The Positives of Attending A Writer's Conference

One of the steps I hope you all take is to attend a writer's conference of some kind. Every time I do, I come home feeling more motivated than I've been since the last conference I went to.

Yesterday, Tracy Million Simmons, a writer friend, wrote a blog post that she'd been inspired to write after attending her state authors convention this past weekend. The points she brought out are worth sharing.

She said:

• she is grasping for a way to bottle the energy she received so she could use a little at a time on her next writing project
• all workshops she attended were good but one on marketing was special; she could have listened to presenter for another hour or two
• there is always a 'message just for me' sometime during the convention. It might be in a keynote speech, a workshop or just conversation with another writer 
• she was thrilled that two books she published in her own press, Meadowlark Books, won awards

This quote from Tracy impressed me and should be reason enough for all of us to attend writing conferences.She said:  "There's always this moment when I think to myself, "THIS is what I came for this year. This is the nugget I've been needing to hear."

Besides Tracy's fine points, here are other reasons to attend a writing conference.

• contact with other writers
• gleaning information from professional writers in the workshops
• learning more tools of the trade
• finding the bright spots of the writing journey
• getting help in areas where you feel you are lacking
• coming home inspired to write as soon as possible

Look for conferences/conventions in your area or even ones far away. It might be worth a splurge to go to another state, or country, to widen your horizons.