White Cat and preparing for WIFYR

Hey all, about a month ago I mentioned the WIFYR conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you're a writer and live on earth, you should check it out. Heck, if you live off planet you should still check it out. It's a great conference.

In preparation, I'm not only trying to hammer out a new WIP, I'm also reading books written by the awesome staff. Yesterday I read White Cat by Holly Black.



Here's the blurb from the jacket flap:

"Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen."

Doesn't it sound gooooood? It was.

I knew I'd like this book when I read the acknowledgments page. Any writer who thanks someone for driving her around locked in the trunk of a car has to be intriguing. And the best part is, not only did the plot keep me turning pages, but the characters and their unique world fascinated me. I always marvel when a writer gets me to care about someone who isn't a typical hero, and there are a lot of characters I felt drawn to in this book who live on the shady side of the law.

Even more exciting is the release of Red Glove, the second book in the Curse Workers series, on April 5,2011. This means I won't have to wait very long to re-immerse myself in Holly's haunting world.

I'm excited to meet Holly at WIFYR and learn from her. Check out her books and the WIFYR conference.

It's Time For WIFYR!

First off, I'm sending out one final plea for Wren to contact me about her prize from my contest. If I haven't heard from you by the end of the week I may be forced to award your prize to the second place winner so that I don't feel like I'm just sitting on it. *Crossing my fingers that I'll hear from you. Please-oh-please-oh-please!*

Anywho, on to today's post.

It's time!

For what you ask? Only my favorite conference of the year. Well, it's time for registration anyway. We're talking The WIFYR of course!

For those of you who don't speak acronym this is The Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference held June 13-17 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Preregistration is in full swing. This means you should click the link above ASAP. (ASAP btw means after you finish reading my post. Just saying.)

Why should you go to WIFYR? Because this week-long conference offers small classes with amazing authors. Check this out:

Beginning Class-- Sharlee Glenn
Picture Book Class-- Trudy Harris
Picture Book Class-- Kristyn Crow
Illustrator Class-- Kevin Hawkes
Chapter Book Class-- Mike Knudson
Middle Grade Novel-- Claudia Mills
Beginning YA Novel Class-- Emily Wing Smith
Novel Class -- Louise Plummer
Fantasy Class-- Holly Black
Advanced Novelist Class-- Martine Leavitt
Advanced Novelist Class-- Kathleen Duey
NEW! Writer's Boot Camp-- A.E. Cannon
Keynote Speaker-- Ally Condie

AND these guys will be there, too:

Agent-- Mary Kole, Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Editor-- Alyson Heller, Aladdin Books
Editor-- Lisa Yoskowitz, Disney

Can you say fabulous? Are you drooling yet? I am.

So dust off your WIP and go sign up for WIFYR.

Leisha Maw

Preparing for the WIFYR Workshop

Woohoo!It's almost here! The WIFYR Workshop! And I'm going! What is the WIFYR Workshop? It's a five day writer's workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it's amazing. Did I mention I'm going?

For you non-writers out there, this is the equivalent of Christmas. Really it is. I get to hang out with, and be taught by, great writer peeps for five days. What could be more exciting?

Oh yeah, getting a contract with a fab publisher. That would be like Christmas, and your birthday, and Thanksgiving, and Easter, and . . . . Well you get the idea. It would be good.

So how is WIFYR like Christmas? You get presents in the form of the other writer's submissions. Here's a pic of what's come in so far.



Yes, you see right. That's a good inch-and-a-half of manuscript pages with more to come. What do you do with these submissions? Your read them, critique them, and wallow in misery because they are so much better than your own submission. How much time do we have to do this? Six days. Ack!

I bet you didn't realize Christmas could be so stressful.

It gets better. Once there, the other writers spend the five days sharing their opinions about your work. It's kind of like having your entrails forcibly removed, but in a good way. I learned so much from last year's disemboweling, and I can't wait to do it again.

Yeah, writers are crazy people.

We also get to hang out with agents and editors. Yup, Christmas.

What things in your life are like Christmas? Drop a line and share your passions and dreams. Think of it as a present for me! Gee, thanks!