On a close-my-eyes-and-click-on-the-register-button whim, I signed up for my first writing conference. Well, it was technically a day of workshops, but same thing in my mind. I've read, and been told, if I'm going to be a writer, I have to think of myself as a writer. One way to do that is to learn about the craft in a professional setting. Thus enters my first writing conference. I spent too much time researching tips for going to a writing conference. It felt a bit silly to do all this research because I've been to plenty of conferences over the past ten years of my non-writing career. However, this conference felt like an entirely different beast to slay and I needed weapons to arm myself. The tips I found online were helpful and I share a few of my own below. My biggest takeaway from my first conference is that there is a point of diminishing returns with preparation and there will always be something you won't know or can't prepare for, so stop fretting a
The takeaway of this post is: to overcome feeling like a NOOB, accept the feelings that come with being a NOOB. Acknowledge them, accept them and allow yourself to exist with them. There is peace (and growth and contentment) in acceptance. I should leave this post as is, with the takeaway above being all there is to say. But, this wouldn't be a blog without providing more explanation than may be needed so I'll continue on anyway. Mostly, I want to share the why behind the takeaway and how I'm learning to get past the icky, deflating (and often overwhelming feeling) of being a NOOB. I sat at a coffee shop this week diving into the world of children's book publishing. I had tab upon tab open with blog posts, industry websites, library catalogs, discussion boards ... I had gone down the rabbit hole and had lost sight of the light above. And in the first few moments of this rabbit hole plunge I was excited and feeling renewed. I am learning something! I am on a p