can she articulate the book's
emotional message.

We did have an icebreaker activity at the table involving shoes.
Sandy Elzie, on the M&M committee for speakers and presenters,
started us off with a question about what we remembered about an early pair of
shoes. Everyone else talked about fashionable little things with straps or
hints of heels. Not me. I recalled a pair of sneakers that my little sister
pooped into while she was potty training.

By 9:00 p.m., I was torched and wanted nothing more than a
shower and a bit of light reading before I fell asleep. Alas, that didn't
immediately happen. I had to switch hotel rooms because the toilet in my first
room quit working. An unromantic end to a day, what hey? But Huzzah! for the
hotel staff. They made the room switch efficiently and courteously. By 10:30, I
was zzzzzzz.