Connie's Corner

A meeting....

I went to the meeting of our local writers' group today, and I must tell you, almost everything the speaker talked about, I already learned right here on writing.com. It made me realize...again...what a wonderful site this is. We have so many knowledgeable people who are eager to share that knowledge with the rest of us.

The speaker's name was Debora Coty, and she is a very good motivational speaker. She has several books to her credit as well. I came away with one entitled Everyday Hope, tagged as a Spiritual Refreshment for Women. I need it. As noted her targeted audience is women, but there were a few men in the attending group.

The meeting lasted two hours and covered a lot, almost too much to grasp if you were a complete novice. I am not a member of the group (the meetings are open to the public), but I am considering it. They issue a literary magazine twice yearly, The Bacopa Literary Review, with contests in five categories. One's first entry is a freebie, but after that you need to be a group member, or pay an entry fee. Entries are judged anonymously, which I had never heard about before.

The meeting was well-attended according to the chairs that had been set up, only a couple empty seats, and they ran out of handouts. Some people did leave early though as I think the meeting ran a little longer than expected.

Ms. Coty did go over one thing sort of new to me, the book proposal, which is sent after interest has been shown in your query letter. If I ever decide to write a book, and a publisher shows interest, I now have all the points an agent or publisher wants to see in a book proposal. She said small press publishers are the place for newbies to start. They pay all the fees, but books are only printed as orders come in, and you do your own marketing, a plan requested in the book proposal. Then, you need at least two impressive endorsers, and all kinds of other things. The list was very long.

The nitty gritty of the matter is that writing a book and even getting it published is not the end of the hard work, but in a way, is only the beginning. My admiration and respect for successful writers has gone up about a millionfold today. My hat is off to all of you out there....

until next time....c