Writing Conferences
It’s that time of the year when the buzz about the spring and summer conference season starts. We are lucky in the Pacific Northwest to have an abundance of good ones to choose from and I’ve been to all of them at one point or another over the last fifteen or so years that I’ve been writing.
The Willamette Writer’s Conference
The Pacific Northwest Writers Summer Conference
SCBWI Oregon Spring Conference
SCBWI Seattle Conference (This runs bi-annually now and the next one is 2019–good chance for you to attend the Oregon SCBWI Conference this year)
Romance Writers of America National Conference--It moves around each year and I never look much at it until it hits the Midwest or West Coast areas. This year is Colorado but next year it returns to the West Coast again!
Seattle RWA Fall Conference–I always include this one in the considerations because payment is due during the summer for registration.
Connecting Writers with Hollywood-This one is relatively new and takes place in June in Spokane. It’s a good way for you to get your work in front of producers and agents.
Also if you are a reader and live in the Pacific Northwest, the Get Lit Book Festival in Cannon Beach is fabulous! They have different authors every year come talk about their books. Here is the information for this year which takes place in May 18-20. I’m planning to attend this year. I’ve always attended but last year due to my moving process couldn’t get there.
I always attend Seattle RWA Conference in the fall and every other year or so try to submit a workshop proposal. (If accepted this cuts down on my costs. I also stay at the Red Lion and not the conference hotel as the Red Lion will also run room specials and I can get a room for under a $100. It’s close enough to the conference hotel and gives me a little breathing room after a long day of workshops.) This has been my favorite conference since I started writing romance and where I learned the most about digital publishing and the world of the Indie author. Plus, it’s also where I see familiar faces who I only see once a year.
At times, I have attended parts of the Willamette Writer’s Conference (a one day session) and the Pacific NW Writer’s Conference. I loved attending Christopher Vogler’s one day session on the Writer’s Journey and it was well worth every penny I paid. Both of these conferences can be very pricey and usually fall out of my writing conference budget.
For years, when I wrote mostly for children, I always attended Seattle SCBWI’s conference and sometimes drove down to Portland to attend the spring Oregon SCBWI Conference. I always recommend these conferences to new children’s writers as it’s a great way to pitch your work to agents and editors and hear who wants what. Since I mostly write in romance now, I don’t attend these conferences anymore but still recommend them.
This year, besides the Seattle RWA Fall conference where I have submitted a proposal to teach a workshop about teaching on-line classes, I am planning to attend Connecting Writers with Hollywood. The more I talk to people, the more I realize how many folks are streaming shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hula. Producers are in need of content. Some want screenplays, but some are literary agents who will get your stories in front of producers. So this June, I’m headed off to Spokane to learn a little bit more about the process of getting a story to Hollywood.
What are your plans for conference season?
