TGIF and writing news and other stuff...

Happy Friday writer friends! I've had a rough week fighting off a nasty cold, so I am hugely grateful for the weekend.  I hope your weeks have been better!

In writing news, I sent off five queries at year end and have gotten four responses - three rejections and a partial request.  Boo rejections, yay partial!  We'll see how it goes.

Also, I got some unexpected exciting news.  My local writers association is having a spring conference, and they actually have a pretty sweet lineup.  Chuck Sambuchino of the awesome Guide to Literary Agents blog is doing some workshops, and a couple agents are coming from New York.  From reputable agencies I recognize!  I have to say I'm kind of surprised that my city, which is medium-sized at best, has such cool folks coming. 

And the really cool part is that you can get a 25 page manuscript critique from one of the agents, so I signed up.  Totally stoked!  I am really excited about getting an expert opinion, and know I'll get some great feedback on ways to improve my writing.  I promise to share all the juicy details of my evisceration. 

I mentioned a while back that I'm going to World Fantasy Convention this fall, so these two are probably going to more than eat up my budget.  But I'm curious as to what conferences and conventions my blogging friends are thinking about going to this year.  What are the most popular ones?  Or what cool local stuff do you have going on?  Do share!

P.S. Have a kick ass weekend :~)

More pics from NY

I meant to put these up yesterday but my computer was being super slow...



A beautiful view of the mountains from a viewing tower near Woodstock which we reached after a two mile uphill hike...



The lovely Harmony House...

New York

Last year for my birthday in July, my husband and I went to New York to research my novel (and for fun). Many elements of my stories (certain places, characters, plots) just kind of present themselves to me. For some reason, I always knew that Eternal Memory was to be set in New York, both in NYC and the Catskills. I even tried to talk myself out of it, thinking New York City was too overdone and cliched, but such inspirations just can't be easily supplanted.

So, we spent the day in the city, which was fabulous and I admit I fell in love with it, though I was not planning on it (for the same reasons of it being sort of the usual cliche response to NYC). Then we drove up to the mountains, first visiting some family and then on to a gorgeous bed and breakfast near Woodstock. To my great surprise and delight, I discovered that one of the owners was named Eva, like the main character in my book. Further, she had beautiful long, black, curly hair like my heroine! If there was ever a sign from the powers that be, this certainly seemed to be one. It was pretty surreal. We had an awesome stay with Eva and Jacquie at Harmony House, and on the morning of my birthday, I had perhaps the best breakfast of my life. Sitting on a large deck among the trees, it was so picturesque and peaceful I could have stayed there forever.

The really interesting part is, I discovered while exploring the area that Upstate New York actually has quite a vibrant community of Wiccans and witchcraft, which is a main theme of my book. The whole trip left me reeling from the synchronicity of having picked New York as the setting, completely without knowing that it actually was just perfect for my novel. Intuition is a beautiful thing.