RT Photos

Yay! My friend Rene, who went to the RT Booklovers Convention with me, sent me the pictures I took that week. The highlight of the trip was meeting RichelleMead, author of theVampire Academy series. She was very sweet. The guy next to her in the photo is the illustrator of the Dark Swan graphic novel.

I also met author Cassandra Clare of The Mortal Instruments series. It was kinda crazy. The line to meet her was very long and I decided to wait for it to shorten before getting in. After seeing some other authors, I went to find the line and wait. It was so confusing with so many author's lines crossing. Someone told me that I had to get a wristband to see Clare. After going to three different places to find these elusive bands, I finally found the person giving them out by where the author was sitting. They put the band on my wrist and called the next group to get in line, 200-250. My numberwas somewhere in the 400's.

Some lady grabbed my wrist and said, "You have a wristband. Here." and proceeded to push me right infront of Cassandra Clare. While talking to her and getting her autograph, the wristband was cut off by someone else. I had the band on for maybe a minute. Talk about great timing.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Judi McCoy, who won an award for Humorous Mystery for her Dogwalker Mysteries series. She ran the class I took and taught me a lot. She tells it like it is. After critiquing the first five pages of my novel, she told me my paragraph instincts are all wrong. No sugarcoating with her.

I also met Mia Marlowe, Maureen O. Betita, Holly Black, and many more.

RT Booklovers Convention

Because I am serious about becoming an author, I went to the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention 2011 and took the Aspiring Author pre-convention course. I learned so much from all the authors that gave of their time to pass on what they've learned through the years. One of the most useful is FINISH THE BOOK!! This is Judi McCoy's motto. She's the one that ran the beginning class.

Another is that I AM A WRITER! If you're going to make a career out of writing, you need to think of yourself as one from the very beginning. I'm not a stay at home mom, I'm a writer. It's not always easy, writing with a three year old climbing into your lap, demanding your attention. But it can be done. You just have to be determined and patient.

Mary Wine said that an author must have three things; discipline, confidence, and indomitable spirit.

For discipline, I am writing every day! Even if it's only for an hour, set a schedule and write. The book is never going to get finished if you don't write. It's not going to write itself. Get yourself some bumglue and go.

I know that not only will I finish the book, but it's going to sell and people will buy it and love it.

Everyday I nurture my indomitable spirit by visualizing sitting at a table, surrounded by my books and signing my name inside for my fans that have formed a line just to meet me. I visualize going to Target and seeing my books on the shelves in the Young Adult section, right next to the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. (I met her at the convention. She was so nice and encouraging.)

I'll post more lessons I learned at RT this week. So what are we going to do now, fellow writers?

WRITE!