Just a few weekends ago, June 1-3 of 2018. I made the decision to step out of my personal comfort zone and go to my first writer's conference. It has been one of the best experiences in my life. Being someone who is working towards being a full time writer, I can't believe I hadn't been to a conference in the past. I can't believe how much I was missing out on. But, I would like to challenge you to gain the experience for yourself. But here are a few tips that I discovered and would like to share with you.
1) Review the Schedule
Don't be trapped in the unknowing zone. Read the welcome letter and take extra care to make sure you understand the schedule over the course of your event. Take some time and print it out, mark it up! Circle, X, or check the various events or discussion you might be interested in being a part of and experiencing.
2) Pitch Practice, makes Pitch Perfect!
If you plan to pitch your work to an agent or publisher. Take the time to practice it. This whole piece is the hardest part for myself. Remember, half the pitch is you selling it. Work to explain your book, short story, script, in one sentence. Yes, I know that sounds scary but I am pretty sure it is doable. From there you want to make sure you can converse without rambling. One more thing to note, even if you don't pitch to an agent, your at a writers conference! Most everyone you meet will ask you what your writing or whats it about. So, go prepared.
3) Lodging
1)In your welcome letter you should receive a load of information. Some of which will point you to various hotels or resorts they may have pre-blocked off rooms for participants. However, these might not be the cheapest or most interesting spots to shack up for your stay. In fact, for the conference I went to very recently, that was in fact the case. Hotels right smack-dab in the middle of town were block off for us at $125+ a night. I decided if I was to pay that it would be on my terms and found plenty of local cabin rentals for the same price. The one we went with was compliments of the local KOA. The deluxe cabin, right on the gorgeous river. It was beautiful, homey, and a cozy little place to clear up to a fire; either in the fire pit outside or inside the cabin and read or in my case, write.
4) Food
Guess what, they will take care of you. Yes, perhaps not everything on the menu falls into your diet plan but, live a little. Plus the food is a good time to socialize and potentially network with fellow writers as well as publishing companies or agents. Don't forget to ample the local cousins. Sure, perhaps you find yourself still in your own country but, every town is unique and one of the best ways to truly test the areas culture is to dive in with your taste buds.
5) Meeting New People
1) Embrace and engage! Introduce yourself to people, strike up conversation, ask questions. Step outside your comfort zone, heck, challenge yourself to do so in the car or plane ride the conference. It's a writing conference for goodness-sake, you're bound to meet some interesting people. I know I sure did. I met some lovely people I hope to keep in touch with for years.
