Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Every time I think I’m doing something swell (writerly speaking), I forget about the ripples. You know what I mean about the ripples? Like when you drop a pebble in the water and the ripples expand outward, affecting the waters further and further away?

So I’ve been researching agents and editors for the Rutgers conference (and I have found SO many wonderful sites/blogs packed with great info! I’ll share those soon!) and I came across a blog post from a writer who’d attended in the past and she mentioned business cards. And I thought, thank goodness, I have plenty of business cards. Because I have THREE different–no, FOUR different business cards.

And then one of those ripples banged into me. Self, I said, you better check your business cards since you’ve made some changes lately. And uh-oh. Most of the cards had the Hall of Fame blog on it. A few had my old website. Which means I’ve been blithely handing out business cards for the past…let’s see, 9 months, with outdated information.

Oy. I suppose I don’t need to tell you that I was pretty annoyed with myself, grasshopper. I should make a checklist of “What To Do When Changing Your Web Presence” rather than what I do do, which is changing one thing, then catching up with the ripples as they inevitably bang into me. Don’t do that, grasshopper. Make your checklist, and put “Check/change business cards” on the top of the list. Then you can do a happy dance (like me!) when the NEW BUSINESS CARDS arrive from Vistaprint! And P.S. I also ordered a sheet of sticky business card labels that I could slap on a manuscript, which I thought was scathingly brilliant, not to mention ripple-evading.

(If I’m being perfectly honest, I love designing business cards. But you probably had an inkling of that when you read about the four business cards, piled in my desk drawer.)

So I am not gonna lie. I have been dashing to the mailbox for the last couple weeks, looking for that envelope from the Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference. My desk overlooks the front of the house and when I would see the mail truck go by–zoom! I was down the stairs and out the door. I knocked down the Beneficent Mr. Hall more than once. (Not to worry. He just rolled to the end of the driveway where I graciously helped him up.)

Finally, I got my letter. Of acceptance. Wheee!

Yeah, you have to apply to attend the conference. Now, honestly, I have no idea how many people apply. They accept around 8o writers because around 80 professionals (editors and agents, mostly) attend to provide one-on-one mentoring. Maybe only 80 writers send in the packet. I don’t care. I felt special. For about 2 minutes. Than I read the letter and felt a little panicky.

You don’t know who your mentor will be. You also have an opportunity for what they call 5-on-5–and you don’t know who those five mentors will be, either. But you do know who the 80 mentors will be.

Now, I am a writer who believes in being prepared before I hit a conference. You can read all about it over at The Muffin today. And if you do, you’ll see that I like to research speakers. Not in a creepy, stalker way. Just the normal, crazed writer way.

THAT’S A LOT OF PROFESSIONALS TO RESEARCH.

I’m just sayin’. So you might not see much of me for a month or so. And P.S. I’m even going to let the Beneficent Mr. Hall fetch the mail.