Changes coming to the blog this week, including some really deep (kiddy-pool is yardstick deep) observations about the last week.
In the meantime, here are two videos. My favorite place, Waffle House. I spent $50 on a cab ride to get there yesterday. Some indication of my level of addiction.
More to come in the next few days.
Attending a multiday writers conference is more than a little bit like doing a specop on a submarine. You leave home by car, hop a plane, take a van to the boat. Boat not ready to leave, hop the ferry into town and then get back to boat. next day stick head out of boat just before it leaves the breakwater. It’s underway but not yet out of sight of land.
Severe turbulance as it heads under the waves, then cruise to the op area and gather inteligence, never leaving the boat. No fresh air, no sunshine, no sight outside of the boat
The food’s pretty good, nice crew (beautiful crew here, many lovely women) and fascinating intel to gather. But it’s still “inside the sewerpipe” and I’m starting to get “channel fever.”
Right now we’re at 250 feet, clearing the baffles. final chow in a few minutes and then Divine Services, so knock off all games of chance and maintain silence about the deccks.
When we pop up and blow the hatch, that sweet smell of fresh air will roar in and our amine soaked hides will disperse toward home. My liberty launch doesn’t leave for hours and so I’m headed to Waffle House for lunch. I’ve got to be back on watch at 2100 tonight if I want leave in February. Such is life.
But it has beeen a good op. Learned much, ready for next op, armed and able to engagge the The Enemy if need be. ACFW is a great place to learn the craft.
And to my friends Larry, Karl, and Raj, it was awesome spending time with you.
Larry didn’t want his photo put up. Karl was ambivalent, and I voted yes.
I just got back from dinner with two of my friends at the writer’s conference. We had a great time with puns and discussing the triumphs and tragedies of the day.
And then it started: the really silly stuff. By the time we were done the other tables were looking over at the loons at table 27. It all started when one of our group mentioned that they’d missed out on an opportunity to “pitch” their book to an editor earlier in the day. Around here that’s known as an elevator pitch: you corner the poor victim in the bathroom or elevator and pitch your book or your great potential as a client to them as an agent. It is frowned upon.
We gently guided him from that path and then for some reason I said, “OOOh, look – I made you a really cool Oragami crane. It’s got a surprise in it when you unfold it.” Meaning that it was a sneaky way to slip a copy of your “One-sheet” into their hands. (that’s a copy of your book pitch with a mini-resume on “one sheet”)
Well… it went downhill from there, ending with ninja throwing stars that were made out of cd copies of the manuscript and thumb drives slipped into their hands.
Thankfully I didn’t have to resort to that today. My editor interviews went very well, pitch sent, over the mound and on target. Both asked for more. I feel blessed.
So, many thanks to all who prayed for me today. I love you, my readers, and appreciate the support.
I’m at the ACFW(American Christian Fiction Writers) conference in Dallas this morning. In just a few hours I’ll be pitching my book to some publishers. Optimistic? Sure. It’s a good book, the publishers do books (so I hear) so it’s a natural match. But it’s not a “gimmee” in any way.
One thing is sure here, God is present. You can feel it in the halls and the meeting rooms. People devoted to Him. He promised that wherever two or more are gathered together He’d be there with them. He’s true to that word. To all His words.
I’ll be with him in that interview. It’s up to him, I’ll do my part, and i’ll be comforted with my back being covered. So, why’s it a gamble? Because He’s with that publisher as well and guarding their interests. Let’s all pray those interests are the same and we get this baby published.
