Roller Coaster Ride of a Writer

The first day of the conference was very inspiring with a long workshop on novel writing and a shorter session on pitching to agents.  Despite a moment of panic as I realized I had no 1, 3 or 5 sentence pitch for potential agents, I charged on through dinner consisting of a few hands full of mixed nuts and an apple, to craft a few samples that I was able to try out with one of my fellow writers at the dessert reception and keynote speech, with positive results.

Day two arrived, and with it came a swarm of butterflies.  My inspiration quickly turned to anxiety as the agents and editors gave their pitches to us for what they were looking for in writers and submissions.  I suddenly started feeling very inferior.   Standing in line for 2 hours to change my agent appointment because the one I had booked originally had to cancel and I didn’t feel the replacement represented my main genre well enough; combined with a less than encouraging meeting with an editor certainly didn’t improve my mood.  It’s likely all writers go through this at least once if not often in their journeys where they feel, at some moments, on top of the world as the prose flows as effortlessly as breathing, and at other times as if they are a sham while everyone else in the room is a brilliant author.   Yes, I was now at the bottom of the barrel.  However, tomorrow is another day, and if I can get my circadian rhythm back to Pacific Time so I can get more than 4 hours of sleep, I might actually be back near the top when I have to give my agent pitch.

The one thing the editor did say was that if I wanted to publish my non-fiction satire/humor pieces, I should write a blog; thus bloomed cuid a dó of mdmusings IE blog.   

When I logged in to start part two of my journey through life on this blog I was oddly delighted to have some spam messages posted against my blog.  Strange as it may sound that spam would be pleasing, it means I’m becoming searchable by a wider audience – step one on the journey to true publishing!

Hotel Observations:

I’m at the Sea-Tac Hilton in a room with not one but two king sized beds.  This room is likely bigger than my bedroom at the Newcastle apartment plus the living room and kitchen combined.

We waste a ton of water and electricity in the US.  The shower mechanisms don’t lend themselves as well to a quick turn on and off while soaping up and before rinsing.  In addition, I return to my room in the evenings each day to find the housekeeping staff has left the lamp between the beds on all day.  At least the hotel has newer toilets that use much less water.

So far I’m continuing my healthier lifestyle by taking the stairs most of the time and eating those apples so kindly provided by the hotel in the lobby (for what this room costs it should come with a bushel basket full of them in my room each day).

I just returned from filling my glass with ice at the ice machine down the hall – another useful invention not found in Ireland (or UK) hotels; though I must admit, that going to the pub in the hotel in Ireland and asking for my pint glass of ice to go with the water already in my room, certainly had more entertainment value.

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