Willamette Writers Conference

August 3-5, 2007

This was my first year at the Willamette Writers Conference, and I had a blast.  Thanks to Charity at  The Mighty Pen, I found out about volunteering in the Manuscript ER booth, where authors attending the conference could have a free fifteen minute consultation with a professional editor. 

At first I was a little nervous—this would be editing on the spot, editing without actually reading the manuscript—editing in fifteen minutes.

Yikes.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to come up with any useful advice in such a short amount of time.  What if I just blanked out?  How can I edit without my trusty Chicago Manual by my side?

I started to panic.

Amazingly enough, my fears were totally unjustified. While obviously not performing a detailed, traditional edit, I found that just listening to an author’s description of their work could actually provoke some useful advice out of me.

A lot of the authors had a specific problem they wanted help with: How do I write a query letter? Is this an exciting first page?  What’s missing?  Why do I keep getting rejection letters?

So I helped re-work query letters. I read some great first pages.  I read some not-so-great first pages and offered suggestions.  The ideas and comments poured out, seemingly from nowhere, confirming the usefulness of having spent so much of my life reading. I was having fun and feeling helpful—feeling like an editor, someone who knows what she’s talking about. 

One question stuck in my mind, and it bothered me because I heard it from so many different authors. They’d ask: Is my book worth publishing? Should I even bother?

My answer was yes—yes, it is worth the time, the trouble, heck, it’s even worth the heartbreaking rejection letter. Ideas and dreams are always worth fighting for.

So while everyone has great book ideas, ideas are unfortunately subject, to, well, subjectivity. Whether or not someone else likes your idea doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with the idea itself.  If you are interested in your topic, chances are pretty good that there are other people out there who would love to read your book. 

Writers need to remember that. 

We also need to remember that grammar can be fixed by an editor, but an editor can’t create your beautiful idea.  So just because your manuscript isn’t perfect (yet!) doesn’t mean your book isn’t worth publishing.  We can work on the writing, so don’t give up!

I left the conference inspired by all the authors I met and the workshops I attended.  The 2008 conference starts August 1st, and you can bet you’ll see me there in Manuscript ER, having a wonderful time.

Be sure to join me!