Treasure Island!

A shaft of sunlight stabbed into Pam’s hut, blinding her with its intensity. A Macaw screeched in her ear. Eyes still closed, Pam slapped at the heinous bird. “Go away. I wanna sleep.”

But the screeching continued. Suddenly something—or someone— grabbed Pam’s hammock and flipped it. Pam landed in a painful heap on the sandy bottom of her hut. “Hey!”

“Get up!” Audra screeched in her ear. “There are boxes and crates scattered all over the beach. Come on. The supply boat must have hit the reef!Wide awake now, Pam raced after Audra. Sandra and Tina were already pawing at the bounty, whooping with joy. Pam gaped at the treasure that had landed on Unpubbed Island...

First they found a crate of conference brochures sent from those recently liberated from Unpubbed Island. There was an ACFW brochure for the upcoming conference in September, a host of several smaller conferences, and a report on the RWA convention from Missy (with pictures!). The four friends oohed and awed over the contents of the crate, dreaming and telling tales of conferences past, and conferences to come. They gazed at the distant horizon, longing for the day when their ship would come in, and they’d sail away to the conference of their dreams where they could meet with agents, editors, best friends, attend workshops, and sip on something other than coconut juice. …

Suddenly, Tina jumped to her feet and pointed toward the surf. “Look!”

Another crate rode a wave toward shore. Sandra and Tina dove into the ocean and rescued the forlorn-looking box. The Seekers gathered around, anxious to see what this crate held….
They dug into the box, taking turns reading the posts from Seekerville, laughing at Mary’s antics, drooling over Ruthy’s description of delicacies only dreamed of on Unpubbed Island—and not just the food variety, but the appetizers like contract tidbits, tips, and advice on how to survive the ride from the island to the mainland. Then there was a list of contest updates with instructions on how to time the tide just right, so that the carefully corked bottles would make it to the mainland and land perfectly at the right coordinator’s address. Julie even remembered to include stout whiskey bottles with tight-fitting corks!


Almost dizzy with the bounty before them, nobody noticed Audra slip away, but when she hollered from a long way down the beach, Sandra, Tina, and Pam sprinted through the sand toward her to see what treasure she’d found….

A waterproof crate full of editor and agent guidelines sat at their feet. Audra slipped each precious piece of parchment from the box, and read them out loud, her voice tinged with awe. Their pubbed Seeker friends had scoured the mainland and by hook and crook (psst: publisher and agent websites) managed to find out exactly what it took to get off Unpubbed Island. The four friends (yes, it took all four) reverently carried the crate to a safe spot to the interior of the island, dug a hole and buried it, then Pam made a very detailed map just in case they forgot where they put it. But of course they didn’t forget: they dug it up every night and memorized the guidelines.

The sun set, but Tina, Audra, Sandra, and Pam could not stop scouring the beach for more flotsam from the wrecked supply boat. They dared not risk letting some precious treasure be swept out to sea….

Sandra opened a box of critiques from critique partners on the mainland. She doled out the crits: One for Pam, one for Tina, Audra, and herself. Each one received feedback from somebody who cared enough to take the time to read their work and offer ideas to make it better. They sat in the sand, reading by moonlight, absorbing each little tidbit that would help them improve their manuscript. And deep in the bottom of the box, under a false bottom, Tina found a packet of secret letters (Tina always checks for false bottoms, just so you know) from our friends who have left Unpubbed Island. Tips and hints on what to do, what not to do, and what to expect when we get to the Mainland. These we treasure as much as the guidelines from the editors and agents.

Pam woke with a start, the precious pages Glynna had critted clutched to her chest. Like beached whales, her friends lay scattered across the sand, having fallen into an exhausted sleep when they could no longer read. The sun arched over the horizon, flooding the beach with the light of a new day. A shaft of gold ricocheted off a humongous crate to her left. “Get up!!! There’s more!”

It took almost an hour to pry the lid off the crate, and their excitement grew with each passing moment. Finally, the lid popped free, and they found pages and pages printed from blogs by agents and editors. What a bounty! They knew they had a gold-mine here! Mary had sent the entire inventory from Edit Café, and even though Steve Laube’s blog was new, they were thrilled to be able to get in on the ground floor of his thoughts about the industry. Then there was Rachelle Gardner’s blog, and Camy and Cara had partnered to send all the blog posts from Books and Such, and the box was just gigantic. The friends did not get to any other crates that day. They spent the entire day riffling through the blog posts and still didn’t get to the bottom of the box! (Psst: Review the Links in Seekerville for more!)

Sated from the bounty that had come their way, Audra, Pam, Sandra, and Tina lay on the beach, watching the sun set, not saying a word, each lost in the whirlwind of thoughts careening around in their heads, each filing away the wealth of information they’d gathered from the wrecked supply boat.

Next time the boat might make it through the dangerous reef, and maybe even have room to take someone back to the mainland. It didn’t matter who, because they all knew that the treasure would come, no matter how long they stayed on the island.