{"id":335,"date":"2017-09-11T20:39:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T00:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/dremadeoraich\/?p=335"},"modified":"2017-09-18T19:45:15","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T23:45:15","slug":"connecting-with-my-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/11\/connecting-with-my-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting With My Tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week is the\u00a09th <\/sup>Annual Hampton Roads Writers Conference<\/a>, an event I always attend. Between the guest speakers, publishing agents, breakout sessions, contests, critiques, and networking opportunities, it\u2019s worth every penny. While I\u2019ve been attending these for a few years, it\u2019s only been in the past year that I\u2019ve begun to seriously query agents and seek a publisher for my novel, and only in the last ten months that I\u2019ve been writing short stories. As a writer who has yet to sell her first work, I am always in the market for new learning experiences, as well as a chance to talk to other writers who are in a similar position or who have actually found an agent and are now among the ranks of the published.<\/p>\n

Even so, as someone who prefers the shadows to the spotlight, two-and-a-half days of non-stop interaction with all these other people in a high-energy atmosphere is exhausting, and more than a little overwhelming. By the end of the conference, I am fit only to slump on the sofa with a glass of wine (or more likely a shot of Sambuca) and say in my oh-so-eloquent way, \u201cWow. Just ….wow.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, the conference planners have added an optional four-hour \u201cBoot Camp\u201d to the first day on the agenda. Of course, I signed up. I expect it will be worth the additional sensory overload, and hopefully will give me a boost toward polishing my work and finding my niche.<\/p>\n

I did enter one of the contests (I\u2019ll let you know how that turns out), but I didn\u2019t enter the critiques this year. I\u2019ve been selected every other time I\u2019ve attended, so I thought it might be nice to take a break this year. I did sign up for pitch sessions with two of the agents, even though I\u2019d already sent a query letter to another rep from one of these groups earlier this year. If this particular guest (who happens to be the owner of the agency in question) isn\u2019t interested in my pitch, I can use my 10 minutes to ask related questions\u2014like what is the best way to draw positive interest to my query among all the hundreds in the slush pile? Or shouldn\u2019t the narrative of a story fit the tale and its lead character? In other words, does a story have to use eloquent prose if the protagonist is someone who speaks in plain, ordinary language and wouldn\u2019t know how to use Big Words or evocative turns of phrase? Or how does an agency and the publishing industry feel about self-published works? I know what they have said in the past, but with works like The Martian<\/em> and Sleeping Giants <\/em>finding not only a huge market for their originally self-published works, but movie rights as well, is that opinion changing to any extent?<\/p>\n

In past years, some of the breakout sessions have included writing exercises; I hope this time will be no different. Writing prompts can really break me out of a rut and give me a whiff of new idea that might turn out to be a great short story.<\/p>\n

I am not one to seek crowds large or small, nor am I fond of small talk and ice-breaking. The shy side of me dreads these encounters, while the writer in me looks forward to conversations with like minds for months. I always come away from interactions with other writers excited, enthused and inspired. I\u2019m sure next week, you\u2019ll hear all about my experience. In the meantime, wish me luck with my pitches and that contest entry!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week is the\u00a09th Annual Hampton Roads Writers Conference, an event I always attend. Between the guest speakers, publishing agents, breakout sessions, contests, critiques, and networking opportunities, it\u2019s worth every penny. While I\u2019ve been attending these for a few years, it\u2019s only been in the past year that I\u2019ve begun to seriously query agents and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-5p","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":345,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/18\/finding-my-niche\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":0},"title":"Finding My Niche","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"September 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I attended the 9th Annual Hampton Roads Writers Conference. It was my fifth year at that event, where I always learn something new. This year, I finally realized I\u2019m not the only one who feels awkward at those sorts of things. Oh I\u2019ve done large events plenty of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1001,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/13\/writing-skill-social-media-for-the-win\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":1},"title":"Writing Skill: Social Media for the Win","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"August 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I said in one of my blog posts earlier this year that I hoped to self-publish my work-in-progress by the end of 2018. Of course as we all know, plans are made to be changed, and mine was no different. Once I discovered Pitch Wars and the PW\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/HeartOnHands.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/HeartOnHands.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/HeartOnHands.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/HeartOnHands.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/HeartOnHands.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":609,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/26\/sign-up-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":2},"title":"Sign (Up) Here","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever since I began writing, I wished for a local writers group. The only ones I\u2019d found were in Virginia Beach, maybe half an hour from our flat during off-rush-hour traffic. Not all that bad, you might think. But if I was going to take a few hours away from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":875,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/25\/the-long-long-wait\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":3},"title":"The Long, Long Wait","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"June 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"So you submitted your work to a magazine or agent or publisher, and now the long, long wait begins. Every day, you check your e-mail (maybe multiple times) or dash to answer the phone. The time drags out, passing so slowly it feels like it\u2019ll take forever for that editor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/laptop-3087585_1920-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/08\/finding-time-to-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":4},"title":"Finding Time to Write","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"If you aspire to write, you know the dream\u2014quit the day job, write full time, make bucketloads of money doing it. Yeah. I\u2019m familiar with that one, too. Unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t work that way, at least not for most of us. Even published writers have said to break-out sessions at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":663,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/02\/non-traditional-alternatives\/","url_meta":{"origin":335,"position":5},"title":"Non-Traditional Alternatives","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"April 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My novel (the first book of a trilogy) has been out on query for months now. I\u2019ve gone through a list of agencies and am now trying publishing houses that don\u2019t require representation. I also want to try a few small presses and see what they can do for me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}