One major reason all unpublished romance writers go to this or any other conference is the chance to talk to publishers and agents. The RWA Conference is bigger and more intimidating than most. I went to two workshops that helped me before I went to talk to the people I had appointments with. The first was one where someone said, as an aside, “Don’t worry. All publishers and agents will tell you to send your work on to them unless your idea is totally off the wall. Do you think they’re going to say no to your face?” This idea had occurred to me before, but it was reassuring. Have I mentioned that pitching is nerve-wracking?

The second workshop was one where you actually did pitch your idea to the person sitting next to you. If you can do that while the noise of dozens of people around you all doing the same thing rises to ear-splitting proportions, you can pitch anywhere. I learned how to tailor a pitch to a publisher (who would want to hear about your book) and to an agent (who wants to hear about your background.)

I have had some less than stellar interviews so far. I went to my first retreat - first interview ever - where I had been switched from the agent I picked to someone else, then switched to someone else and then discovered I have been double-booked with someone else and three other people were waiting who also had had the same thing happen to them. I pitched anyway. I figured none of this was my fault, so what did I have to lose? Hey, I did get to send my proposal directly on to the editor.

But my publisher interview at the RWA Conference topped that experience. I was beginning my spiel when I realized my editor was about to pitch to me - literally. She almost fainted. It had been a long day, the interview setup was crowded and she had just had it. We cut the interview short. Hey, I got to send my proposal on to her. One word of advice, though - even if your editor is sick, do try to find out what you are supposed to send on right then. But if you don’t (since I forgot to ask after that experience), call the editor’s secretary, explain what happened, and find out.