Now that I am bald, smoked my pack of smokes, drank the full canister of coffee, and returned to a normal life...yeah right...I can give you the scoop of the behind the scenes.
First off I'm bald because I answered over 2000 emails in my email box alone, forget about the conference posts. Writers asking me if they were registered, how to get to the chats, what's the username and password for the handouts, and so forth. Next year I am making up a FAQs so I can actually attend the conference and relax. GRIN
For those that have no idea what the Muse conference offered go to this link and check out all the workshops, chats, publishers, and pitch sessions we had:
The 2009 Workshops
Yes, I know, tons offered. Hopefully you'll join us next year. Link will go up for all in November so stay tuned for that and bookmark the website.
For those who wrote me and said and I directly quote from one particular writer but they all had the same sentiment, "I am not registering because I know I'll get what I paid for." Um...totally wrong and sorry you missed it. Maybe your writing pals who did join can give you the details what you missed. You're forgetting that these are REAL publishers, REAL agents, REAL editors who are attending. The only difference is that it's online and no travel expenses, no hotel expenses, no food expenses. And FREE doesn't mean crap, trust me, not in the Muse Online Writers Conference.
Pitches were great. Now if I can get writers to read guidelines maybe those who sent me picture book pitches for romance and dark fiction publishers might have a chance to pitch next year to the RIGHT publisher.
We had the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Larsen Pomada Agency, and the MacGregor Agency taking pitches. Rachelle Gardner was there, too, with an amazing one hour informative chat.
Tons of publishers were on hand all week or offering pitches and chats to help writers:
4RV Publishing
Black Velvet Seductions
Breathless Press
Crescent Moon
Damnation Books
Eternal Press
Freyer's Bower
Lyrical Press
Morrigan Books
Paladin Timesless Books
Red Rose Publishing
Samhain
Wild Child Publishing
White Rose Publishing
The Wild Rose Press
And Twilight Times
And they are all REAL publishers who gave all of the attendees a great time with tons of informative answers to questions.
For the long list of presenters click on the link I gave you above.
There was one surprise waiting for me at the end at the conference farewell party, a Thank You video. This one had me in tears filled with emotions but also laughing at their video. You gotta see it:
THANK YOU TO LEA
I've already started preparing for next year so make sure to hop on November to the conference website and register early. Tell your writing buddies, your groups, deadline August 1st - NO EXCEPTIONS next year.
Once again, a BIG thank you to my wonderful head moderator, Michele Graf, and her lovely and enthusiastic staff, the presenters, and to every attendee this year.
See ya next year.
7 comments:
I will pass on the word!
Thanks for the opportunity to participate IN the conference - would love to do so again next year. (Thinking of new chat topic even now...)
I also hope to clear my schedule more so I can attend more workshops, as I was gone three of the five days.
Thanks, Lea!
Now, go grow some hair!
The Muse Conference ROCKS! I've been all 4 years and have signed up for 2010 already. The contacts, relationships, and opportunities offered through the conference are priceless, and having it online saves all attendees a lot of money! It's as active and exhilirating as an in-person conference, while being able to attend sessions from the comfort of your living room.
Lea, you bust your butt every year, and I thank you for it. You're amazing. Kudos! Cheers!
Get some rest. :)
-Lisa
The Muse conference was absolutely fantastic! I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed it, and how fired up I am about writing after it. I have sent off four submissions already this week, and my to-do list still has two more, plus back-up plans. Thank you so much Lea!
The conference sounds awesome. And the thank you video sounds well-deserved! I hope your eyes recover from those emails.
The conference was fab! I loved being a part of this and hope to be a presenter next year too.
The only thing is I still have two winners of ARCs who haven't got back to me.
This was my first year attending and I loved it. Next year, I don't think I'll sign up for quite so many workshops. I simply couldn't keep up. However, everything is saved so I can read through what I missed when I have time. Thanks so much for doing this. I've never been to a conference before and don't see myself attending one (except yours) anytime soon. I have little ones at home that would never let me leave. LOL Looking forward to next year. Thanks again, Lea.
Lynnette Labelle
http://lynnettelabelle.blogspot.com
The Muse Online Writers Conference goes beyond all my expectations each and every time. Kudos to Lea, Carolyn, Presenters, Agents, Publishers, et al. You've done an amazing job. Thank you!!!
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