Last week, I was asked to explain my biggest gamble in life.

This week, I took the first step. And Boy!!! am I glad.

The Atlanta Writers Club’s Spring Conference took place the first weekend of May. I registered back in December and paid a few hundred dollars to join the club, attend workshops and meet with publishers and agents to discuss my very first book.

Once you register, George Weinstein, the Conference Coordinator, contacts you about your registration and timeline for sending manuscripts and query letters. During these months leading up to the May conference, literary agents and publishers will contact you with their feedback on what you should revise and edit. This way, you basically have a final draft to turn in.

The Conference is held at the Westin Atlanta Airport. People from the Atlanta area and beyond can stay overnight at a discounted rate or drive in.

You receive your official schedule for all the workshops, critiques, and pitch meetings you signed up for that week. What’s more, George sends extremely helpful advice on what to say in your pitches, the questions to ask the agent, and a video of conference dos and don’ts.

Day 1

I’m very nervous. I drove instead of staying at the hotel since I’m only about 25 minutes away. If you drive, you have to pay to park. Conference attendees receive a discounted daily rate.

The moment I walked in, I saw Asayla. She is one of the members of the critique group I joined about 3 months ago. This is the first time we’re meeting in person. It’s great to know someone. It takes the edge off.

The first event took place at noon: a Publisher Q&A in the Grand Ballroom that all members attended. Many had great questions and we took a lot of notes.

From there, we broke off to critique our query letters. I had two back-to-back, and I felt they both went quite well. One agent loved the idea of the story and wanted to see more details. They made great receommendations

Later in the afternoon, there were two mini-seminars on the business of writing and publishing. Amy Bernstein hosted both seminars, and she was so informative about how to get into the business and the sacrifices and risks one would take to get their book published. She did not mince words. You will receive rejection…a lot. You may not always like what you hear. You have to spend money to make money, and most of all, don’t give up.

At 8:00 PM, the mixer begins. This is an excellent time to meet other authors like you and meet publishers and agents in a casual environment.It goes on until 11:00 pm. I didnt stay for the whole thing due to driving back home at night.

Day 2

Today was more Q&A followed by flash pitches. I signed up for two. Using George’s instructions, I pitched my book. The publisher seemed eh.

I looked at the pitch instructions again, and practiced. The 2nd editor asked many questions and really liked the premise. She gave me her info and through the help of the critique group, I sent out the query and manuscript.

Now all I can do is wait. Meanwhile, I’ll take in some writing seminars and possibly plan to go to the fall conference in November.