Thanks for your suggestions and tips on how to handle my conference anxiety and for
checking in to see how it all went. Your curiosity and concern made me blush.
Yes, I did make
more than six contacts. Yes, I did attend sessions on networking, promoting and
branding. Yes, I did talk to people I didn’t know. Was it nerve wracking? Yes.
Did it get easier? Maybe by a hair. I have to admit though - I relaxed more when
I was in sessions which dealt with the art of writing versus promoting my
writing.
There were so
many wise, well-versed and bestseller speakers throughout the weekend, but I
want to give a shout out to two of my favourites.
The hilarious
and energetic Chistine Tsai Taylor held numerous sessions on Networking
Sucks. At times there was so much laughter coming from our room that people
stopped by to see what was happening. And Christine set the bar much higher
than I did. She told us to connect with 100 writerly people throughout the
weekend. 100? What? That’s crazy talk.
But like the
good students we were, we used her techniques and introduced ourselves to new
people. The awkward introductions like ‘is this seat taken’ to ‘nice cowboy
boots’ felt a little less uncomfortable by the end of the weekend. Note
– I said ‘a little less’.
Another great
presenter was Kelley Armstrong with her no-nonsense approach to breaking down
the aspects of writing - all the way from that killer opening to sub-plots to
setting up the back story so it pays off … an endless list of need-to-know information which, when used correctly, will make the reader turn
pages into the wee hours of the morning. I have scads of notes from her
sessions and when I came home, I typed out the key points, highlighted my
weaknesses and put it on the wall next to my monitor.
All weekend,
the hallways hummed with chatter, people comparing notes and discussions about
what’s next. By Sunday it felt cool to recognize faces, get the wave, head nod
or thumbs up from new comrades. I felt like I belonged.
Here’s a list of a few take aways:
- keep the reader curious but not confused (Kelley
Armstrong)
- even a house can be a character if you give it
depth (Bradley Somer)
- to avoid getting caught, always clear your history
browser (Dave Sweet)
- remember to make small goals – it’s a thrill to
achieve them and gives you drive to attain the big ones (Miranda Krogstad)
- in writing, always come in late and leave early
(Kelley Armstrong)
- working together we can achieve more than we can on
our own (Bradley Somer)
- an unscientific study showed the weight of a human
soul is 21 grams (Dave Sweet)
- show don’t tell (this was mentioned innumerable
times by many speakers)
- READ IT OUT LOUD – an email, a message, a passage.
You’ll be surprised how many errors you find. (Kelley Armstrong)
- be genuine, be generous, be bold (Christine Tsai
Taylor)
- give hope, take hope away (Jaunita Violini)
- rigor mortis stops and disappears 24 – 36 hours
after death (Dave Sweet)
- RUE – resist the urge to explain (Kelley Armstrong)
- not everyone will like me or what I write or my
shoes - I won’t take it personally (ad libbed by me from numerous
presenters)
It was energizing and exhausting but coming out of the conference with a number of new insights into writing and promoting techniques was a definite win for me. When Words Collide put on another great conference.
Baker,
Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc. (bookswelove.net)
Barbara Baker
Author Page Facebook
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