“I attended several of Corey’s workshops at the Wrangling With Writers conference. The first one was about preparing the “pitch” to snag and reel in agents or editors who might be matches for a writer’s best efforts. Corey moved around a lot and worked the room like a “loaves & fishes” preacher man - which meant that my eyes had to follow his animation. That was a good thing because the night before I had been up too late and the eye-movement thing was keeping me with the program. He had succinct directions, talked loud enough and his facial expressions were not rehearsed (at least I couldn’t tell). He was extra polite to the most dense people, and demanding of those with a few “lights on upstairs.” I liked it that he said: “I don’t think I follow you,” when I was yelling silently at them: “Are you just plain stupid or what?” He provided concrete building blocks for the perfect pitch. In fact, when putting his recommendations to the test just a few hours later, I almost had her (the agent) except for my own “screw-up” on sequence, and she “got away”. I was not crushed because I was still practicing and would have “let her off the hook” anyway - not a good match for my blockbuster novel to be!! Corey had suggested “bait and release” with little fish until we proved that we were ready for the “real deal”.
Big “C” gave me some more tips during our one-on-one and I grabbed up the weapons from his arsenal and prepped my hook with a bit more cunning. This was too awesome! I hooked the Big One. I’m still working my reels and using Corey’s advice as to timing. In my book he is a pro all the way! I took Character Development too - and my roomie and I worked through the first night resuscitating our comatose protagonists. By morning they were on the road to recovery and my gal is almost well enough now to make that long flight to New York City riding the pages of my manuscript on her own steam. Do I recommend Corey? YES, if you listen and believe.”
–Sylvia Smart, Writer
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