Chesapeake Writer's Workshop

Over the weekend, I attended the Chesapeake Writing Workshop and I pitched two agents live. It was my first time ever pitching live, and boy was I nervous. Both agents were very nice and they both requested pages, so that definitely made me feel like I hadn't completely botched my pitch. While I'd never pitched live before, a writer's group I'm in has monthly calls where members of the group are chosen to pitch the agent of the month. Watching those calls at least gave me an idea of what to expect, although those are teaching calls, so the agents gave a bit more feedback than the ones I pitched to.

I'm not sure if I would do live pitching again, at least not this year. First of all, there's only a couple more of these writing workshops for 2021, and I'm not planning on attending the others. Secondly, while it was great to get an immediate response on a query, it was nerve wracking! But maybe by 2022 I'll be ready to do it again, and by then, I might have more than one book to pitch!

The agents couldn't be more different. One asked me questions specific to the book I pitched, but the other was more interested in career goals. This is the second agent I've queried who asked for more detail around my other projects. I like that many agents aren't just looking for a "one and done" book deal, they want to build a relationship with their authors. I have multiple sweet romances swimming around in my head and I'd love to work with one agent for the long haul if I can. 

Before the calls, I tried to go into them thinking of it like a job interview, but for my book. It was definitely over much more quickly than most job interviews, but it helped me to think that way because I've interviewed for jobs many times throughout my life. I'm someone who tends to only stay in a position for an average of 2-3 years before moving on. Looking back, I wonder if some of that is because I just have never found a job I truly love. I start out loving the position, but either I outgrow it or I just get tired of it. Sometimes I wonder if I should stop looking at government jobs and look for something in publishing, but I'm so far in my career now, I don't know that I'd want to start over like that.

The rest of the workshop was pretty interesting, although some of the speakers annoyed me, not because they gave poor advice, but just some of the personal commentary they provided.  I had previously attended their Colorado workshop, since they're all virtual. There's a lot of good information available, and I like that they send out bonus videos beyond the recordings from the current event. 

Did anyone else attend the workshop or one of their other ones earlier this year? Did anyone pitch live?