SCBWI FL Conference Day 2

Saturday at the conference opened with an amazing presentation by Bruce Hale. It was called: Writer's Mind, Warrior's Mind - Toughing it out and getting published, and it was fantastic.

Here are a few takeaways from his talk:
-Writing is a game of head and heart.
-Writing is not for sissies.
-Art is war.
-Steps to take to get there:
1. Start a good habit habit: Look at things that are keeping you from writing and try to cut the time you spend on them.
2. Write like your hair was on fire: Write with passion.
3. Think it through, take the big view: Think strategically.
4. Teamwork makes the dream work: Cultivate support for your writing (family, friends, critique groups, etc.).
5. Face the iron tiger (fear): Fear is just resistance. Work on a small thing you're afraid of, and build up.
6. Beat resistance with persistance: Most people give up when they're just about to achieve success.

He finished by singing "You Gotta Be" and it was awesome! The conference was off to an amazing start!

Next, Rubin Pfeffer talked about the digital revolution. What I loved about this talk was how positive it was. Rather than the normal doom and gloom "books are dying" stuff that often accompanies discussions of digital publishing, he said "it's not instead of, it's in addition to." It was a great talk.

Then we had an agent panel with Erin Murphy, Michael Bourret, and Sarah Davies. Great takeaways from this panel were:
-There's no one measuring unit for measuring success.
-Be happy with your writing and keep growing.
-You are your own best advocate.
-Publishing is both bigger and smaller than you think. (This was where they mentioned Verla Kay's Blueboards multiple times. They said they go there, and they see what people say about them and about themselves.)
-Often, rewriting can be better than revising.
-Titles can be very important to what happens to your book.
-Take everything one step at a time.

Next was a First Pages Panel. The only thing I wrote down from this was "Make sure your descriptions are clear--especially in fantasy or non-contemporary."

The next presenter was Cinda Williams Chima. She was fantastic, and I must have been so captivated that I didn't write anything down. However, she has lots of great resources for writers on her website, so you should check it out: http://www.cindachima.com/.

Okay, I'm going to stop here, because I have three-four more presentations to talk about, plus the Dragonslayer's Ball pictures! I will try to post the rest tomorrow. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Larissa :)