Sunday 13 July 2008

Conference - Sunday

The first session was a PR round up and it was rather impressive what PR the RNA had got over the year.
Then came a talk by Jane Wenham-Jones, who was very funny talking about how she wrote her how-to book, and ended telling us about her yogurt and cucumber spa incident in Egypt, which had us in fits of laughter.
All these talks were in the chapel, which had glass windows..
After break was a session on how to get your website to help promote you by Kate Walker, with added briefs by Julie Cohen on why she changed her website design and why she chose that design, and by Anna Scamans about why she chose her website design (because it reflected the mood of her book and also the cover of her book). It got me thinking about possibly having a website of my own in the very near future. We shall see.
Then finally came the talk from the agent, Caroline Sheldon. She talked first about the loss of the NBA and what it has meant to the publishing world. Then talked about what she and her agency does and how they operated, followed by a Q&A session. It was during this bit that my ears pricked up when I heard her say she also represents children’s writers and I made a note of this. I also made a note that she liked bright coloured folders.
Then it was lunch and fate took over when Caroline sat next to me. It was during lunch that I heard another writer who was sitting diagonally from me say that she had pitched Caroline, and I began to think why can’t I then. So my heart beating loudly whilst I waited for the right moment, I plucked up courage and finally pitched Rosie to her and she said, yes, send me a letter telling me all about it.
So whilst I waited for Angela to do her packing and get back to me, I drafted a letter to Caroline, which I added to on the train home.
So, the conference ended for me on a high, and I got home very happy. And I can't believe all that was a week ago now.

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