Rookie Author at the Big League Meeting
Posted on July 27, 2010
I firmly believe that baseball is a metaphor for life. I realize that many readers are not big baseball fans, so I’ll try hard not to use too many baseball metaphors here. But I just can’t resist this time.
I recently saw an interview with a hot, young pitcher who had just made it to the big leagues after toiling for a number of years in the minor leagues. The kid was kind of ga-ga eyed. Here he was sitting in front of a TV camera being asked by someone how the big leagues were different from the minor leagues, and he looked about twelve years old. The kid kind of nodded at the question and then, in an aw-shucks manner said, “Well, the club house is a lot nicer.”
He went on to point out that the game, itself, while played at a higher level in the “bigs,” is still the game.
And so, on the eve of my departure for the Romance Writers of America annual conference, where a seemingly limitless number of writers, editors, and agents are about to convene, I’m feeling a little like that rookie pitcher. I’ve sold my book, and for the first time the cover art will be out there. I’ll be meeting people I never met before who are publishers, editors and important people in the industry. This is the big leagues for a person like me.
Like that rookie pitcher, I intend to go to the sessions and learn everything I can about this business. I still have a lot to learn about everything from promotion to the writing craft, and RWA makes an incredible number of writing veterans and coaches available at this meeting. I know that even though I’ve sold a novel, I still have to write every day and remember that, really, not much has changed about the writing process itself.
I’m excited to be going to RWA this year. I’ll have a first sale ribbon and a Golden Heart (c) ribbon. I’ll be posting impressions and emotions here for the rest of the week. But for now, I feel like a rookie pitcher about to pitch his first major league game. The butterflies are there, but I know I just have to trust my stuff and the stories I want to tell, be humble and grateful for this chance I’ve worked so hard for, and remember that writing is still writing at any level. If I do the best I can, every day, then the rest will take care of itself.
