Live Through Me - Part 4

Here’s the next installment of my adventures at the RWA conference.

I was supposed to go to the workshop Character Mining next, but it was cancelled. Bummer. However, this ended up being a good thing. I went to Money Talks: the Best-Kept Secrets of Digital Authors. What. An. Eye. Opener. Holy cow! Maya Banks is a best-selling author with three traditional publishers and Sanhaim (an e-publisher). She said she was making more money with Sanhaim than she was with the three traditional publishers combined. Isn’t that nuts? One of the reasons is that she has sixteen books out with Sanhaim but still…

Throughout the conference there has been a lot of talk about self-publishing and one thing everyone seemed to agree on is if you’re going to do it, you absolutely need a freelance copyeditor. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve seen too many books that could’ve done well if a freelance editor (like myself) had gotten her hands on the manuscript before it went out.

My last workshop for the day was Getting Past So Close. This was more motivational than informative, at least for me. For some, getting published is easy, but that’s not the norm. This was a great reminder to stay positive despite all the negatives that can be thrown your way in this industry.

After the workshops were over, I walked back to my room to drop off all the books I’d acquired during the day and thought I might get to sneak in a little nap before going out again. Nope. My writing friends, authors Erin Kellison and KC Klein invited me to go out for dinner with them and they were ready to go. So, I dumped off my bag, turned around and walked the 10-15 minutes it took to get back to the Marquis, where they were staying.

While we were eating at a restaurant, a woman collapsed at the table beside us. Her family tried to get her talking, but she clearly had some sort of healthy issue. Within minutes, the men in blue arrived and shortly after that, the EMTs joined the scene. We’re not sure what happened but think the woman may have had a stroke. In any case, our hearts went out to that poor family. I hope the woman was okay.

Have you ever been in a public place when something like that happened? What did you do?

In case you missed it, I'm teaching Hook, Line, and Sinker: How to Hook Readers and Reel Them In. Click the link for more information about this online class.

Lynnette Labelle
www.labelleseditorialservices.com