Aspiring Novelists

Hello All, I hope life is treating you well.  Things are good here in my neck of the woods.  I just returned from a relaxing vacation and I'm ready to tackle the final two chapters of my novel.  I guess I was suffering from burn out and did not realize it.  Enough about me, I want to share some news about upcoming writer's conferences with you.   The New York and Algonkian Conference is held in New York City four times a year (March, June, September, December).  It provides writers with completed manuscripts and those with works-in-progress the opportunity to workshop their novel with professional fiction editors.  Also, writers get to meet and pitch their masterpieces to top acquisition editors from major publishing houses like Doubleday and Random House.   According to the website (   http://www.nycpitchconference.com / ) , one out of three projects are requested for review by publishers.  The site is acc...

Hello All, I hope life is treating you well.  Although I don't have much to report on the writer's side of things, I thought you should know I'll be out of commission for the next eight days.  My husband and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary on a Princess Cruise.  We fly to Florida on Saturday and I can hardly wait.  We haven't taken a vacation in years.  Hopefully I'll return refreshed and ready to complete my novel.  Until the 28th my friends...Happy writing.

Hello All, It has been too long since my last post.  Now, that school is out and the children are settled in, I actually have some time to myself.  Not as much as I would like, but enough to get some writing in.  Since I'm on the subject, I had a huge awakening at my writer's group last month.  As many of you know, I have polished the first chapter of my novel until it shines. It stands to reason that all of the group members liked the pacing and thought it gripped them enough to read on.  As I sat there basking in my elation, they dropped the bomb about  the raw draft of chapter two.  Many of the members did not form an attachment to my M.C.  They said she seemed bitter and  lacked emotion. I thought, okay, I can work on this, tweek her here and there and voila! I will have a more loveable character. However, the critique did not end with my M.C.  Group members went on to comment ab...