More from Rutgers

While my one-on-one session with Kendra Levin was certainly the highlight of my Rutgers experience this year, it was only a portion of the day.

My notes are sketchy at best, so if you're looking for lots of great writing advice and marketing info, please head on over to Tara Lazar's nearly exhaustive reports here. She's a posting machine!

My much more cursory overview: Presentations from K.L. Going and Kay Winters and a panel discussion on "Your Book: From Manuscript to the Book Store" offered some great insights into the industry.

And my "five-on-five" session with four editors and an agent revealed something I found quite interesting: When asked for querying advice, both Erin Molta of Scholastic Book Clubs and Grace Kendall of Blue Sky Press indicated they like to learn why the writer wrote the manuscript ... her motivations, inspirations and goals. I like that they care about that stuff. Kendra Levin was also in my five-on-five, and she recommended targeting editors that match your "literary aesthetic." I hadn't given much thought to my literary aesthetic, but I will now!