Day One of the San Francisco Writers’ Conference, and it took the first ten minutes of the first presentation to jumpstart my enthusiasm and boost my confidence. There’s a contagious fervor that is a direct result of being with in close contact with so many creative and inspiring minds. If you’re like me, a person who writes but has never been to a conference, I would strongly urge that you go. There’s a marked difference between the passionate writing you may do in the safety of your own personal cocoon and the rest of the literary world.
There are four workshops per session, meaning a choice had to be made. Tough to do, since all the speakers are wonderful and all the topics are great ones. Curiously, the one underlying theme that seemed to be woven through the seminars I attended was the importance of the Internet in the life of a serious writer. A writer’s online presence may not only provide the hook to new readership, but may also lead to the hook-up of agent and contract.
I learned that I’ve already done many of the “right” things: I have an online presence where I write seriously, I blog, I have a personal site (under construction, yes, but moving it along is my top priority now). I’ve cultivated a posse of fellow writers, readers and editors who have played the role of cheerleader, nagging mother, confidante and teacher. They've offered shoulders to cry on and have red-inked my writing with gleeful confidence. I do the social network thing on Facebook and MySpace, and am trying to navigate Twitter and LinkedIn. I link and cross-link like crazy.
However, it wasn’t like I’d been there, done that, I know it all. There were some ideas tossed out there that never crossed my mind.
Article comments
1 - barbara barnett
ahhh. So that's where my agent called from this afternoon. I couldn't figure out why he was calling on a Saturday afternoon and there was so much noise in the background.
2 - thelittlefluffycat
Your series is really making me look forward to conference-going! :)