Wednesday at the OCW conference, I took a look at my schedule and realized I barely had time to breathe, LOL. After the editor panel the day before, my appointment slots not only filled up, they got overbooked (slight confusion due to a change, LOL).

My morning was yet again filled with the coaching session class by Karen Ball, and she had us do a really great experiment. Dividing us into groups, we had to act out an argument and record it. Then play it back and transcribe not only what we said, but what we did while saying it. If you’re a writer and find that your characters do nothing but nod, smile, and pace, this is a great exercise to try! (Waving at Ann Shorey who stepped way outside her sweet self to play the part of a slum-lady, after irresponsible-me to collect my past-due rent. So fun!)

I met with a lot of great authors that afternoon and came home with some precious impressions of some of the nicest folks and their passion for their projects. Wondering about why appointments are important when it’s your writing that should get the focus? That’s why. A project that may have otherwise not caught my attention I will now read through with excitement, because I saw their excitement for it. Don’t underestimate how much your passion means to an editor!

Wednesday afternoon I also taught a class that I called “The Marketing Monster.” There are sooooo many marketing classes out there that I didn’t really want to compete with them. I didn’t want to cover the same thing they did. So rather than focus on the steps you can take when marketing, I dealt with the attitude writers often have toward it, the fears and insecurity, the resentment we often have of this thing that takes away from our writing time. Had I not titled it “The Marketing Monster,” I would have called it “Spirit-Led Marketing.” My whole focus was on crafting the right heart within ourselves so that then we can follow all those steps in the right way. It was a fairly small class, but the ladies who came responded well, and one really summed it up at the end by saying, “The other marketing classes are about our actions. This was great–it was about our heart.” If you’d like my notes and handout from this class, shoot me an email at roseanna at roseannawhite dot com, or you can order the CD for $6 from OCW.

Directly after my class came the autograph party. I had a fabulous time with some of my awesome author friends and also sold a fair number of books, which is always fun. 😉 Overall, my time in Oregon was wonderful and packed full of learning, networking, and meeting with some truly promising authors.

And boy, was I glad to get back to my hubby and kiddos! =)

Towering pines, heavy with green, a cool breeze blowing, brilliant sun shining–that’s what I woke up to every morning in Oregon. I come from a very green area, but as my hubby drove me home, I paid attention to the difference in trees. I always thought we had a lot of pine around here, but the vast number of deciduous struck me on Thursday–as opposed to the area I was in in Oregon, with its tall spires of evergreen dominating the landscape. And I got to see Mount Hood as we flew in, a snow-covered cone poking out of the cloud-cover as the sun set in the west. Snow in August–my mind knew this happened, but it was the first I got to see it, and it made me grin.

Tuesday was the first full day of the conference, and a busy one. I decided to sit in on a coaching session class in the morning since otherwise it was free time, and I needed to keep busy to keep from missing my babies. 😉 So I attended a class taught by my own agent, the fabulous Karen Ball. Anything taught by Karen is going to be hilarious, that’s just a given. It was also informative, helpful, and just a great time of fellowship with other published authors.

In the afternoon I had appointments and had the privilege of meeting with some great authors. I also got the chance to chat with other editors and agents, which is a side of things I’d never experienced but really loved. It was great to hear from the agents what they were shopping for their clients, and to share WhiteFire’s vision. It was also fun to laugh with the editors–and didn’t hurt that one was reading one of my manuscripts and kept finding me to tell me what part she was in and how much she was enjoying it. =) I had a meeting with said editor and my agent, which left me floating away on a cloud of hopeful peace.

I think one of my favorite parts of conference were the panels. On Tuesday came the book-editor panel, on which I got to sit. Sandwiched between two editors I really admire, it was fun to hear their answers to the questions the authors asked, and offer my own take on things.

Tuesday I also had the pleasure of checking my email and finding a request to develop a new idea for a story–something that kept me entertained all weekend. =) I won’t get into details just yet, but let’s just say it would be a really fun project, and I love that I was asked to come up with a pitch! The idea I’ve developed has some intriguing history I can work in, plus a few things that should just be pure fun.

Then came one of my other favorite parts of OCW–after the second awesome keynote address by Mindy Starns Clark on “The Reality” of publishing–versus “The Dream”–there was an author reading. Other activities shared the same time slot, so only a handful of people attended, but it was so much fun. Again, I was sandwiched between truly amazing people. Award-winning, best-selling people. Humbling, and also such an honor to be included. Afterward, I was given the highest compliment possible, as someone came up and told me the snippet I’d read brought them to tears.

I went to bed Tuesday exhausted but left feeling that the day had been one for the record books. And very, very eager for Wednesday. =)

After spending most of last week in Oregon at the wonderful Oregon Christian Writers Conference, it seems fitting to suspend normal posts for a few days here on the blog and instead share the blessing this conference was for me. =)

I left here with my hubby (after dropping the kids off at my parents’) at about noon last Sunday, on my birthday. I was armed with my two carry-on bags, all my information and boarding passes printed out, and belly full of nerves. Now, I am in general a laid-back, easy-going gal. But this past year I’ve started a list of things that will get me anxious. Tornadoes made the list this spring–and I had to add extended travel to the list this week.

Now, I’m not afraid of flying–I was cool as a cucumber on the plane. It’s the preparation. The nerves of getting to the airport on time, and then through security. I couldn’t eat much for days beforehand, and my stomach was just all twisted up. But the moment I arrived at my gate, I was fine. And soon better than fine, as I looked down at my phone and realized my best friend had called to wish me a happy birthday while I was in the little shuttle train. I called her back, and we had an awesome time chatting until boarding began.

Oh yeah, had I mentioned this was on my birthday? Not exactly my favorite way to spend the day, but all went well. =) I touched down at 9:04ish local time and then called home and read while waiting for the next shuttle at 10:45. Now, I’m not a night owl, and I expected to be beyond exhausted, since this was midnight already my time. But I wasn’t, surprisingly. I held out just fine until I got on the shuttle, then slept through the hour of transport to Salem, Oregon. I got into my room a little after midnight local time, 3 a.m. according to my internal clock. Which worked out perfectly, since I was so exhausted that I slept until 6 PST, which effectively put me in the right time zone. =)

I was extremely blessed to have been paired with a fabulous roommate. Joanna works with one of Focus on the Family’s kids’ magazines and is only a couple years older than me. We’re both morning people, have similar senses of humor, and basically just got along swimmingly. At breakfast Monday morning (a time reserved for faculty and staff orientation), I got to sit with a fun bunch of folks that ranged from some ladies I know pretty well from previous conferences and the blogosphere to a couple hilarious editors.

My next stop was saying hello to my agent, the awesome Karen Ball. And I gotta tell you, I had a real wow moment when she slung an arm around my shoulders, turned me to an editor, and said, “This is Roseanna. She’s mine.” I knew God had blessed me in amazing ways by leading me to sign with Karen–but meeting her in person, at a conference, hammered it home. She is a truly amazing woman, and a real force in the Christian publishing industry. I am blessed beyond words to have the privilege of working with her.

There were a few other moments in the day that made it awesome on a personal scale–words of encouragement for my writing. I also got to hear my first pitch of the conference, from a lovely woman who was so very excited about her story that I couldn’t help but get excited too.

The only conferences I’ve been to before are ACFW conferences, which are wonderful. But I quickly discovered that OCW is something different–it’s more relaxed, much smaller, and has a laid-back feel. But what was the same was the feeling of community, and the Spirit that came each time we all gathered together.

Monday included an agent and magazine/article editor panel, which was fun to listen to, the first keynote address by the fun and funny Mindy Starns Clark, who spoke about “The Dream” of publishing and her path to publication, and then a Night Owl session by Karen Ball on how to make a good first impression with your manuscript. 

Take-away from Karen’s session: you only have 10-15 seconds to grab an agent or editor’s attention–make it count! And 95% of proposals they receive shouldn’t have been sent out yet and need more work.Don’t send a manuscript out before its time!!

Monday I also video-called home with Skype, which was a big mistake. Made my baby cry. =( Apparently seeing Mama but being unable to be with me was just too much for Xoe. (Rowyn didn’t seem to mind, LOL.) So we didn’t try that again!

I had a really great start to the conference. Met some great people and knew that the next day would be even better. Which I shall tell you about tomorrow. =)