Attending Cons

Conferences, conventions, whatever. You need to go.

As a reader, you will be thrilled to meet your favorite writers, chat with them, get their autographs, and return home geeked to have rubbed elbows. I still can't help adding, "Oh, she's so nice when you meet her in person," to conversations that arise about authors.

As a writer, you network, you learn, and you pay your dues. I didn't feel like a "real" writer until I went to my first con and discovered that -- Well, you know: the whole putting your pants on one leg at a time thing. They write. I write. They publish. Maybe I could, too. And I did.

Add to that the atmosphere of a bunch of people who love the written word and could talk about it for days. The panels where writers spill their secrets, where agents reveal how they pick winners (just kidding - nobody really knows how to do that), and editors explained the complicated and perilous journey a manuscript makes.

Throw in some unusual stuff, like experts in crime-solving who tell you how it's really done. A few cocktails. Some eating fo fancy food. It all adds up to fun, so when the next con comes anywhere near you, you should go. Just leave lots of room in your suitcase for all the books you're going to buy.