The 1-Minute Pitch

Ah, the joys of going to a conference. Last Thursday I drove down to Princeton, NJ, to the Theological Seminary, where the NJ branch of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) hosted a conference for those of us who Truly Believe that some child will want to read what we have written. 

 It was a gorgeous couple days. Over 200 fellow TBs plus editors and agents--all of them wiser beyond their years (I think wisdom is thrust on those who must sit in judgment on our works... hmm, perhaps that could be an educational tool, eh?) We were fed well and I had a bed in a spartan little dorm room with a shared bath. 

 I tried to keep up with my exercises, but the second day felt too early for me and simply showered and dressed and showed up for the initial session. I didn't write anything new, but had some interesting comments from an agent on something I'd submitted in advance. He liked part of it and didn't like another. I may revise after I think about it some more.

 But the nicest surprise was the 1-Minute Pitch at the last. This was an opportunity to capture an editor's interest with a Quick Pitch: a coherent but fast summary of a book I'm working on. It was a bit like fast dating. I took a chair in front of an editor, handed her my (outdated) greeting card, and started spieling. She listened and responded. Then a whistle blew and I jumped to the next chair and the next editor and repeated the process, changing slightly what I said because of the experience of the first one. 

 Three editors in about 6 minutes. And all of them were interested and told me to submit more of the project. 

 Ah, love!