Letters to Kel: WRITING CONFERENCES -- GO!

I just got back from a writing conference in Pennsylvania. A two-hour drive each way. I'm exhausted!

But worth the time, the effort, the fees.

I'm surprised when people ask if writing conferences are "worth it." I'm even more surprised when some people respond by saying it was a waste of their time. Did they check out the classes and workshops offered, the focus of the conference, the keynote speakers, the writing group sponsoring the conference? If you do your homework, you know what you'll be getting if you go, and that means unless someone was lying big-time, it won't be a waste of your time and money and effort.

Of course, you have to be open to learning. You have to be ready to learn. Don't just sit there expecting someone to spoon-feed you.

Yes, conferences are worth it. Even if you know the basics of what the workshops are offering, it's still worth going. Just like it's worth reading books on writing that you've read before: You need to refresh your memory. You need to hear what you already know presented in new ways, learn to see the rules, the guidelines, from a different angle. Sometimes all it takes is a different approach, hearing people talk about how they handle the same blocks and puzzles and decisions, to get that "Ah ha!" moment.

We all need "ah ha!" moments.

We also need to get together with people who are going through the same struggles of finding inspiration, rough drafting, revising, polishing, marketing, and then promoting. Even though writing is usually a very solitary occupation -- maybe because it is so solitary -- we NEED to get together with people who know what we're talking about. The people who are in the trenches with us. The ones who will nod and pat our hands and say, "I know what you're going through." Because you can only take so much of the "Huh?" looks from people who don't understand ...

Find a writer's conference, no matter how small. The one I went to on Saturday was only a day long, and didn't cost a lot. It didn't offer me a chance to pitch to editors and agents. But it did offer learning and refreshing and fellowship. And that's what we need. Go to the little conferences. The bite taken out of your checkbook won't be that big -- it might not even sting -- but chances are you'll get a lot of the same benefits you would from the big (big as in lost-in-the-crowd, big as in credit card bills) conferences.