The 2010 Willamette Writers Conference

The Willamette Writers Conference is a smorgasbord with enough fabulous offerings to tempt even the most fastidious author.

First and foremost, there are hundreds of other writers wandering around. The ones I got to talk to were more than happy to tell me what they were writing about. I heard one amazing tale after another, told by the very person that dreamed it up—the best entertainment in the world. For example, Dylan Romero is writing a book about his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, one of the top three Christian spiritual journeys. He came to the conference in a pair of rock climbing slippers with a compartment for each toe, the very shoes he wore as he hiked over the Pyrenees Mountains and through the northern Spanish plains. He isn’t Catholic or even particularly spiritual. He didn’t have any epiphanies. But the simple act of getting up and walking everyday healed his soul. I hope he writes it like the amazing Hero’s Journey that it was. (More about the Hero’s Journey in my next blog). Good luck to you, Dylan.

There were workshops on just about everything of interest to writers—thirty-two every day. I went to “Playing God: Creating Memorable Characters,” by Robert Dugoni; ”Mystery Writing: A Crash Course,” by Hallie Ephron; “Word Up: Writing Dialog that Soars,” by Michael David Slater; “Levers, Ratchets, and Buttons,” by Eric Witchey; and “How to Write a Sizzling Sex Scene,” by Elizabeth Engstrom—to name just a few. The presenters stuffed my head with idea after idea and made me itch to get back to the keyboard.

And last but not least, there were agents and editors looking for manuscripts. At the right is a picture of the one-on-one pitching room with a few pitches still happening. Each agent or editor sits at a table with his or her name on it; and the writers walk in, introduce themselves, and begin their pitch. Pretty scary stuff. I signed up for four one-on-one pitches and came away with six agents and editors willing to read at least part of my manuscript. Even more than I’d hoped for! The agents and editors I pitched who were genuinely interested in hearing about my book and did everything they could to help me. One agent told me that she was looking for “soft fantasy.” and didn’t know the market for “hard fantasy” (which is, apparently, The Remaking of Molly Adair’s specific genre). So she couldn’t sell my book. But in between my pitch time and the next one she introduced me to another agent who could. I gave this agent the elevator version of my pitch; and she gave me her card and asked for the first ten pages.

I left the conference on Sunday full of ideas and inspiration. And best of all, I know there are six agents and editors out there that want to read my manuscript.