Conference and New Ideas

So this is a couple of days late and I apologize. Life is ever busy and crazy over here! :) I'm writing from my hotel room in Meade as my little family is checking out our soon-to-be hometown.

But, first things first: writer's conference. It was fabulous! I had a great time and met some new people, made some friends and hopefully got the word out on my books to a few more people. The speakers were really fabulous. Most of them are local authors and it was great to see and hear some success stories. When you're new to the game it can, at times, be discouraging as you're looking at minimal sales and too little time to do what you want. But I learned some new tips and got some new ideas. The keynote speaker was Jenna Blum, a down-to-earth and very engaging writer who recently made the New York Times Bestseller list. She talked a lot about finding your belief in yourself but also in your story. It was very inspiring and I can tell you that my green pen (I like to be colorful) was fast at work taking notes. I was relieved to find that I'm not the only one who's gotten rejection letters. If she could get well over 90 total rejections and eventually get published and make it to the bestsellers list then why can't I? The answer she pointed out was I can! It's just going to take a lot of work, a lot of determination and an unfailing belief that my story is worth telling and worth reading. My other favorite speaker was the last one and now I can't remember his name. But he said, "Use every color on your possible palette." He really talked about bringing your story to life and making it real through description.

But as I said, I got some new ideas from the conference as well as just pondering things going on. Here are my new ideas:
1) Have a mailing list. I seriously had never even thought of doing something like this. I tend to rely pretty heavily on word-of-mouth and social media to get the word out. But I suppose you can't get the word out if you don't know what the word is! So, if you are interested in being part of a mailing list, go to www.JessicaLElliott.com and go to the contact page. Fill out the form and let me know that you would like to be on the mailing list. Once you are added to the list, you will receive emails about upcoming novels, specials and new releases. If you've enjoyed any of my books, this would be a great idea! :)

2) Get some postcards. I love to travel and I love those little mementos that I can look at from time to time. As I've worked on resurfacing my writing desk, I've realized that there are some blank spots that would be hard to fill in. So, I'm thinking of putting in some postcards. I don't have any postcards right now and I'd only be able to get some from Kansas in the near future, so here's where you come in. If you would like to send me a postcard from where you are, go to the contact page of www.JessicaLElliott.com and send me a note saying so. I will then tell you where to send it. If you want to write an encouraging note, do it on a separate piece of paper and I will put that with your postcard on the desk.

3) Tell my readers how awesome they are. I mean it, you guys are the greatest! Your support and encouragement mean the world to me. With you behind me I know that I can become the successful writer I want to be. So keep being awesome, my friends. You make this writer feel very loved and special and that's what keeps me keepin' on. :)

Thanks for everything! Now I'm going to get ready for dinner. :) Ciao!