Last week’s RWA Conference in Orlando was a bit unusual for me. I’ve been to writing conferences before and I’ve even heard some of these same speakers speak before, but what was different this time around is that, when the end of the conference rolled around on Saturday afternoon, I was actually a little disappointed that it was all over.
That never happens.
A number of things made this conference a little different, not the least of which was that Michille and actually I got to meet one of our blog followers live and in person. Writing here on the blog can feel pretty anonymous, so it was very exciting to have a follower recognize us and seem so pleased to meet us. We only wish we had had the presence of mind to take a photo.
My primary reason for attending this year’s conference was to spend some quality time with the rest of the Eight Ladies, and we definitely did that. Over the course of almost five days together, there was plenty of time to talk story, to brainstorm, and to plot and plan. As I had hoped, that left me re-motivated to get back to work on my current mystery draft. It was also nice to get some confirmation that the story seems to be heading in the right direction, especially since I was starting to feel like I was losing my grasp on the plot.
Equally helpful for the fate of my plot were the conference workshops by two presenters – Geoff Symon and Damon Suede – one research related and one craft related. Though their sessions were very different, both were dynamic, interesting, intelligent presenters. I have a competence crush on them both
