Conference!

Campus of the Florida Christian Writers Conference

Hey everyone! :D I know it's been a little while since my last post, but I've been super busy with editing and the conference I attended.

I've been going to this particular conference for four years now and doing so has improved my writing dramatically. I highly recommend going to a conference. I'll tell you more about attending conferences in a moment, but first I have some big news.

At the conference I had the opportunity to pitch to agents and three out of three I pitched to want to see my book! :D So in less than a month I'm going to be sending full manuscripts and proposals to these three agents! I'm totally psyched! But even if these don't work out, at least I know that some people are interested in my work.

Writers conferences are amazing. I've yet to branch out from the Florida Christian Writers Conference, but I plan on it. Here are four things I have to point out about conferences:

1.) Community - One of the coolest things about writers conferences is that everyone there is a writer! I've made instant friends with dozens of people and some of them have become my best friends. You may have another fellow writer living thirty minutes away from you and not even know it! Sometimes it's tough to keep in contact with those friends after leaving the conference, but Facebook is a great way to do that. Make a group for your writer friends. It's awesome to have a group of buddies to help you brainstorm, critique and grow as a writer.

Teen Track of 2013 taught by Bryan Davis.
I'm the one doing the funky Ninja pose

2.) Networking - At conferences you can meet a lot of professionals by just walking up and talking to them, sitting in on their classes or sitting with them during meals. My connections to publishers, editors, and authors have really helped me. I've even had an author tell her agent to look for me at the conference! Career aside, it's really cool to be able to know published authors. They do book signings. ;)

Friend (Left), Author Steven James
 (Middle), Me (Right)

3.) Hands-on Professional Teaching - You get to go to classes taught by professionals in the industry and talk to them after classes. It's a really neat opportunity to be able to learn from professionals directly. Blog posts are cool to learn from, but it's really awesome to be there and meet them personally.

4.) Publishing and Agents Opportunities - You can set appointments to speak one-on-one to agents, authors and publishers. You can get advice from authors or critique on your book and pitch to agents and publishers. I know an author that got published that way and that's what I did to get three permissions to send. :D

If you're a writer and you haven't been to a writers conference, I totally recommend you do. It's an awesome opportunity. :) Keep an eye out for more posts and thanks for reading! :)

Have you ever been to a conference? Did you have a cool experience there?

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)