Tonight I’m heading up to the beautiful city of Layton for one of my favorite events of the year, the annual LDStorymakers Writers Conference. It really is like General Conference for writers. This will be my fourth year attending, and it never ceases to astonish me how much I learn each year. Plus all the wonderful people I see. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet old and new friends and finally match a name I met online to a face in real life.
If you attend, please look for me. I’d love to meet you! I’m especially excited to attend Orson Scott Card’s intensive class. I also have a pitch session with an agent. Pray for me and cross your fingers that everything goes well, and by everything, I mean that I don’t forget my pitch and blank out on the agent 🙂
There’s a lot of advise out there for when you attend a conference, but here is my contribution. I hopw it helps:
Writer conferences are a great way to learn about your craft, meet new people, and push yourself to the next level.
- Learn about your craft: Storymakers offers tons of different classes for writers who are on different levels in their careers. From beginner to multi-published, there’s great opportunities to learn from the greats.
- Meet new people: Last year I made business cards with my information, such as twitter, blog, email. I always give out my card, but the most important thing to do is to just go out there with an open mind and a ready smile. Writers are mostly introverts who love nothing more than to be left alone with the voices in their heads, with a few crazy extroverts as the exception 🙂 But even if writing per se is a lonely endeavor, the writer’s path doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can’t be, at least not if you want to remain sane. I struggle with making small talk, but it has helped me tremendously to be ready to say hi to the person next to me, to ask about their projects, to congratulate them on their successes and cheer them up as they march to their pitch sessions like gladiators to the arena. The writing community (especially here in Utah) is highly talented, but also VERY compassionate and supportive. Go out there and meet friends.
- Last of all, writers’ conferences push you to reach our next level. I’m inspired when I see my friends attain their dreams and goals. I love it when writers I’ve followed from the very beginning are nominated for an award or win the First Chapter Contest. Seeing how everyone perseveres makes me want to continue fighting for my dreams.
I hope to see you this weekend. And if you can’t come, I’m sure there will be another chance to meet in the future.
Oh, it’s my turn today to post at the Utah Children’s Writers blog. We’re celebrating 30 Days, 30 Stories. Stop by the blog and leave a message! As as thank you, I’ll be doing a giveaway from the names that post at the blog. In honor of World Book Night (which was yesterday, but we can continue celebrating), I’ll choose a random winner and send you a book of your choice. If you don’t have a preference I’ll send you Unravel, A Tale of True Love by my dear friend and critique partner Julie Daines.
Here’s the link.
And here’s the story, just in case. Thanks!!!!
30 Days: The Quest for the Perfect Pet
This is my daughter Areli with her perfect pet, Midnight. She’s my constant source of inspiration. Disclaimer: at least she hasn’t brought a hyena home. Yet. |