Pitch Perfect at RWA13

I am still suffering from jet lag and still absorbing my first Romance Writers of America conference. This last year and a half has been about me finishing my novel and getting ready to pitch it at RWA 13. And . . . drumroll. The agent I pitched to requested the first five chapters. Okay, my stomach just flipped over.

The Sunday before I left for Atlanta, I invited my Hot Tub Readers over for dinner and we hashed out the pitch. Yes, that is my well-worn Synonym Finder in Vic’s hands. We had to find another word for “hot stud.”

Here I’m smiling because the three of us agreed that the pitch was perfect. I tore apart and rewrote the whole thing a few days later in my hotel room, but that’s okay.

My first night in ATL, I hung out with my friend T at her place. Per tradition, we drank wine and ate Trader Joe’s snacks and I planned my conference schedule and she told me I would do fabulous at my pitch.

The hotel I stayed at was two blocks from the Marriott Marquis conference hotel. This worked really well, except on Friday, when it rained right before I left for my pitch appointment. No umbrella. None. I am not making this up. But I’m a little ahead of myself.

On Thursday I went to the Honing Your Pitch workshop and the Seven Secrets to Writing a Synopsis workshop and the New Adult panel, where Cora Carmack autographed my copy of Losing It, which I had just finished reading, and it was fabulous.

Then I freaked out. My pitch needed work. Lots of work. I brooded upon this at the Jill Scott concert that night. See how tired and stressed I am? T didn’t even bother trying to tell me to chill. She knows me too well. I came to life for Scott’s “Hate On Me” though. As she says– “I’m gon be who I be.”

I missed all of the Friday morning workshops, holed up in my hotel room revising my pitch. When one of my LERA chapter members texted me to see if I wanted her to save me a seat at lunch, I texted back:

I would love that, except that I am frantically reworking my pitch right now and trying not to have a meltdown. 😀 😥

I paced back and forth rehearsing my lines until it was time to leave. And it was raining. I’m sure this was symbolic somehow. Good thing I brought a workout jacket, which I held above my head in place of an umbrella as I trotted over to the Marriott Marquis.

Practice makes perfect. The agent I pitched to requested that I send her the first five chapters!

T refrained from saying “I told you so.” She just wants me to remember and tell the story of how I sat in her house and she said, “Your pitch will be fabulous.”

Celebrating at High Velocity. Eeeeee!

My last morning in Atlanta, I waited for a cab outside the Best Western at 6:45 am. After having been up until 3:00 am celebrating T’s birthday. Yeah. Lots of sleeping will happen after I’m  home.

And then comes getting everything together to submit to the agent. The next phase of the journey.