Conversations and Connections Pittsburgh 2022

What do editors hate? What do they love? Should you stress out about your cover letter? Is there really a "good rejection?" This panel features veteran editors answering these and other questions and generally pulling back the curtain to show you what really happens behind the scenes.  

A panel of literary agents discuss the importance of an agent's role in a writer's creative life, offer advice for how and when to find an agent who is right for you.

Many writers call themselves “bad” at titling their own work, and few writing workshops focus on finding that perfect title for the piece under consideration. Yet we’re told that an agent or editor is making quick decisions about whether to keep reading…shouldn’t a title grab their attention? This interactive talk will focus on why titling is tricky; consider what a “good” title might achieve; and explore the differences in titling various genres and forms.

What can “the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning” of queerness offer our writing? What are the limits? (Are there limits?) Join a panel of queer, trans and nonbinary writers & editors for a craft workshop on how to queer your work, no matter your genre.

William Faulker said, "Don't be a writer, be writing." One can learn about writing, study it, discuss it, analyze it, but the most important thing will always be the actual act of arriving at the page and putting something down. This one-hour workshop is for writers of all levels to work on cultivating their own writing practice -- different kinds of journaling exercising, prescriptive writing, ways to break writer's block, and other generative practices. This approach to writing views language as a way of being in the world, with the belief that good writing comes from rising to the central challenge not just of writing but of living--the challenge to be, as Henry James said, "one of those upon whom nothing is lost."

An oft-touted part of the revision process is coming to the work with "fresh eyes," but what if your revision process itself is feeling tired, habitual, or rote? What if you're not sure where to look in the first place? In this interactive workshop, applicable to any genre, participants will be introduced to a variety of revision techniques, ranging from strategies for considering structure and big-picture concerns to tips and tricks for fine-tuning sentences. We'll aim to push against our comfort zones and long-established revision habits in order to re-see that revision process from new angles. Most importantly, this workshop will provide time and space to actually complete some revision work within the hour and debrief the process together, and participants will have post-session access to any shared materials in both print and online formats. Participants are encouraged to bring a few pages of work: 2-3 pages of a story, essay, or chapter; 1-2 completed flash fictions, or 2-3 poems. Printed, double-spaced work is ideal, but the workshop will also be accessible to those working with their materials electronically. For those who do not bring work of their own, some sample texts will be provided for experimentation.

What do editors hate? What do they love? Should you stress out about your cover letter? Is there really a "good rejection?" This panel features veteran editors answering these and other questions and generally pulling back the curtain to show you what really happens behind the scenes.