I went to my first writing conference ever last week, the PNWA conference. The whole writing group was supposed to go (all three of us) but my two partners chickened out. Actually, they had really good excuses for why they couldn’t go, but I had already paid my registration fee. After some mishaps about parking—the hotel wasn’t prepared for so many people driving their own cars—I settled in for my first workshop.
What I was expecting from this conference was a bunch of already established writers looking down their nose at us plebs that were trying to get an agent or editor to notice us. I also assumed that the publishing industry professionals would be snooty (they were after all, mostly from the east coast) and probably shoot most of us down before we managed to stammer out our name and the beginning of our elevator pitch. I’d read just about all of Anne Mini’s blog that had to do with preparing for a conference, but was super nervous about having to do any kind of pitching.
The conference was the complete opposite of my expectations. Every single person I met was extremely encouraging. The workshops were for the most part excellent and taught by writers that not only knew how to write, but also how to teach. Every writer I met, established or not, were chatty, interested, and interesting. The agents didn’t have any horns on their head and listened politely to any elevator and hallway pitch I attempted. Several of them gave me their cards and encouraged me to send them queries. The agents and editors I had scheduled appointments with, all (except for one who does not accept queries from unrepresented writers) asked me to send them pages.
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What was your first writing conference experience like? Did you meet your agent or editor at a writing conference?
(Moved from my old blog: http://writingvalkyrie.blogspot.com.)