Conference Time!

Spring is right around the corner and that means writing conferences!
(I'm going to Pennwriters in Pittsburg, which is in mid-May.)

Conferences are great for writers for so many reasons. You can get an opportunity to pitch your book to agents and editors (which is great practice for when you have to market yourself), you can meet fantastic authors, and you can take seminars on a hundred helpful topics (from craft to promotion). You get to meet people interested in the things you're interested in. Being around writers and those in the industry is exciting, it's rejuvenating. It reminds you of why you do what you do (and that it's perfectly normal).

Donna Bowman Bratton has put together a great Dos and Don'ts list for conference-goers. It had some things in there I hadn't thought about before.

Diana Rowland guest posted on Inkpunks about How To Network at conferences (an absolute must)

And Kerry Gans at The Goose Quill posted about an Epiphany she had while battling her nerves at a conference.

The Networking Writer

You may or may not know about the vast (vast, vast) writing community out there. As a writer, you should know about it, but the question is: how much should you network? You can have too much of a good thing in this case. One can spend countless hours talking with other writers online and not get a single word of fiction done.

On the other hand, networking is great. It lets your voice be heard and you make connections you might not otherwise make. You build friendships, you practice your writing voice every time you say something out there. You can learn a lot about writing on blogs and forums. I learned a TON this way.

So, if you're interested in expanding your network, here's a link to QueryTracker's blog post on The Writing Community. They list a few of the big sites you should at least know about.

And then there's Twitter. You either love it or you hate it. My personal opinion is: if you enjoy it, do it! But if you drag your feet every day, making yourself say SOMETHING, then it's probably not for you (and your tweets will reflect that).

You should give Twitter a try, if you haven't already. (And even if you have) here's a Writer's Starter Guide to Twitter (or: everything I wish someone had told me when I first started using twitter) by Justine Musk.