Muse & The Marketplace

This past weekend I was at Grub Street's (http://www.grubstreet.org/) annual writers conference Muse & The Marketplace.  It was my first trip to this event and I found it more than worth the price of admission.  My favorite sessions included The Essentials of Structure with James Scott (he was so funny and engaging and made me see the importance of bringing all my stories back to Star Wars- believe me it makes sense in context), Writing Funny For Young Readers with Ben H. Winters (I randomly read his new book on Saturday night and then got to meet him on Sunday morning, this session was so relevant to my work and Ben's advice- Don't try too hard- was on point as I am often guilty of just that), and a book publicity overview from my friends at Kelley & Hall Book Publicity (http://www.kelleyandhall.com/). I also submitted my first ever piece for consideration to a literary magazine, and it was a verbal submission!  The Drum is an online audio journal and I read my short short (a really short story) "Last Ride" into a cool big microphone and it was recorded.  If I am selected to appear in The Drum it will be my first "publication"!  There were a few disappointments at Muse: 1) The biggest was that the agent I was slated to meet with on Sunday morning was a no-show, which was a huge bummer as I was so excited to get feedback on my query letter, synopsis, and first 20 pages of An Unexpected Kingdom. Hopefully Grub Street will contact me soon to let me know about a make-up session. 2) I really didn't like lunch either day- the second lunch had melon with mint as a dessert.  That is not a dessert.