The Ameriad

#PitMad Reminder–A Call For Help!

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Hello everyone! This may sound like an odd request, but today I am participating in #PitMad on Twitter, a day long event in which authors tweet a pitch for a book to agents.

If any of you have Twitter, please consider retweeting my pinned tweet, which I will have put up.

My Twitter handle is @French_C1955

This is also important–do not like the pitch–that is for agents to let writers know they are interested in your work.

The tweet will be for my Young Adult Ecological Post-Apocalyptic novel The Ameriad: The Monastery of Knowledge.  I will have the tweet up at 8 A. M. EST.

Again, thank you to all!

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Please Help With #PitMad

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Please!

Hello everyone! This may sound like an odd request, but tomorrow I am participating in #PitMad on Twitter, a day long event in which authors tweet a pitch for a book to agents.

If any of you have Twitter, please consider retweeting my pinned tweet, which I will put up tomorrow morning.

My Twitter handle is @French_C1955

This is also important–do not like the pitch–that is for agents to let writers know they are interested in your work.

The tweet will be for my Young Adult Ecological Post-Apocalyptic novel The Ameriad: The Monastery of Knowledge.  I will have the tweet up at 8 A. M. EST.

Again, thank you to all!

person writing on brown printer paper

(Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com)

Please Help Me For #PitMad

Standard

Please!

Hello everyone! This may sound like an odd request, but tomorrow I am participating in #PitMad on Twitter, a day long event in which authors tweet a pitch for a book to agents.

If any of you have Twitter, please consider retweeting my pinned tweet, which I will put up tomorrow morning.

This is also important–do not like the pitch–that is for agents to let writers know they are interested in your work.

The tweet will be for my Young Adult Ecological Post-Apocalyptic novel The Ameriad: The Monastery of Knowledge.  I will have the tweet up at 8 A. M. EST.

Again, thank you to all!

person writing on brown printer paper

(Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com)

Back From the Writers Digest Conference!

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I have not posted anything in the last few days because I have been busy at the 2017 Writers Digest Conference in New York City, and it was a great time! If you are a writer, and you want to learn more about the world of publishing and to have an opportunity to pitch to agents, then I recommend this conference to you.

I attended many sessions with publishing professionals and writers, and I learned something useful at each session, including about writing, marketing, and various other aspects of the world of publishing.  I met and networked with other writers, and that was also extremely important and valuable. To those I met, it was delightful, and I hope we keep in contact.

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Perhaps the most exciting event was the Agent Pitch Slam, which is essentially like speed dating, with a strictly enforced 3 minute maximum with each agent, and then the writers move on. If a writer does well in pitching his/her book, then they might see 6-8 agents. I was able to pitch to 7, and one requested my entire manuscript–my YA novel The Ameriad: The Monastery of Knowledge by Charles F. French! Now, I know that is not a guarantee, but it is a major step forward, and I am excited about it.

I also want to say thank you very much to my in-laws, who very graciously opened their home to me while I attended the conference. They are wonderful people, and I love them.   Again, thank you!

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I Attended A Writing Conference This Last Weekend

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I attended The Writers Digest Conference for 2016 in Manhattan this past weekend, and I had a wonderful time, and I learned a great deal of information about writing and publishing.

First I would like to give my deepest thanks to my extraordinary mother-in-law and father-in-law.  They are wonderful people, whom I love, and I am grateful for their hosting me for the weekend.  They live on Staten Island, and I made the commute to uptown Manhattan by bus, ferry, and bus. The part of the commute I loved was the ferry ride, which is still free.  I love any kind of boat or ship, so I felt as excited as a child to ride the ferry.

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The conference was both fun and educational.  I was able to meet many other writers, attend valuable sessions that gave important information on a variety of subjects that writers need to know, and the agent pitch slam went very well.  During the pitch slam, each author has 3 minutes to pitch his/her book and take questions from the agent. If the agent is interested, he/she gives you a card and instructs what to send them. I pitched my YA book: The Ameriad: The Monastery of Knowledge to seven agents, and six requested I send them a variety of information.  While nothing is ever certain, I still consider that to be successful.

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Finally, I want to mention that author David Baldacci gave the main keynote address, and he was exciting, informative, honest, humble, and amusing.  He showed a very human side and was a very warm and gracious person.  I have read most of his books, and I think they are among the very best thrillers written.  As a person, from the little interaction I had with him, he struck me to be a warm and genuine human being.

This was a very successful experience, and I recommend it highly to any authors who can attend in the future.

 

Writing Progress

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I believe I have not done an update in a few months on my writing progress, so I will do so now.  I have finished a first draft of book 2 of my young adult series: The Ameriad.  Now like most first drafts, it is not very good, and I am being charitable, and it needs massive revision, but it is done. As I say to other writers and to my students, get a draft done, otherwise you have nothing to work on.  Now I have about 50,000 words for future revisions. I am anticipating both cutting and adding in the next draft.

That means, I will continue on my plan on completing 2 first drafts every year.  I now move on to book 2 of The Investigative Paranormal Society.  Each book in this series will focus on one of the three older gentlemen who form the nucleus of the group. This one will center on Sam, the retired homicide detective.  So, to work with this!  I hope to have the draft done by the end of the year.

And I am moving along with the manuscript of my horror novel, Maledicus:  Investigative Paranormal Society Book I. I will shortly send it out to be formatted, both for ebook and printing, and I am aiming at a release in late September. I will keep you informed as I move forward with promotion on it.

In addition to drafting, I am always revising also.  So I try to find separate times to do both most days.  I am now beginning a major revision of book one of my young adult series.  I will speak more of this in future posts.

Remember folks, keep writing and revising!

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