The Weekend of Three Jennies
Author: Teble Ann Brewer
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: November 2004

2004 Moonlight and Magnolias conference report

I had many reasons to be a nervous wreck for my first ever RWA® conference: meeting some of my favorite authors for the first time, my first pitch to editors and/or agents, getting the editor appointment I selected as my first choice, walking in three-inch heels without falling on my face,
staying in a strange hotel, and cohabitating a small room with three virtual strangers.

I can tell you now I needn’t have worried about that last one. Within the first five minutes of the road trip we all had nicknames for each other. You may now refer to me as “The Princess.” Or Stalker Cherry, but that’s a-whole-nuther story. My roommates, Cheryl Martin (The Queen), Cassondra Murray (The Pumpkin), and Tammy Carpenter (Trixie, or Stretch), turned out to be wonderful, supportive, and just plain cool chicks that really know how to have fun.

As for the Westin Hotel, that was also a needless worry. There were no elevator fistfights with aggressive makeup salesladies, no begging for extra towels or pillows from rude employees, no growing old while waiting to check in. In fact, the hotel staff members were very polite, efficient
people with lovely accents and the hotel restaurant offered delicious selections. Of course, any place that doesn’t have the word McNugget on the menu or expect me to cut anyone’s meat for him is Four Star to me!

So the real reasons for the conference: meeting other authors and The Pitch. The other romance writers I met in Atlanta were the warmest, friendliest women (and two men) I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Speeches by Haywood Smith Friday evening and Karen Hawkins Saturday morning were both humorous and inspiring. The keynote speech Saturday by Jennifer
Crusie…well, may I just say that Jenny Crusie is friggin’ brilliant! It was by far the most motivating, light a fire under my butt speech I’ve ever heard, and she still managed to make my ribs hurt from laughing so hard.

The entire event was well organized, ran smoothly, and the GRW members who coordinated M&M did their jobs admirably. Any questions I had were quickly answered. The workshops were informative and entertaining. Both the published and unpublished authors went out of their way to be encouraging, helping me figure out what was expected during a pitch and how to best craft my idea into a coherent proposal. Dianna Love Snell went above and beyond the call of duty, sitting down with me one-on-one for nearly an hour to perfect the pitch.

And now The Pitch. Well, let’s just say I accomplished everything I hoped to and more. I had an individual appointment with Jennifer Enderlin, executive editor of St. Martin’s Press, during which I outlined my single title manuscript and she requested a partial. I thought at the time, “Okay, this is what I hoped for; I can die happy now.”

But wait, there’s more! The next day during the Cold Reads session, agent Jenny Bent of Trident Media Group read my anonymously submitted query letter out loud. Everyone in the room laughed and gasped in all the right places while I sat in my seat trying not to wet myself. Then after Jenny Bent and Miriam Kriss discussed what they liked about the letter, Jenny said, “If the person who wrote this is here, let me know who you are so I can meet you.” I raised my hand and said (showing my quick wit and vast intelligence), “Uh, I um, I wrote that.” When a hundred heads whipped around to stare at me, I heard Jenny Bent saying, “Will you send this to me?” Of course all I could do at that point was nod. Then everyone in the room clapped and I swear I stopped breathing momentarily.

So in summary, I had both an editor and an agent request my first three chapters, I met some of my favorite authors (proving that I could hang out with Jenny Crusie and not stalk her), ate great food all weekend (and didn’t gain a pound because all calories consumed outside your home state do not count), and developed some great friendships. All in all, not a bad first conference. The Princess can’t wait until the next one.

Love Notes, the official monthly newsletter of Music City Romance Writers, is provided to paying members free of charge. If you are an MCRW member and would like to submit an article to Love Notes, visit the main newsletter page for more information. If you would like to reprint one of these articles in your RWA chapter newsletter, please give proper credit to both the author and the original source. For any other uses, please contact the president.