The Geniuses of WriteOnCon: Lisa and Laura Roecker (aka LiLa)

And last, but not least, WriteOnCon's charming dynamic duo... 

Lisa and Laura Roecker

of

Lisa and Laura Roecker’s debut novel, Liar Society, will be published by Sourcebooks in Spring 2011. An unstoppable duo bent on world—er—publishing domination, you can cyberstalk them on their personal blog, their website, and Twitter.  Lisa and Laura are represented by Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management.

Katrina Lantz: WriteOnCon was seriously epic, historic, unprecedented! As one of its organizers, did you expect WriteOnCon to garner as much industry support as it did? To what do you owe this? 

Lisa and Laura Roecker: When Elana contacted us and shared Casey's idea, we knew it was a big idea. And yet none of this would have been possible without the expertise of all of the organizers, the contributions of all of the industry professionals, as well as the support of every participant. Honestly though, we weren't surprised. The writing community is one of the most supportive communities we have ever been a part of. Writers and publishing professionals always seem to be "on board" and will do everything in their power to support one another. It's really, really cool. 

Katrina: What were your thoughts on opening morning when thousands flocked to the site to participate in the first free online writer's conference? 

LiLa: Best feeling in the world. As annoying as Error 403 was, we knew the error occured because of overwhelming participation, which is exactly what we'd hoped for! It's these moments that reinforce how positive and supportive the writing community is. We're proud to be apart of it!

Katrina: What was the hardest part about WriteOnCon's organization? 

LiLa: We think the time constraints were a challenge. We planned for the conference in under four months, many juggling jobs, writing, families and life in general. But all of the founders had such incredible ideas that we were able to pull it off. Every member was absolutely essential--smart, smart girls!

Katrina: What was the most important thing you learned this year that will help with future online conferences? 

LiLa: Besides paying to host the event, we think we learned a lot about the dynamics of a group chat. We found that the chats featuring more than one professional moved a bit faster just because there were more people to weigh in on questions! The unique viewpoints were also fascinating!

Katrina: What's next for WriteOnCon? The discussion forums remain active. What role do you see WriteOnCon playing between annual conferences? 

LiLa: We are really excited to offer monthly chats brought to you by WriteOnCon. That way we can keep learning, connecting and socializing up until next year's conference!

Update: October 25th is the next event: a live chat with Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary!

Katrina: Do you know of any success stories (agents and authors who found each other during the conference)?

LiLa: During our feedback chat following the conference, we learned of a few success stories and are encouraging any participants with any successes to email us so we can feature them on the website! This is absolutely the most rewarding part of hosting a conference like this.

Katrina: What makes a writer awesome? 

LiLa: We think open-mindedness makes a writer awesome. It's hard to accept feedback and determine how to integrate critiques. The WriteOnCon forums are the perfect example of writers' willingness to do just this. Writers are constantly seeking advice and feedback and support. And because of this open-mindedness, writers are learning and growing. And this makes for better books!

Katrina: I think I speak for the online writing community when I say THANK YOU! And we want to show our appreciation by spreading the word about WriteOnCon, as well as its organizers. You have a book coming out Spring 2011! We love shiny new books! Could you tell us a bit about it? 

LiLa: THANK YOU! Our book is called THE LIAR SOCIETY and it is the first in a new mystery series following Kate Lowry. Kate receives an email from her dead best friend Grace on the anniversary of her death. When the emails continue, Kate is forced to play detective and prove once and for all that Grace's death was more than just a tragic accident.

Where you'll find them on the web:

Le Blog

Le Website

Le Twitter

Lisa and Laura at Teen Fire

And if you haven't heard the news about Lisa's baby, It's A...

Say hi to Laura and Lisa in the comments! 

(I changed the name order just for you, Laura) :-)

And don't forget, awesome peeps, to drum out 200 words for the All White for Twilight fan fiction contest! Deadline, October 31st (otherwise known as Halloween).

You can even count it toward your overall word count for the 1K a day challenge pre-nanowrimo. Are you ready for National Novel Writing Month?