"Your first draft is for what you want to say; your final draft is for how you want to say it." --Dave Farland. The most useful advice anybody ever gave me as a novice author was go to writing conferences. I had a 27-page picture book that wanted to be a novel, 60 pages of another book, and no idea how a person would go about getting anything published - or whether my writing was good enough to bother trying. Writing conferences answered my ignorant questions, pointed me to the resources I needed, gave me valuable feedback on my writing, and eventually led to signing with my awesome agent, Steve, who loves my writing and believes in my books, even when I am ready to throw them in a mud puddle. I still often find something I hear at a writing conference gives me some little insight I needed. Last week at LTUE it was Dave Farland's session on revising. Aha, said my brain. Oh, yeah. Now I see. I got a little excited. I like revelations. So I'm passing D...