Writer: A Day in the Life of...
Times have changed.
No one writes on these anymore...
No one sends their stories straight to the publishing house anymore like Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, or Jo March of Little Women.
Nope. In case you haven't heard, the days are winding down to our national writer's conference for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in Dallas, TX this week. Writers everywhere are busy panicking, polishing, printing, packing, and praying to publish (oooh, love the alliteration, heeheehee). My dining room looks like a mini publishing house.
After a morning at church, I helped Ted move our chicken coop for the winter, then chased chickens before I could sit down to polish some last minute edits.
The prepared writer needs business cards to trade like old fashioned calling cards. We trade them with other writers, new friends, editors, and agents. Then we won't forget who to contact after the chaos of spending four days with six hundred others in the industry.
The newbie learns to boil their story down to a single page used to "pitch" your story. The pitch is memorized and ready at any given moment. Jaime and I have driven to several ACFW conferences together over the years. We are known to randomly drop the "so tell me what your book is about?" question to practice our pitches. Usually we stumble, mumble, and mostly cry about it, then laugh hysterically. But somehow, by the time we arrive, our pitches are ready to roll.
I was all prepared to print a few copies of my proposals--a proposal is about a thirty page document that shows our agent or editor how your book can be marketed, and what kind of a platform, voice, and story you have. It includes sample chapters and compares your story to others on already on the market.
Except my printer whacked out and decided to have random blank streaks through a few words on every page. It made me wonder how authors of times gone by managed to make pristine copies.I comforted myself to recall that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice looked something like this:
We've come a long way, from handwriting to laptops and printers...
But after panicking that my rushed order of preprinted forms smeared ink all over the white page before they them shipped to me, I quit for the night and made plan B to stop by the printers Wednesday morning before my flight leaves.
Besides all the pre-trip jitters, all the endless edits, all the never ending brainstorming--here's the best part of writing that makes it all worth it: friends who love stories and Jesus as much as I do!
The first time I attended ACFW, I knew one person. Now, these dear women are like sisters.Jaime, Laurie, Halee, and Sarah--only Kara is missing here, but we'll she's flying in from New Zealand this year!
Jaime and I met when we sat at a "newbie" table at dinner, ACFW 2009, Denver.
Gabe and I met at ACFW 2010, Indianapolis
And I met Erica in 2013So, stay tuned for more from the week ahead as Jaime and I, along with Gabrielle and Erica, zoom off to ACFW Dallas for a week of pitching, praying, worshipping the Lord, and most fun of all--laughing together and learning to know one another.
-------------Blog post by Anne Love-
Writer of Historical Romance inspired by her family roots.
Nurse Practitioner by day.
Wife, mother, writer by night.
Coffee drinker--any time.
Find me on:FacebookFind me on: PinterestFind me on: Goodreads
No one writes on these anymore...
No one sends their stories straight to the publishing house anymore like Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, or Jo March of Little Women.
Nope. In case you haven't heard, the days are winding down to our national writer's conference for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in Dallas, TX this week. Writers everywhere are busy panicking, polishing, printing, packing, and praying to publish (oooh, love the alliteration, heeheehee). My dining room looks like a mini publishing house.
After a morning at church, I helped Ted move our chicken coop for the winter, then chased chickens before I could sit down to polish some last minute edits.
The prepared writer needs business cards to trade like old fashioned calling cards. We trade them with other writers, new friends, editors, and agents. Then we won't forget who to contact after the chaos of spending four days with six hundred others in the industry.
The newbie learns to boil their story down to a single page used to "pitch" your story. The pitch is memorized and ready at any given moment. Jaime and I have driven to several ACFW conferences together over the years. We are known to randomly drop the "so tell me what your book is about?" question to practice our pitches. Usually we stumble, mumble, and mostly cry about it, then laugh hysterically. But somehow, by the time we arrive, our pitches are ready to roll. 
I was all prepared to print a few copies of my proposals--a proposal is about a thirty page document that shows our agent or editor how your book can be marketed, and what kind of a platform, voice, and story you have. It includes sample chapters and compares your story to others on already on the market.Except my printer whacked out and decided to have random blank streaks through a few words on every page. It made me wonder how authors of times gone by managed to make pristine copies.I comforted myself to recall that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice looked something like this:
We've come a long way, from handwriting to laptops and printers...
But after panicking that my rushed order of preprinted forms smeared ink all over the white page before they them shipped to me, I quit for the night and made plan B to stop by the printers Wednesday morning before my flight leaves.
Besides all the pre-trip jitters, all the endless edits, all the never ending brainstorming--here's the best part of writing that makes it all worth it: friends who love stories and Jesus as much as I do!
The first time I attended ACFW, I knew one person. Now, these dear women are like sisters.Jaime, Laurie, Halee, and Sarah--only Kara is missing here, but we'll she's flying in from New Zealand this year!
Jaime and I met when we sat at a "newbie" table at dinner, ACFW 2009, Denver.
Gabe and I met at ACFW 2010, Indianapolis
And I met Erica in 2013So, stay tuned for more from the week ahead as Jaime and I, along with Gabrielle and Erica, zoom off to ACFW Dallas for a week of pitching, praying, worshipping the Lord, and most fun of all--laughing together and learning to know one another.-------------Blog post by Anne Love-
Writer of Historical Romance inspired by her family roots.
Nurse Practitioner by day.
Wife, mother, writer by night.
Coffee drinker--any time.
Find me on:FacebookFind me on: PinterestFind me on: Goodreads
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