It's Conference Time - WhooHoo!!!

Quick reminder: Contest this week is for CL Wilson’s book King of Sword and Sky. I’m still drooling over the cover. Leave your comments all week on any post to be entered. Cheryl's going to be at the conference, so the winner will receive a signed book. How cool is that!



Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta, GA. Moonlight and Magnolia conference is finally here. Another three days of workshops, pitch appointments, and spending time with writers.

For most of us who are writers, this is a solitary journey. We are members of RWA, our local chapters, and / or online chapters. But the writing its self is something we do alone with the voices in our heads.

Sure, we send the written pages via email or hard copies to our cp’s and get their feedback, and share ours on their wip as well. We need this, we thrive on it, and we love it when our partners in crime get our story and know our characters so well, they can tell us, X wouldn’t do that or don’t you think Y would say this.

All of that is important and it’s what keeps us going when we have those days (or weeks) where we wonder why we thought we could do this. Yes, if you’re reading this and you’re not a writer, we all go through this, from the unpubbed on the brink of publishing to the multi pubbed who’s beginning the next book.

Of course, we continue on, because it’s in our blood. It’s who we are. This is why we get excited when there’s a conference happening. Imagine if you will a room full of people, all writing, and yet writing many different genres. Everything from Mr. Darcey’s take on life and romance to the future lands where anything can and will happen.

We laugh together about our journey, build each other up, and meet new friends, who become cheerleaders of sorts for each other. And we rubbed shoulders with the very agents and editors many of us hope to work with.

When I say rub shoulders, I’m not talking about walking up and immediately pitching to them. Nope, I’m talking about sitting around the bar (or wherever) and just plain ‘ole talking about kids, vacations, how we’re liking the conference and what was the last book we read that blew us away.

Brace yourself for this one…agents, editors, and even the big time published authors are human. I know, right. You’re thinking there’s no way everything in their lives doesn’t just flow perfect and so forth. When you find out many of them clean their own bathrooms and have to strongly encourage with their kids to get the homework done, buy groceries, and take their animals to the vet, you begin to realize we’re all the same. Different roads of the journey, yet the same.

So, I’m excited to go spend a few days with those who understand what I do and why I keep doing it. The laughter will be heard for miles, the excitement for someone who has a first sell will be celebrated (even if it’s the first time you’ve met the person) and the drinks will flow.

We’re driving to this one, four writer in one car, talking about our books, and plotting out the next ones. Yep, it’s going to be a great weekend.

What about you? Do you like to go to conferences? If you’re a reader, do you go to meet your favorite authors? If you’re a writer, is this the time you get to refill the well so to speak?

Remember to leave your comments to be entered into this week’s contest.

WW’s and PD’s,
Vicki