The First Wednesday in March

 

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Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back.

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

The awesome co-hosts for the March 5 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse Van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Liza @ Middle Passages!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Remember, the question is optional!

March 5 question - If for one day you could be anyone or *thing* in the world, what would it be? Describe, tell why, and any themes, goals, or values they/it inspires in you.

Planning a Conference: A Big Job and an Adventure

 I believe there is no greater opportunity for networking and finding inspiration for writers than attending an in-person writing conference.  I’ve attended many conferences over the years that were hosted by varied writing organizations and have never been disappointed.

Having coordinated a number of conferences myself for Pennwriters, a multi-genre writing organization, I’ve learned to appreciate all the work that goes into such an event. But I can say, it’s been rewarding in many different ways. I’ve made hundreds of connections to other writers and industry professionals including, agents, editors, and publicists.

Where does one start to plan a writing conference? The first decisions are where, when, and for whom.

Where? How much room do you need? Pennwriters Annual Conference usually offers 4-5 workshops per hour with a total of 56-60 workshops total over a weekend. The best venue for us is a conference hotel. A reservation for a space that large needs to be made two years in advance. It involves a long contract with guarantees of room reservations and food purchases. We try to include most meals in our conference prices, though that will raise the registration prices for attendees. It’s a big challenge to make attendance affordable. Pennwriters needs to have space for 200+/- attendees.

A one-day mini-conference can usually make do with a smaller space and will often have fewer choices for workshops and fewer attendees. There are often banquet facilities that can meet those needs.

The ‘when’ can be important. For Pennwriters, this is our 38th Annual Conference and we’ve always held it the third weekend in May. This allows us to avoid college graduation weekends for the most part. It’s always best to put thought into the date. A winter conference held in the north may run into weather problems as may conferences held in the south during hurricane season. Summer conferences may lose possible attendees to vacations.

And for ‘whom’ will you hold your conference? Pennwriters is state-wide, with many out-of-state members, so we always plan our workshops for multi-genres. The great thing about this is how much attendees learn from other genres. It’s a huge draw. But some conferences are directed at certain genres such as literary, poetry, mystery, etc. Another way to go is by picking a part of the writing business to focus on such as craft, marketing, self-publishing, etc. The only concern about narrowing your conferences’ focus is it also narrows the pool of possible interest in attending. Another part of the whom, is the experience of the writers you hope to draw to your conference. Pennwriters tries to provide workshops for writers at every stage of their careers from beginners to multi-published authors.

After all the above, you have your plan. But there are big decisions still to make. If you want to bring in a big-name author as a draw, you need to reach out to them 18-24 months in advance. Decide what your budget is ahead of time because some are very expensive. Pennwriters in the past have hosted authors such as Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jonathan Maberry, James Rollins, and this year, Natalie Richards. We already have our 2026 and 2027 Keynote speakers lined up. You don’t have to have a famous keynote, but we find that they usually pay for themselves with the attendees they draw in.

At twelve months out, you need to find presenters who will give the quality of workshops you want. If you have an email list of writers or connections to writers’ groups, you have a ready-made pool of presenters. Ask your keynote guests to lead workshops. They are usually glad to do so.

During the same time frame, you have to reach out to editors and agents. Even more than your keynotes, writers want a chance to pitch their writing to an agent or and editor.  This is the most difficult part. It’s especially difficult to find agents willing to attend at a price you can afford. Fortunately, Zoom has provided an option that works well for everyone. Editors from major publishing houses are also difficult to bring to your conference, even with the Zoom option. They often only attend large conferences who can afford to pay them premium fees. Small press editors are usually more amendable to work with conference coordinators. They are always popular and lovely to work with. Many writers start with small presses and build amazing careers. IWSG’s own L. Diane Wolfe was a guest at the 2024 Pennwriters Conference and the attendees loved her.

Once you find your venue, schedule your guests, select your workshops, and plan meals, you are ready to open registration. That would take another long post, but so much of the work is done by this point which should be no shorter than four months out.

Then you have to work on promotion. Another long, long post to even touch on that. As you can see, putting on a conference is a lot of work, but that is why more than one person should take it on.

After years of doing this, Pennwriters has many experienced conference workers. Numerous people serve as chairpersons to help the event run smoothly. If you want to see what it looks like, or if you’re interested in attending, visit Pennwriters to see an overview.

It takes hours and hours to plan a conference, but it is more than worth it. And if you have a chance to attend one, even better for you.

Susan Gourley is past-president of Pennwriters, current Pennwriters’ Conference Coordinator. She is a retired high school teacher and now a fulltime writer. She is multi-published in epic fantasy and space opera romance. You can find more about her and her books on her blog, Susan Says, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Five Benefits of Reading for Writers

It’s been fun in recent weeks reading about the most enjoyed and/or best books of 2024, whether it was an article by a blogging buddy, Barnes & Noble, or the New York Times.  Without readers, writers would be out of work.  

Writers need to read too.  But, as a writer, are you reading enough?  It’s an important question to ask, especially with all the demands in our busy lives.  

But shouldn’t you devote all of your available time to writing rather than allocating some of it to reading?  Definitely not!

Reading ~ A Worthwhile Pursuit

Aurora, Colorado, USA

January 9, 2019

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved

If you research what authors say about the importance of reading to writing, you will find many thoughts on the connection between the two.  One of my favorite quotes is Stephen King’s, “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.  Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.”  Stephen King’s On Writing.  A Memoir of the Craft  

Another favorite of mine is Annie Proulx’s “You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page.  Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”  Goodreads

Here are five benefits of reading for writers:

1.  Reading improves our language and writing skills:  When we read, we unconsciously pick up writing techniques like extending our vocabulary, improving our phrasing, using effective dialogue, and understanding structure.  

If we consciously read like a writer, we can analyze the writer's word choices, grammar, point of view, plotting, pacing, setting, and characterization and decide what makes it effective or not. Then we can use this knowledge to improve our writing.  

When I read a great book, I often read it a second time to understand how the author made it great.  And sometimes, I'll reread a not-so-great book to understand how the author missed the mark.  

Great Fun!  Reading a Friend's Books and Asking Him Questions About His Writing

Fellow IWSG Admin Pat Hatt and I

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 27, 2024

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved

2.  Reading improves our thinking:  We are bombarded daily by eye-catching social media that is fragmenting our attention and decreasing our ability to concentrate.  By engaging with more complex texts, like an essay or a book, we can learn to focus our attention better and to improve our ability to concentrate.  This in turn sustains us when we grapple with the challenges of writing.

3.  Reading broadens our experience:  George R. R. Martin wrote in A Dance with Dragons, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen.  The man who never reads lives only one.” Goodreads

When we read widely across genres, we expose ourselves to different perspectives, cultures, places, and times.  Reading increases our ability to understand and to have empathy for people different from us.  These experiences can ignite our imaginations and inspire ideas for our own writing.

4.  Reading helps us understand the publishing market:  Reading books in the genres you write helps you know what has already been written, what trends are emerging, what your target audience prefers, and how to improve your writing for the current market.

5.  It's fun!  If it's not, you might ask yourself why you are writing.  Would you want to eat a meal prepared by a chef who didn't like food?  Or dive with a divemaster who hated the ocean?  

So, as a writer, are you reading enough?

Perhaps you can share other reasons for spending some of your valuable time reading.  

I'd love to hear them!

What was your favorite read in 2024?

Mine was actually the last two books in Cixin Liu's The Three Body Problem series:  The Dark Forest and Death's End.  Mind blowing story, compelling characters, brilliant writing, philosophy, and quantum physics ~ After reading this series, I can never look at the universe in the same way as I once innocently did. 

Pam Allyn, a renowned literacy expert, educator, and author said,  “Reading is like breathing in; writing is like breathing out.  literacy worldwide   

May you breathe deeply, in and out.

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue.