DFWCON: UPS, DOWNS AND ALL-AROUNDS

Who needs a writing conference when there’s Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and all the things?

The list is long and boring, and sometimes people who attend conferences are already published in a variety of areas, whether self-published or otherwise.

At the same time, some of those attending conferences are nobodies like me.

In the last six years, I’ve moved around a little and have loved every minute of my journey in the military, but I have a completed manuscript, or what I thought was a completed manuscript, and wanted to pitch my novel to an agent. What I learned, first and foremost, was a conference is not where you get an agent, but where you network and attend classes meant to hone your craft, all taught by industry professionals.

Did I go into the conference thinking I’d get an agent? No.

Did I want to? Yes and no.

I met a slew of amazing, inspiring people at the Dallas Fort Worth Writers Conference who probably write way better than I do, and I learned it is OK to be new because when you’re new, you learn and can teach other new people the next time you go to a conference.

I also learned that the venue was cold and next time, bring a sweater.

I learned so much I didn’t want the weekend to end, didn’t want to come back to South Dakota and go back to work, not because I don’t like where I live or what I do, but because I wanted to take a few days off and just think about what I learned, how I can incorporate it into my novel and future novels, and how I can apply these techniques to building a platform.

By the way, platforms are super important, especially if you are a nonfiction writer. Are they as important for fiction writers? Not so much, but the larger your platform, the better your novel will do in the long-run.

When I found this out, I was like whew, good thing I’m not a nonfiction writer. I’d be screwed!

Finally, I learned agents are people too, and they aren’t scary. I equated the nervousness of pitching to the nervousness of joining the military and not being good enough. Obviously, I was good enough if I’ve managed to stay in this long. And I got through my pitches, met a funny New Yorker and troubleshot my novel.

Will I go to another conference? You bet your fanny I will – lame? Yeah, sorry.

The conference was wonderful, the food was top notch, and the people? Just as crazy as I am.