A little background for you:
Tuesday, April 30th, 4:45pm… I very abruptly discovered a writing/reading convention was taking place in Kansas City, MO – a 40 minute drive from my house. It had already started, in fact, because it was the totally awesomesauce RT Booklover’s Convention, which I had never heard of until that very moment. I could probably blame my ignorance on two things, 1) I am not a romance genre follower (but might be now!) and 2) I have been very behind on the world of reading since William was born! This convention is as much for readers as it is for both published and aspiring authors. Once I tracked down the convention’s website, though, and learned more details, I knew I HAD to go. I HAD TO GO!
It took some interesting doings, but I FINALLY made it, and it was completely worth the money, time and effort. I can’t really express how fabulous it was to be surrounded by people obsessed with writing and with books for more than a few hours at a time. To see sooooooo many like-minded people in one place, to enjoy the relatively cozy confines of the panels and soak in some very good information, and to realize you’re not the only one who does those crazy things to get your writing to work, was just…. so wonderful. So very very inspiring. Honestly, if I could attend a convention like that every week, my novel would be done in a month! O_o
This convention was namely aimed at romance and young adult writers/readers, but there was a strong mixing of the paranormal, steampunk, thriller/suspense, fantasy and science fiction beneath those two umbrellas. I discovered books and authors I probably never would have even thought to look for otherwise, and all of them have stories that sound utterly intriguing. I can’t wait to read them all!
But in the meatime, on the subject of my own “young adult fantasy paranormal kitchen-sink” novel, I was able to attend five panels, and my wonderful, wonderful mother – who I somehow managed to talk into coming along with me for one day – went to another panel and took notes for me. Now THAT is one awesome mom!!! 😉
So, in the next week or so, I will be posting what I learned from each panel as a way to archive the knowledge for myself and in the hopes of passing along some brilliant advice and info in case you weren’t able to make the con (or perhaps have never even heard of it…). One thing I can say for sure… this convention is a GREAT promotional stop for any published author – traditionally or self-published. One of the things that really resonated with me here was how much face-time and attention they gave the self-pubbed authors. But even if you go the traditional route, either way, if you ever have a book published that fits under RT’s banner… YOU NEED TO GO TO THIS THING!!!!! The exposure to new readers and potential new author friends, as well as the opportunity to interact with current readers and fans should not be missed!!!!
Until next time….
Next up: “The Research Notebook from Hell! … otherwise known as: How to Organize a Series!” with authors (before clicking to visit their websites remember these are ROMANCE writers! 😉 ) Yasmine Galenorn, Lynda Hilburn, Shawntelle Madison, and Michelle M. Pillow.
I am so pleased to see your growth and enthusiasm! Keep sharing your journey!
Why thank you! I’m glad you are enjoying this journey along with me! 🙂
I’m really looking forward to hearing about what you learned! I’ve had mixed feelings about writing conferences only because I often get the impression that they’re designed for writers who have something they’re ready to submit to editors and publishers. I’m hoping to get a chance to actually visit one in the future though. Regardless, I’m eager for your stories. 😀
I’m so glad you are interested in the panels – I will post one tonight! I have always wanted to go to more writing conferences and workshops in general, ever since the first one I attended with A. C. Crispin in 2000! But this was the first live event I was able to attend since them! YIKES! I can see how you would get the impression they are designed for people who have something ready to submit, but that’s not the case at all. Almost all the conferences I have looked at and been able to see their schedule of events have a range of tracks, usually a track for craft, which is geared toward those wanting to learn more about the actual writing and organizing part – stuff like character development, plotting, structure, outlining, dialogue, etc (this is usually a majority of it, actually). Then there’s usually a few panels on the revision stuff, maybe a few on how to land an agent/book deal, usually several on how to market yourself and your work once you’ve finished the work and/or landed a book deal, and these days they usually have a self-publishing track as well. I have been trying to stay away from the whole query letter/land an agent stuff at this point, because I know I’m not at that point yet, and I usually stay more toward the craft talks (or wish I could go to the craft talks, anyway, lol). BUT, in the case of the RT Convention, I went to a few publishing panels because I really didn’t know hardly anything about the whole self-publishing speal, and I was really wanting to get the inside scoop. And since I was there, I figured that was the time! Haha. I did learn a whole lot of awesome stuff I didn’t know, so it was totally worth it. And now I am a lot more comfortable making publishing decisions in the future! 🙂
Awesome! Yeah, that comes as a huge relief to hear. Next time I get the opportunity, I’ll do my best to sign up for one. There’s so much information out there that it makes me curious to hear what the professionals are saying, especially when it seems like they’re either hard to reach, or aren’t saying much because they’re so busy. I look forward to reading about your experiences!
Well… I ended up not being able to post that entry last night! 😛 Got too late on me! So it might be another day or two before I get the first one up, but it will be up before too long! That’s probably my favorite thing about the writing conferences, or the Writer’s Digest Workshops and/or Tutorials… you get to hear DIRECTLY from industry professionals who are involved RIGHT THEN, in the present. It’s not second-hand in a book that may have been published a year or two or even several years ago… it’s immediate, it’s current and it’s relevant. And there are question and answer sessions at the end (in the Tutorials you don’t get to ask questions unless you attend the live webinar which is more expensive, but they do answer questions from people who were present at the time on the recorded Tutorials) and the WD Workshops sometime are weeks long, meaning you get access to that professional for WEEKS. It’s just priceless, really. It’s a great way to cut through all the information, which can really be overwhelming at times, and get focused advice and answers from people you know are experts, who are living all of this at the time. It just tickled me at the RT Convention to hear how each author had a different process, and how some of them worked very similarly to me, and to hear how they viewed the whole industry. Definitely go the next time you get a chance!! Not only will you get wonderful info, but the energy of the place will empower you. I went to RT all alone one day, among thousands of strangers to an unfamilar area, and I still walked around all day with a grin on my face. It’s rather intoxicating. 😉
Oh, one other question… what genre is your novel?