My Experience at the OCW Summer Conference

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Hello all! Now, you remember back towards the end of August, I attended the Oregon Christian Writer’s 2018 summer conference. Now, quite a few people were like, “TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!”

Because I didn’t get to go the whole time*, I thought, “Eh, I’ll not talk about it; didn’t get the whole experience, y’know.” BUT I forgot many of you haven’t been to a writer’s conference, and it was all new to me, too, so why not share about it?

So, if you’ve been to a writer’s conference, you’ll have to read this post just because you love me. (No, there are no excuses for not reading this post. Don’t be a silly snuggleuffigus.)

*I’ve gone into more detail elsewhere, but basically my grandpa had a stroke/brain aneurism/some scary thing, and I rushed home to be with the fam!

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Now, I think the best way to tell this is by just … starting at the beginning!

Oh, right, when you left for the conference, say you.

NO. I mean ages before that. Hold your horses, Jack.

Deciding to Go to Le Conference

Basically, I started really wanted to attend a conference last year, and this need arose and became greater in February. I’d hoped to attend a writer’s retreat with some friends, but it didn’t work out, and I was super disappointed.

THEN the lovely Ivy Rose sent me a message. I refuse to scroll back six months or so in our chat thread to get a quote, but basically she was like, “HEY, OCW has a conference in August, wanna come? You can hitch a ride with me!”*

Then I was like, “HECK YEAH! Wait, lemme ask my parents …”

And, after loads of negotiating,** I decided to go and signed up!

*I’m sure she didn’t say it anything like that, but whatevs.

**Getting away from my family is like getting out of a hostage situation. (translation: they love me and don’t want be to be murdered or anything)

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Pre-Conference Prep

If you ever go to a conference, be sure to prepare ahead of time! I’m so grateful I did, or I really would’ve been lost.

Here are some things I did:

Researched about conferences.

I’m a member of YWW, and there are some great resources on there for first-time conference attendees!
I did some Googling and read blog posts by other writer’s conference knowledgeable people, too.



Talked to some conference pros.

Other than Ivy, who was super sweet and helpful, I also talked to Kara Swanson, Brett Harris, and other folks on YDubs.
Even if you don’t have the fantastic resource that is YWW, though, you can totally talk to some conference-wise folks; they’re not hard to find.



Actually sent in a “mini submission” for Once a Stratton!

A bit more on that later.
But I was so proud of myself for meeting the deadline.

But mostly I just waited … and waited … and WAITED for August 20th!

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And Then It Was Time

At 1-ish on Monday the 20th, Ivy Rose pulled up in her family’s van. (SQUEEE!) And I got to meet this fantastic lady!

I admit I was a little nervous because I’m very awkward until I get to know someone, and this manifests as stone-faced aloofness, or so I’m told, and I didn’t want Ivy to think I hate her.