SiWC and the aftermath

I just finished the Surrey International Writers Conference and here's what I took from this years event. I know where I need to go for book 2...or at least how to get there. I will tear down what I have done and rebuild.

They say it's about the story...but if that were true they wouldn't be so concerned with style. I watched as "professionals" tore apart other peoples stories because they had a hat they didn't like on the character. Moments like that take you back so that you realize you are at the whim of whatever is happening that day for the person reading your query. It's sad really. How many great stories are thrown away because the writer makes a choice of wording in the first few paragraphs that sours the stomach of the "professional".

 Attending lectures from some of the industries best and brightest can give you a complex...and they all have opinions. It is key to remember that they are just that...opinions.
It is true that we must stroke the ego of some of the big wigs. Hell we might even begin to write a tailor made project for their palates. Write what is in our hearts and minds, but we still must impress the beast. Only once we have proven our worth can we write as we were intended to.

I always leave SiWC with mixed emotions. I have stories I want to get out but I must dance the political landscape before that is possible.

I had a good experience this year. My pitches went  reasonably well. I could see other authors, some in tears, as they learnt that their material was crap...at least in the eyes of the "professionals". I can only image what those individuals are doing tonight, hours after the conference.

My experience was good and yet I find myself saying spontaneously as though I had tourette's and maybe I do, "I hate my life." I'm not perfect. I just want to do in life which makes me happy. I have no desire to win the Pulitzer, I merely want to entertain. I write what I want; I am who I am.

I wonder what the others are doing tonight...I am blogging on a site no one will read...drinking the rest of my vodka and passing the point of drunk...and writing how I feel.

There is a difference between blogging and writing how one feels. At this moment it is a journal to myself. Tomorrow someone may find this entry amusing and it becomes a blog...but I doubt that.

I intend to re-conceptualize book 2. I will use some of the tools I have learnt. I will do this quickly so that I can send it to those who have asked for it in a reasonable time. I don't know how much more time I have.

Too many distractions!

It has been a busy year and yet it didn't feel busy enough to justify my lack of progress. I had hoped to have "Book 2" complete by the end of October, but the day job, weddings and vacations kept getting in the way!
Having said that it is coming together rapidly and I think the effect will be one a true horror fan will be drawn into.

Part of my distraction this year was my cross country trip aboard "The Canadian" Toronto-Vancouver. That was a childhood dream finally realized. Please feel free to check it out!
Travelling by train is the only way to see a country as large as Canada.

The Canadian Part 2

 

 

The Canadian Part 3

 



 

The Canadian Part 4

 



 

The Canadian Part 5

 

The Canadian Part 6