Incanus
Auror
So, I attended a writer's conference in Las Vegas this last week/weekend. It was a fun and interesting experience all around. I’m glad I went. I found the faculty easy to talk with, they were very open and friendly, and accessible. Way, way too much to tell in a single post.
The number one highlight was meeting two of my critique partners in person. I can’t possibly convey here what great people, writers, and friends they have turned out to be. And the fact my 50th birthday fell smack-dab in the middle of the whole thing made for some extra fun too!
Another highlight–in one class they selected one attendee to give a prize/gift to, and it turned out to be me! I got a free trilogy of books by the author, but better yet, a free 3-chapter critique that I can utilize any time. Yay! My first pro-crit. I’ll be taking advantage of that in a couple of months or so, after my next edit pass. Should be interesting.
Though I did not attend the Donald Maass workshop, I did get to hear his keynote speech which was great, and I got to speak with him for a little bit afterward. He’s pretty cool.
I had several great conversations with a few pros about this and that, and I like to think I made a positive impression on them. In one case, I expressed an interest in copyediting to an editor, and when I wondered out loud how clean or professional my texts might be, she offered to look some of it over for me–just like that!
Also, one of my writing friends made a successful pitch to an agent, but I won’t go into that other than to say it makes me very, very happy for her.
I could have gotten more involved (like submitting something for the first-page read panel), but since this was my first, I thought I’d just soak it all in and see how things went.
I definitely want to go to other conferences in the future, but money IS an object, so we’ll have to wait and see.
All in all it was a great time.
The number one highlight was meeting two of my critique partners in person. I can’t possibly convey here what great people, writers, and friends they have turned out to be. And the fact my 50th birthday fell smack-dab in the middle of the whole thing made for some extra fun too!
Another highlight–in one class they selected one attendee to give a prize/gift to, and it turned out to be me! I got a free trilogy of books by the author, but better yet, a free 3-chapter critique that I can utilize any time. Yay! My first pro-crit. I’ll be taking advantage of that in a couple of months or so, after my next edit pass. Should be interesting.
Though I did not attend the Donald Maass workshop, I did get to hear his keynote speech which was great, and I got to speak with him for a little bit afterward. He’s pretty cool.
I had several great conversations with a few pros about this and that, and I like to think I made a positive impression on them. In one case, I expressed an interest in copyediting to an editor, and when I wondered out loud how clean or professional my texts might be, she offered to look some of it over for me–just like that!
Also, one of my writing friends made a successful pitch to an agent, but I won’t go into that other than to say it makes me very, very happy for her.
I could have gotten more involved (like submitting something for the first-page read panel), but since this was my first, I thought I’d just soak it all in and see how things went.
I definitely want to go to other conferences in the future, but money IS an object, so we’ll have to wait and see.
All in all it was a great time.
