Monday, October 6, 2008

After the Agents' Day

Lucky me, I got to go out and about as an author this weekend as I attended the SCBWI Canada East Agents' Day in Ottawa, Ontario. Okay, so I wasn't merely attending. I was part of the organizing group for this event. But that aside, I always find so much benefit to mingling with others writers and with illustrators. We all work alone, so it's always helpful to connect with others who face the same issues.

We heard from speakers Kendra Marcus of BookStop Literary and Rebecca Sherman of Writers House. Both did a fantastic job of explaining what an agent does, why you would want one, and how best to go about acquiring one. The panel session of first pages, where anonymous manuscript first pages were read aloud and the agents had to comment on their reactions to the pieces, was truly educational. If you've never attended a session like that then I highly recommend you find one.

So I returned home tired, inspired, and newly determined to polish my work only to face a mountain of laundry and a birthday cake that needed baking. It's good to remain grounded, no?

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