On June 29, from 2-5 PM at the WOU bookstore, I will be selling and signing copies of Liz A. Statton Closes the Store. This is part of a larger vendor fair.
Please come visit me!
M
Showing posts with label Liz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liz. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Countdown to WWC
The Willamette Writers' Conference begins tomorrow!
I am dotting some "i's" and crossing some "t's" at the moment including writing/practicing my pitches, making "writing" business cards, and generally organizing myself. (Shouldn't forget to pack clothing. That's important, too.)
I have four pitch sessions scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and I am only nervous about them if I think about them...at all. Today was good for me, though, because I had lunch with my friends who are all at least avid readers; one of them is coming to the writing conference with me. They wanted to hear my pitches, so, amid our 2 year-olds running around the house screaming (mine wet her pants in the middle of my pitch), I told my friends my stories.
Good things about practicing in stressful environments: 1. it really, really forces you to focus, 2. it prepares you for the worst. I can almost guarantee that NO ONE will bust into my pitch sessions to demand that I change her wet underpants. Or, if someone does, I maybe will take up gourmet cooking instead.
On top of that, my friends are really savvy and had some really great suggestions for tightening up my pitches. One suggestion was to begin each pitch with the two-sentence "elevator pitch," instead of giving background to set up the story. That's a big "duh" on my part. It seems so obvious to hook pitch listeners with the pithy one-liner rather than drag them into the boring back story first. They are so right.
Just as a treat for my loyal readers, here are the elevator pitches for the two books I'm trying to sell:
Liz A. Stratton Closes the Store.
I am dotting some "i's" and crossing some "t's" at the moment including writing/practicing my pitches, making "writing" business cards, and generally organizing myself. (Shouldn't forget to pack clothing. That's important, too.)
I have four pitch sessions scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and I am only nervous about them if I think about them...at all. Today was good for me, though, because I had lunch with my friends who are all at least avid readers; one of them is coming to the writing conference with me. They wanted to hear my pitches, so, amid our 2 year-olds running around the house screaming (mine wet her pants in the middle of my pitch), I told my friends my stories.
Good things about practicing in stressful environments: 1. it really, really forces you to focus, 2. it prepares you for the worst. I can almost guarantee that NO ONE will bust into my pitch sessions to demand that I change her wet underpants. Or, if someone does, I maybe will take up gourmet cooking instead.
On top of that, my friends are really savvy and had some really great suggestions for tightening up my pitches. One suggestion was to begin each pitch with the two-sentence "elevator pitch," instead of giving background to set up the story. That's a big "duh" on my part. It seems so obvious to hook pitch listeners with the pithy one-liner rather than drag them into the boring back story first. They are so right.
Just as a treat for my loyal readers, here are the elevator pitches for the two books I'm trying to sell:
Liz A. Stratton Closes the Store.
The question of which sex would run the world better is an ancient one. But, what if a woman ran for President to end an unpopular war? And accidentally called a sex-strike in the process?
Something
Something is killing livestock and dogs in rural Oregon and leaving a trail of poisonous scales in its wake. When a Fish and Wildlife officer ends up in the hospital after cutting her hand on a scale, a race to find the creature and a cure for its toxin begins.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hooray! I'm working again!
Finally some work on Chapter 2!
Also, my dear friends (Reader 2--R2-- and Reader 3--R3)now have copies of Chapter 1. There is no motivator like a friend asking, "So, when's the next chapter coming?" Plus, R2 and R3 are both girls who either write or like reading the for-girl genre, or both. They will be members of the target audience, in other words. R1 can't claim that, though he holds me to standards above those of said genre.
In short: I have two more first readers who have manuscript now! One small step, etc., etc.
AND, I found time to work on the second draft of Chapter 2. I may even find time later today to work on it more. Bliss.
m
Also, my dear friends (Reader 2--R2-- and Reader 3--R3)now have copies of Chapter 1. There is no motivator like a friend asking, "So, when's the next chapter coming?" Plus, R2 and R3 are both girls who either write or like reading the for-girl genre, or both. They will be members of the target audience, in other words. R1 can't claim that, though he holds me to standards above those of said genre.
In short: I have two more first readers who have manuscript now! One small step, etc., etc.
AND, I found time to work on the second draft of Chapter 2. I may even find time later today to work on it more. Bliss.
m
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