This is part three of my four-part article about the HHCC conference in Dallas. I'm going to go light on the links today.
But first, a word from our sponsor. Not really, but one thing I forgot to mention about the session with Jane Dystel was the announcement of the winner of the pitch and synopsis contest that was held at the conference. For a fee (which went to MWA, not Ms. Dystel), writers could pitch their books to her. In exchange, she would select one writer to submit a full to her agency. She didn't select one manuscript to read. She selected three. Congratulations to the three whose books piqued her interest, and best wishes on securing representation. That kinda blows that whole "agents aren't interested in new writers" theory espoused by PublishAmerica authors out of the water.
Now on to Saturday's schedule. These were fifty minute sessions, whereas Friday's sessions were ninety minutes. The shorter sessions were less effective, and there was rarely time for audience questions. Instead of the two paths from the previous day (a how-to-write path and a publicity path), there were three. The two already mentioned plus one for readers of mystery novels. I thought the reader-oriented panels would've been interesting, but I thought it would be more effective to stick with the publicity and writing sessions.
First up: Making A Splash. This was a panel discussion with Denise Dietz, Jordan Dane, Laura Starks, Cindy Daniel, and Dep-Wah Davis. This was another Internet related session. The discussion again concerned MySpace, having a proper domain name, and cheap service providers. Mostly the discussion mentioned how there isn't really any excuse for a professional writer not to invest in a real domain name, and I have to agree. And for goodness' sake, stay away from the Flash, the blinking colors, dancing teddy bears, and backgrounds that glitter. And that goes for your MySpace page, too.
Next up, I slipped over to the writer's side of things for a panel discussion on Constructive Criticism. The panelists (Laura Starks, Marion Moore Hill, Randy Rawls, Larry Shriner) talked about their writers' groups, what they think makes a good writers' group, and an effective size. Interestingly enough, the largest group any of them belonged to was six. (As an aside, at lunch I sat next to Laura Starks, and she talked about having odd-numbered groups, because it helps prevent pairing up.)
As for the how, some met and read aloud, others emailed samples early in the week and then got together to discuss the critiques. There's not really a right or wrong way, so long as everyone agrees on the method.
The final panel before lunch was Top Shelf. It was moderated by P.J.Nunn. The two panelists were David Thompson from
Murder By The Book, an award-winning Houston mystery bookstore, and Kathy L. Patrick, owner of
Beauty and the Book, the only hair salon/bookstore in the country. Ms. Patrick is a hilarious, vibrant speaker, and while there wasn't as much general knowledge passed along during this session, it was the most fun to listen to. I got two things out of this session: I want these two bookstores to carry my books some day, and I would love to do a booksigning at both of them.
As you can see, I didn't get as much out of these sessions, possibly because of the shorter time limit.
In part 4:
Keynote speaker, David Morrell (creator of Rambo), Crime Doesn't Pay - Enough, and On The Road Again.