Backspace Writer's Conference Uncovered

By Jeanette Schneider

Touching down at JFK is always a near-religious experience for me. I am drawn to New York City and every visit is a pilgrimage of sorts. After I pass through a toll, after Regis and Kelly have told me everything I need to know about Taxi TV, after I eyeball every driver next to me to see what real New Yorkers look like, a narrow tunnel gives birth to another aspiring author and I am deposited onto a street of walls filled with big deals, top agents and printing presses that make books, glorious books. The five plus-hour flight from Las Vegas fell away as steaming manhole covers and the noise of the city overcame me. I reminded myself to thank Karen Dionne and Chris Graham, the founders of the Backspace Writers Conference, for setting my first conference down in a city littered with reams of paper, contract negotiations and slices of flat greasy pizza that you eat while watching the rest of the world pass you by on the corner of West 34^th and 6^th.

After strolling forty blocks and jaywalking alongside one of New York’s finest, I returned to the Radisson Martinique to settle in for the night. I ironed every outfit I would wear for the next three days, called the front desk to order a wake up call, and then set both my work and personal cell phones to ring in fifteen minute intervals which would commence from the moment I hung up with whoever would be calling me at 6 a.m. You can never be too safe, especially when your dreams are setting up shop all around you.

I shook as I sat at a table the next morning, worried that the other writers were better than me, more talented, more literary, if there is such a thing. I looked around the room to see nervous smiles, anxious laughter, excited introductions and I realized I was amongst my peers. My hands trembled as I read my query letter to a bank of Literary Agents. They let me finish and complimented two or three sentences before they told me the truth, exactly what I came for, “Your query letter needs work. I would not have asked for any additional pages.” Two gracious agents pointed out exactly what I did that would have caused them to stop reading. An hour later I was surprised to find that I was to read my query letter a second time to a new bank of shiny agents. A bell had been placed on the table and it was only a moment before it rang. I was told exactly what I did wrong, what would have kept me from my dream.

I found myself rather deflated at lunch. My stomach grumbled, I pushed my pasta around on my plate and popped Tylenol while I commiserated with two new writer friends. We worried about the Two Pages session later that afternoon and before long I was standing in front of an audience of agents once again, my fellow writers following along as I read the first two pages of my manuscript. My work wasn’t of interest to two of them, but I received constructive feedback from the other two. It would take a full twelve hours before I concentrated on the positive comments as every new writer that walked through the doors of the Radisson Martinique hoped that an agent would read their first few lines and run to the business center to print out a contract. Instead, I sat with five other writers and over drinks we all echoed the same sentiment, “I thought my manuscript was complete.” We were soon joined by new writers, new recruits exuberant about a second Two Minutes, Two Pages session that was added on Friday morning. This was their chance, the realization of their dream, their moment. They hadn’t gotten through the first day of boot camp just yet, and I smiled to myself fully aware that I would see them walking the hallways by lunch the next day looking lost, faces drawn, which was exactly the case.

We all seemed heavier as we sat down before a table of agents for our second day, but those that judged us so harshly the night before had shed their brass knuckles. They filled our heads with possibility, talked about the process and commented on agent/author relationships. Liz Rosenberg described her relationship with her agent, Jenny Bent, and smiled as she explained that successful writers need “divine stubbornness.” We laughed as Jeff Kleinman explained that his ideal client can, “Write like an angel and promote like the devil.” We learned that clichés are kryptonite, and even if you didn’t think you used clichés, you probably do and you should stop it right now.

John Searles, two-time National Bestseller and Deputy Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, brought us back to life with his talk, replete with a Cosmo-infused Power Point presentation and slides that tasted a little like cotton candy. He told us to remember why we fell in love, to sleep around and read everything we can get our hands on, drive our reader wild in bed with stories they can’t put down, and to remember that you never know when you might meet “The One,” but to be ready to break up with the aforementioned “One” if it turns out that your manuscript isn’t an agent or publishing house’s soul mate. He told us to get noticed, and above all, he quoted his mentor, author Wally Lamb’s inscription in the book he gave him as a young man, “Enjoy the journey.”

Authors Joseph Finder and David Morrell captivated us with stories of their own roads to publication, and publicists Kelley and Hall opened our eyes to the world of book publicity. While Jocelyn Kelley spoke I found myself scribbling notes, my book evolving right before me.

Our brains were filled with everything we needed to know and then some. At the end of the day I talked to Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency, who explained that the Agent Author Day was tough for the agents because they weren’t trying to be mean, they were just showing us that we weren’t ready…yet.

Editor Jerry Gross told us to, “Develop the persistence of an IRS auditor, the hide of an alligator, the patience of Job and the optimism of Pollyanna.”

Almost everyone mentioned that we should pick up Stephen King’s On Writing.

Richard Krevolin enthusiastically stood before a room, and as he went through questions he asks his screenwriting students, I saw my book make another turn and I hurriedly flipped to the back of my notebook to capture the newer, wiser and devastatingly more succinct outline of my manuscript, which I thought was done when I first arrived. I was moving closer to the “yet” that Kristin Nelson mentioned, the one at the end of her sentence that meant more to me than she may have realized by our brief conversation.

I have never been to another conference, but from what I saw, not to mention the messages I received from writer friends that were dripping with jealousy, Backspace has it figured out. It is a boot camp that you should sign up for immediately. I would never have gotten past my first query letter had I not sat in front of agents that told me it was awful. I had access. Access to information, access to preferences - like which agents like books with dogs in them, which agents like to line edit, which ones prefer older voices, younger voices and which agent advises, “You never kill the dog!”

While I may have lost confidence on the first day, I quickly realized that Backspace isn’t fluff. The following two days pulled me up and set me back on my feet with a map. I will stand up in front of an agent any day, hands trembling, as opposed to sitting in front of my computer with a bad query letter at the ready. The access, the support and the guidance is immeasurable. You have to walk in ready to hear criticism and leave with a book full of notes. You have to be beat down to be built up again.

Because, when you’re rebuilt, you’re simply better for it.

*****

Jeanette Schneider recently completed her coming of age memoir, White Like Snow, and is the author of a yet unnamed collection of humorous essays. She is a member of Backspace Discussion Forums and the Las Vegas Writer’s Group.

Jeanette lives in Las Vegas with her husband, Trevor, and two rescue dogs, Toby and Ginger. She is a Senior Vice President at a large financial services firm, sits on the board of a major charitable foundation and works as an advocate within the community to promote environmental awareness. Jeanette "Tweets" as @msjwrites. Read more about her on her blog: www.msjwrites.blogspot.com.