conferences – The Debutante Ball

[News Flash] October 15, 2017

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Congratulations to Terry Pearson, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of Unruly Creatures by Jennifer Caloyeras. Thank you so much to yesterday’s guest, K.B. Wagers! If you haven’t already, enter the #DebBallGiveaway to win a copy of Beyond the Empire. You can enter by sharing our post on Facebook and/or retweeting the following tweet: Interview with @kbwagers, Author of BEYOND THE EMPIRE. RT to win a copy of this #scifi adventure! https://t.co/GsqgupxckV — The Debutante Ball (@DebutanteBall)…

News Flash: Busy Days, Busy Debs!

Sunday, May 7, 2017

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Congratulations to Jess Dimovski, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of FEAST OF SORROW by Crystal King. It was wonderful having Leah DeCesare as our guest yesterday on The Debutante Ball. If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of FORKS, KNIVES AND SPOONS or enter to win a copy by sharing our post on Facebook and/or retweeting the following tweet: RT to Enter! Interview w/ @LeahDeCesare + #DebBallGiveaway of FORKS, KNIVES AND SPOONS https://t.co/uYSAHUlcT3…

AWP Junior High School: A Survivor’s Tale

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

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Tomorrow I’m flying to Los Angeles for my third foray into the overpopulated slushpile that is the Conference of American Writers and Writing Programs, or AWP. This time, I might actually get it right. The first time I went to one of these things was in 2012, in Chicago. I’d gotten my MFA the year before, and I was muddling through my novel. It was right about the time when,…

Writing Conferences: The Lazy Approach

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

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This week our topic is laziness. Oh, the odes I could write about laziness! Laziness is making my kids go get me a glass of water because I’m thirsty and they’re young and I’m not. Laziness is pretending not to see that the recycling has piled so high in the can that it’s spilling over the sides. Laziness is writing my Deb Ball posts at the last minute because getting…

Last Minute Tips Before You Head to the Writers’ Conference

Monday, March 28, 2016

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Tomorrow I am headed to Los Angeles to attend the AWP writers’ conference. I look forward to conferences like AWP and Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace every year. What could be more fun? It’s like day camp for writers. Conferences are amazing places where writers can recharge, learn craft, make connections and get inspired. There is a ton of good advice out there about how to prepare for a writers’…

Marketing Is Hard and Other Obvious Truths

Thursday, July 9, 2015

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Okay, so this week’s topic is marketing. As the other Debs have confessed, as writers, its one arena that really leaves us flummoxed. What works? What doesn’t? Who knows? One of the most confusing aspects of all this is that marketing is defined differently than publicity. Marketing usually entails paid, guaranteed efforts (like ad placement or co-op at the bookstore), while publicity is the stuff you see show up randomly…

The Best KidLit Conference? Rutgers, Hands Down

Thursday, October 16, 2014

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There comes a point in every serious writer’s life when they decide to crawl out of the cave and share what they’ve been scribbling with, you know, other actual people. There are many ways to do this — online communities, crit groups, contests, and conferences. I’ve never gone the contest route myself — it’s just not something I do — but as a journalist and screenwriter, I’d done a few…

Find Your Writer Friends – Pants Optional

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

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Writing is isolating. You know that and I know that. That’s why it’s important to get out in the world once in a while, hob nob with other writerly folks, get a little inspiration, make some friends, than disappear back into the writer cave. Those writer connections will help save you when you need to talk out a complicated plot, rejoice over a book deal, or vent about another rejection. And we’re…

13 Thoughts & Reflections About #AWP14 & Writers Conferences

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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As I write this, I’m sitting in an airport terminal in Dallas, waiting for my final flight back to Austin. Bare with me, I’m exhausted. Not only did I spend the last four days in Seattle for AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference) with 13,000 other writers, but my flight home got cancelled overnight. I’m so ready to be home. But so very happy I came. I’d love…

How Deb Susan Found Her Tribe

On August 2, 2010, literary agent and Query Shark Janet Reid blogged a recommendation for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Conference. Although the conference was then only a month away, I decided to see if I could still register. Registration was open. I went to Colorado (on very short notice!) – and what I found there surprised and delighted me. At the time I was writing historical fiction, and…

Thursday, October 4, 2012

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