Writers Conferences

Recently, I attended a week-long writers conference, where I was asked to be a speaker, and had the opportunity to sit in on several workshop sessions as an observer.

Perhaps an oversimplification, but the conference attendees seemed to divide themselves into two main groups: The eager young newcomers who were most anxious to learn how to write a persuasive query letter and find an agent for their current manuscript so they could start earning a substantial income from their writing; and regulars who come to the conference year after year to hone their skills and rub shoulders with the workshop leaders. To be sure, I heard snippets of good fiction from both groups during the week. 

The work of young writers tended to center around their anger, either in dystopian tales of a society gone wrong, or more personal family conflicts. Those are not unusual subjects for young writers just starting out because, without a lot of life experience, those are subjects familiar to them. The older writers who regularly come to the conference wrote more varied pieces ranging from poetry and memoir to mainstream fiction.

I found the push to publish troubling, Both groups were naive in their understanding of the marketplace for published work, and the investment of time and money–yes, money–needed to stay the course. It was as if they believed there was a magic formula for success that was hidden somewhere within the conference agenda, and if they listened carefully enough, or went to the right social media marketing workshop, they would go home with that formula. 

I came away with two, related thoughts that I frequently share with the writers I coach one-on-one. First, the road to publishing is a long, winding and bumpy one, not an Interstate highway, but it is a toll road. New writers need to be prepared to invest in themselves before seeing any returns.

Second, without getting their priorities straight, most fledging writers will never fly. The priority was, and will always be, writing the best, most creative, most original, most honest fiction they can. That kind of inventive creativity comes from within.

I also came away with a renewed appreciation for writers conferences where writers new and veteran, young and old, can come in from the cold of isolation and bond in a community, with a renewed commitment to achieving the best possible fiction of which they are capable. They leave uplifted knowing they are not alone.