The Morning After CYA

The CYA conference 2023 is over, oh and before I forget, CYA stands for Children, Young Adult, and Adult Writers’ and Illustrators’ Conference. Well worth a look for writers and illustrators of all genres. Any way, back to what I was saying. The conference is over so for me, getting manuscripts ready for the competitions, booking assessments and preparing submissions, attending assessments and the conference over four weekends on zoom has kept me busy from January till yesterday and I am exhausted.

Was it worth it? Yes, I think so. Too tired to tell right now. But I’m going to say YES! I received some great feedback both positive and constructive and listened to some great presentations along the way. In the breaks we were put into breakout rooms on zoom and so it was also a great opportunity to meet other writers. I have a better idea of where my writing sits and even though no contracts were offered to a chorus of dancing unicorns, the dream is still alive. Well at least it will be once I’ve had some sleep.

Assessments can be confusing and I’m sure I looked like a stunned mullet half the time as I worked my mind around the differing views of editors on the same manuscript. But that’s part of it. Finding a home for your writing is about finding the person who sees it the same way you do, or who can give you feedback to get it where you want it to go.

It’s challenging sitting and listening to words that don’t support your vision of your amazing, perfectly crafted manuscript. And I’m sure it’s challenging for editors to give constructive feedback. It’s a lot easier to receive these words in written form via manuscript assessments, but I decided to do it via CYA this year and I’m glad I did. I think. I got to meet some amazing editors and there aren’t many opportunities to meet face to face, especially in Tasmania.

My approach to assessments was just to listen and take notes as you only have 15 minutes to look at two picture books. So I probably bumbled through responses when asked questions. I wanted to know what they thought. But they wanted to know about me as well. I’ll be better prepared next time – and yes, there will be a next time.

My only question was, do my stories have potential? And it seems the ones I had assessed do so now I have to do the ‘Verk’, as Jen Storer would say, and edit, rewrite, restructure until I feel they are ready for another assessment or I submit them to publishers. And that’s a whole other journey!

Stay tuned as I work to keep the negative Nellie and imposter syndrome at bay!