WDC14: Achievement Unlocked

Me Smart.

SO, I was a speaker and panelist at the Writer’s Digest Conference over the weekend, which was a blast. I went in assuming what I always assume: That no one knows who I am and the entire experience would be one of richer, better-selling authors pelting me with refuse and chanting hurtful things until I finally broke down into tears, at which point someone would film me blubbering, post it to YouTube, and it would get 5,000,000 views within moments.

That’s what I always assume.

But, it went well! First, I was on a panel with fellow authors Joe Nelms, Julia Fierro, Kristopher Jansma, Sean Ellis, and Kelly Braffet where we discussed our experiences getting published and getting agents, which I think was eye-opening and educational for all involved and where I managed to avoid doing something embarrassing by using the Pro Tip of keeping my hands in my lap the whole time so as to avoid knocking things over and accidentally picking my nose.

I’m the psycho-killer looking one in the middle.

My presentation on plotting a novel was scheduled 10 minutes after the panel, and so naturally I lingered and meandered and about 1 minute before it was supposed to begin, I was lurking outside the bathrooms waiting for The Duchess. My redoubtable agent came running over to say that I had a packed house waiting for me and I’d better get in there. This, frankly, didn’t make any sense for a moment and I thought my agent was having a stroke. But when I walked into the room, it was over capacity with people stealing chairs from other rooms to sit in the hall outside. For a moment I wondered if there’s possibly a much more successful author with the same name.

Admit it: You’re wondering the same thing.

Needless to say, the presentation went well despite the following:

• My PowerPoint slides not being loaded on the laptop as I’d been told it would be.
• Me refusing to speak while the technical guy loaded it from my flash drive, resulting in awkward silence.
• Me finishing 20 minutes into a 40 minute presentation despite having timed it out several times at home.

I also resisted the urge to start singing “Rag Time Gal” like Michigan J. Frog every few minutes. But that goes without saying. After I finished the presentation so early, I just opened it up to questions, and that’s where the fun really started: We had a lively, funny conversation about how to work out plot kinks and different approaches you can use, we coined the terms “retroplotting” and “plantsing” and I was urged to write a book called Plantsing which everyone there assured me they would buy. I was asked to replicate my “Plantsing” presentation for an upcoming podcast, and met a variety of very cool people.

I hung around chatting with people about this business of writing and selling what we right, which was fun, and then it was off to the bar with my agent and The Duchess for some well-deserved drinks. A really great experience I hope to repeat often.