It's the Old Bait and ... Nevermind!

On the way to the Rutgers Conference last weekend, I shared my one-on-one session strategy with my carpool mates ... I was going to pull the old bait and switch!

See, I'd been admitted to Rutgers using the first few pages of a manuscript I'd since shelved. A serious (dare I call it "literary"?) young adult work in progress. Oh, sure, when I'd submitted "The Funeral Singer," I was psyched about it. My first YA project. My first stab at writing in past tense. My first more literary (there, I said it!) piece. The first few chapters gelled so well. Both of my crit groups loved them. My agent said, "go for it."

Then, I got stuck. Majorly stuck.

Solid theme? Check. Engaging MC? Check. Intriguing setting? Check. Strong voice? Check.

Gripping plot? Not so much.

So, I'd given up. Put it away and turned my attention to my other WIP, a pseudo-chick-litty tween manuscript.

Now here I was, on my way to Rutgers, where my mentor would be all set to talk about "The Funeral Singer." What to do?

Simple, I thought. I'd listen politely to her thoughts on my submission for a few minutes, then switch gears. "You know, I've kind of shelved that project for now. I'd really rather discuss this tween piece I'm working on."

Hey, it was my 45 minutes, right?

Except then I arrived Saturday morning and saw who had been assigned as my mentor.

Kendra Levin of Viking. Yes, that Viking. (See, I told you it was kinda sorta literary!) Not only does Kendra work at one of Penguin's literary imprints, according to her bio, she loves books that "are able to combine a dark side with a good sense of humor."

Perfect for "The Funeral Singer." Not so great for pseudo-chick-litty tween stuff.

Time to come up with a Plan B, real quick like. OK, I decided, might as well make the most of this. Let's hear what Kendra has to say about my submission. Surely some day I'll want to go back to that manuscript. Let's focus on this today and get as much as I can out of it.

Then I reread Kendra's bio ... hmm, interesting. She's a "life coach for writers." Well, that's pretty cool. Who couldn't use some life coaching?

Now I was psyched.

I liked Kendra immediately. She was positive and encouraging, and she had some wonderful things to say about "The Funeral Singer." Then she asked the dreaded question: "So, tell me about this story. Where's it going?"

Um, OK. Hmm.

I told Kendra I was stuck. Maybe we could talk about that a little?

Kendra asked me questions ... lots of them. What inspired me to start writing this piece? What about it did I like? What didn't I like? What drew me to the character? the theme? the setting? Where did I want to take it?

Each answer led to more questions. And each question led to more answers.

I don't know how they did it, but the Rutgers folks managed to pair me up with the perfect mentor, someone who was able to bring me back to my manuscript with new ideas and new energy.

As our 45 minutes drew to a close, I asked Kendra, "By the way, what do you do as a life coach for writers?"

"Well, sort of what we just did here," she answered.

Very cool.