The Writer's Perspective by Maria Schneider - writing conferences

Maui Success Story

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:28:34 GMT

Hi Writers,
I'm finally recovering from the 6-hour jet lag from Hawaii following the Maui Writers Conference and a week of frolicking on the big island—swimming in the wild with dolphins and watching hot lava spill into the sea—talk about inspiration!

The Maui Writers Conference was fabulous. Brian wrote some great post-conference articles including Gary Braver's 10 basic ingredients of a successful thriller and Steve Berry's 8 Rules of Writing, both of which are pulled from sessions we attended.

But as always seems to happen with conferences, the most inspirational words came from the mouths of the writers who are just on the cusp of making it.

Eldon Thompson first went to the Maui Writers Conference in 2000 to study with his writer/hero Terry Brooks. In 2003, after multiple trips back to the conference and much work on his manuscript, Thompson sold his 3-book fantasy trilogy Legend of Asahiel to HarperCollins and he's just finished the screenplay adaptation of Terry Brooks' Shanarra series.

It's success stories like this that make it all seem worthwhile. We'll be offering video streaming of sessions from Maui coming soon via WritersDigest.tv so be sure to check back.

Keep Writing,
Maria

pictured below:
Eldon Thompson at the Maui Writers Conference
Maui Writers Conference opening ceremony

The Don'ts of Book Submissions

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:42:36 GMT

Aloha writerly friends,

I'm back from the Maui Writers Conference. It was definitely hard to drag myself into the office today, but I made it. Maria refused to come home until she had evened out her tan, so don't expect her back until early next week.

In the meantime, I thought I'd pass along these five don'ts that I picked up attending a panel at the conference. The three panelists, Elizabeth Evans (Reece Halsey North Agency), Catherine Fowler (Redwood Agency) and Robert Guinsler (Sterling Lord Literistic), said these are tips every writer should abide by:

The Don'ts

1. Don't send your full manuscript off the get go. Only send what's requested in the particular agent's guidelines. (They almost always can be found online.)
2. Don't respond to a rejection letter or ask "why." Just move on.
3. Don't be rude or disrespectful—rejection isn't personal, it's just part of the business.
4. Don't submit to one agent at a time. The industry is slow so it's unrealistic for agents to assume you haven't sent it to other people (unless an agent asks for an exclusive read).
5. Don't resend a query or manuscript a day or two later with a note, "I found a mistake in my proposal and fixed it." Once it's sent, it's sent.

I hope you didn't miss us too much. I definitely missed all of you—it's hard to survive a week without my writing family. Next time I'll see if I can get the WD jet to swing by and pick everyone up. I'm sure Maria can write that into the 2009 budget.

Take care of yourself and your writing,
Brian

Check out Brian's Questions & Quandaries blog.

Off to the Maui Conference

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:59:55 GMT

Hey all,

Maria and I are packing our bags and ready to head out to the Maui Writers Conference—oh the hardships of being an editor (insert smilie face here). She wanted to post, but was too busy trying to locate a reasonably-priced grass skirt on eBay, so I'm filling in. Thankfully, I already own one.

Not much new to report today, but we do have a favor to ask: We're looking to improve our online efforts and hope you're willing to spend a few minutes to complete an online survey about your Internet habits. Your response will help us serve you better and make WritersDigest.com an even better resource for writers. Give us your feedback here!

Maria will check in on Friday and update everyone on notable events at the conference. And if she can drag me away from the beach, I will too—as long as I'm allowed to type while wearing my grass skirt.

Take care of yourself and your writing,
Brian

Check out Brian's Questions & Quandaries blog.

Writer's Digest TV: Interview with David Baldacci

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:55:24 GMT

Hi Writers,
If there's one thing I've learned from spending time with all the thriller writers at ThrillerFest 08, it's that the adage, "write what you know" holds little merit.

Here's another short Q&A I did with David Baldacci, in which he discusses the merits of writing what you don't know.

Keep Writing,

Maria

Writer's Digest TV: Sandra Brown

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:22:17 GMT

Hi Writers,
Remember back last month when I was at ThrillerFest, the great writing conference/party thrown by the International Thriller Writers? Well, I got the chance to do some video interviews with a few thriller luminaries, including the amazing Sandra Brown.

So here's a a short (around 4 minutes) Q&A I did with Sandra, in which I ask the brilliant question: So how do you get to be Thriller Master anyway, do you have to kill someone!
(I don't think Diane Sawyer has anything to worry about).

Keep Writing,
Maria

Announcing: WD Live author interviews

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:53:29 GMT

Hi Writers,
Writer's Digest is pleased to announce the debut of WD Live, a series of free live video interviews with top-name authors from ThrillerFest 2008.

Just to give you a taste of what's to come, here's an entertaining segment with authors Steve Berry, Brad Thor and James Rollins, discussing how they quietly began writing each others characters into their respective books.

We'll be rolling out more in the next few weeks, so stay tuned! And, as always, I'd love your feedback.

Keep Writing,
Maria

We're going to Maui!

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:58:27 GMT

Hi Writers,
It's my great pleasure to announce our sponsorship of the 2008 Maui Writers Conference, which this year is on the road to Honolulu. Brian and I will be there for three full days over the Labor Day holiday, August 29-September 1 reporting live from the conference via this blog and our e-newsletter. So stay tuned, and if you can get yourself to the Maui Writers Conference, I can promise you won't regret it--this is one of the premiere writing events of the year!

Tell me, who looks more Hawaiian, me or Brian? Check out the poll on the WD forum or leave comments here. Mahalo.

Keep Writing,
Maria

The final thrill

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:28:20 GMT

Hi Writers,
If you want to get more of an idea of what ThrillerFest was all about, here are my (almost daily) newsletters that went out to our e-newsletter subscriber list during and just after the conference.

So, if you didn't get enough thrills already, here are links to even more from ThrillerFest ’08. If you’d like to sign up to receive e-newsletters from Writer’s Digest, you can find a sign-up link on writersdigest.com.

ThrillerFest Day 1

ThrillerFest Day 2

ThrillerFest Day 3

Keep Writing,
Maria
p.s. I'm getting ready to head out to the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference in Seattle. I'll be doing more blogging from that conference so be sure to check back.

...and the thrills go on!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:21:50 GMT

Hi Writers,
I hope you've enjoyed coming along the wild ride of ThrillerFest with me. I'm back in Cincinnati and wanted to thank all of the great people at ThrillerFest for putting on such a fabulous conference and for inviting Writer's Digest to co-sponsor their event.

Since I don't often get to post visuals, it's been really fun to hone my photojournalism skills, and I have a few more photos to share with you today.

I had the best time with Steve Berry, Brad Thor and James Rollins: Three bestselling novelists and also friends who write each others characters into their books. Also of note: Thor, whose book is currently leading the NYT bestseller lists with The Last Patriot, is under heavy security because he's had a fatwa declared against him due to his novel's questioning of the origins of Islam.

Here's a picture of me with David Baldacci, taken just after I interviewed him. He is just the nicest, most intelligent and eloquent person--well deserved of his phenomenal success. He also was honored with the Silver Bullet Award at ThrillerFest for his work with the advancement of literacy.

And finally, here's a picture of me at the award's banquet and two of the attendees who won seats at our table: Joan Johnston and Andrew Marino. You may recognize Joan as the author of 50 novels, with 10 million copies of her books in print!

There will be video streaming of many of the best sessions from Thrillerfest available on writersdigest.com starting August 1, so be sure to check back soon!

Keep Writing,
Maria