Backspace Conference Retrospect

I had the time of my life at this conference and met some really cool people in person that I've been trading posts with on Facebook, MySpace and of course, Backspace. Finally putting faces on names that I've chatted with beyond the small icons on their home pages is great. Just to name a few: Tamara, Jael, Karen, Brain, Chris, Sharon, Elizabeth, Elorey and Amy and some new friends including Tim, Ken, Scott, Sharon K and so many more.

The two minutes, two pages was terrifying - especially since getting up and speaking to a crowd is one of my most skittish issues - but I didn't piss my pants, collapse or worse, freeze at the podium - so that's a win. And oh - they let me read through the entire thing - no small feat! One agent wasn't into it -the other had words of encouragement and actually read the rest of the page (I had a couple lines at the top of page 3). So it wasn't the roasting of JET as I imagined it would be.

Meeting the Chief Editor of Allegory E-zine - Ty Drago (my "boss") - in person was stellar. We seem to be two sides of the same coin although he's 6"5 and little ole me is only 4"10 - more like mutt and Jeff on the visual - but the minds are dangerously alike.

Highlights beyond the phenomenal line up of panels and workshops include talking with Jonathan Maberry about writing and getting your foot in the door. Chatting with David Morrell about the love of writing and flying and discussing the merits of Final Draft with Richard Krevolin.

I ended Saturday evening having dinner with the owner of Glass House Press, Carrie White. She's fantastic and hopefully she'll consider bringing me under her label. She did take the first four chapters of Mirror Lake, so who knows, maybe I'll see my name on a shelf next year.

Hope all is well with you, my faithful followers - ciao and good night!