Work and Play

One of the fun things about today is feeling a camaraderie with everyone I was in class with yesterday.

Several ladies I didn't to talk to were nonetheless familiar when I saw them today and we struck up conversations with each other and swapped business cards. 

I even was already following one on Instagram! 

After the opening session, I got in line for the first Pitch Slam session.

and became friends with the two people next to me in line as we commiserated 

on our nerves about pitching and shared writing experiences. 

Pitching was a lot like parent-teacher conferences. 

The agents sat at tables around the perimeter of the room in alphabetical order.

Authors lined up for the agents they wanted to pitch to. 

Every three minutes a bell rang to to signal the end of the pitch and move to the next person in line.

I was able to see five agents with asks for two chapters or 25 pages from three of them

and a full manuscript from another. The fifth agent I met just asked for a query letter.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. Afterward everyone was asking each other if they'd pitched that day and how it went etc. and again it was really fun to share that experience with other authors.

Everyone was speculating if the agents were just being nice by requesting pages etc. 

This pic doesn't make the room look as full as it was. 

There were about 24 agents and 100 authors in each one-hour session.

Last week TYM had asked for first pages from her attendees with the idea of doing live edits during class.

In the end we only had time for four and didn't get to mine.

After class, at the encouragement of a new, very outgoing friend, I asked if she'd be willing to give me feedback and she said if I found her during the next few days and she had extra time, she would.

I had a class from her again today before lunch, so I afterward I asked if she had a few minutes

and she was so gracious and so willing to read my pages and give me feedback.

(A little too much backstory, but good voice.)

I was very proud of myself for being brave and asking!

A couple of my classes after lunch weren't as beneficial as I'd hoped,

but it was overall a great day.

When I got home Dan asked me about my day, but I didn't have the bandwidth to comment at all until after I decompressed with a 20 minute nap.

Then Courtney and Michael came over for pizza and we left to Madison Square Garden for 

The National concert. They are one of Courtney and Dan's favorite bands so it made a great night even better getting to share it with them. (Courtney has been to four of their concerts!)

The last one was when we saw them at the Beacon Theater with Courtney and Michael who were just becoming boyfriend/girlfriend and was the first time we met Michael!

So much adrenaline today!