Sunset in San Francisco
is remarkable when there are clear skies, warm temperatures, and you are drinking a glass of wine at the Top of The Mark! This is what they are all out there talking about when they say, “be in the moment.”
I am a nearly 50 year old woman, with an empty nest, a husband at home I love, and a dream I’ve had since I was in the 5th grade. I am a writer. With or without an agent, with or without a published book, I am still a writer, and I still dream to live a comfortable life as a writer….and live happily ever after.
From the time I read my first novel without my teacher selecting it for me, I knew I was going to write. I can thank V.C. Andrews for Flowers in the Attic, in planting that seed. I chose that book from a shelf of many when my dad said to go select a book and read it in his office until it was time to go home, when I was 11 years old.
I had to pass time at my father’s deli and he had a paperback book shelf. I went and grabbed the book for it’s cover. As a librarian, I know book covers sell books! Maybe I should have gone into graphic or book jacket design, but anyway it sold me at 11 years old. I only looked inside the book because the cover was amazingly haunting and engaging! The story proved to be just the same.
Anyway, here I am more than 3 decades later, and I still have the same dream. I am in San Francisco, California, gearing up to pitch agents on Sunday about the book I’ve written as a genre/ romance fiction about the Valley Fire in Lake County, California.
Funny note: Tonight I was at the networking party and milling around. I bought a glass of wine, bought a few books, (after all, it’s not hording if it’s books), and basically killing time until I collapsed in my room for the night. When who do I see as I’m about to leave, but the agent I pitched my book to a year ago at the Redwood Writers Conference, Laurie McLean! She loved the idea of my book then but I only had a 1/2 written manuscript and she only looks at completed manuscripts so I had to wait until it was done. Well, I decided to talk to her briefly. Not an easy task! She is the director of this conference and very much in demand. So I see she acknowledges me, laughs and shakes my hand, almost like she remembers me but I’m sure she couldn’t remember why. Then another presenter from the conference approaches her and it’s all over. My brief connection is lost.
Not overly dismayed, I politely retreated from the conversation and made my trek upstairs a flight to the elevator that would take me 8 more floors to my room. I was tired anyway. But who do you suppose was running to the elevator to join us but Laurie McLean! This time I decided it was a moot point to so late in the evening discuss work. We simply joked at how damn tired we all were. She left at the 5th floor and I smiled on the way to the 8th, realizing it was very early in this weekend to obsess about missed opportunities. I will have plenty before I leave. It’s only Thursday night.
SFWC 2018
has started out with a bang. I reconnected with a friend from two years back. She is the one lady that talked me off a cliff last time I was at the SFWC pitching agents and nearly hyperventilated! Good times! I also met new friends from New Zealand, and Morgan Hill, California. Writers Conferences are a great place to collaborate with fellow writers, and I am so grateful to find my people. The next three days should prove to be very interesting!
Stay tuned to information on how this all pans out. As many of you already following know, I’m here to try and find an agent that fits well with me and my book.
Wishing you all love, light, and joy! From San Francisco,….. sleep well y’all!
*All pictures taken by me, Patti Diener.
