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5 Benefits of Attending a Writing Conference

Writing conferences can be expensive, in terms of both time and money. There's the registration fee, the travel and lodging expenses, the cost of business cards and maybe a new outfit or two–it can all add up pretty quickly. For pre-published writers, especially those who have yet to earn a single dime from writing, it might seem an unreasonable expense.

But . . .

Recently I was privileged to attend the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, six days at a gloriously refreshing mountain retreat center with around 300 other writers. Costly? Yes (**but see note below).

Worth it? Absolutely.

Mount Hermon word cloud 2013-04-03

I've been thinking about it ever since I left the conference, and thought I'd share with you some of the benefits I received.

  1. Excellent teaching and generous mentoring by world class writers.  The Mount Hermon conference Mount Hermon conference, like most conferences of this type, offered a veritable banquet of indepth morning sessions (you picked a track and attended those sessions with the same teacher each morning) and afternoon workshops covering every possible aspect of writing. For the morning sessions I elected to participate in the fiction mentoring track, which meant I spent 2-4 hours each morning in a small group (see photo below) led by Robin Jones Gunn. We critiqued and discussed each others' work, with each of us getting incredibly valuable input from Robin and the others on our respective projects. Irreplaceable.
  2. Time away from the demands of my day-to-day life. Most of us pre-published writers have to fit writing into the margins of our daily life, whether we have an outside career or are stay-at-home parents. A conference–especially a multi-day one away from our home town–gives us the chance to really devote mostly uninterrupted time to our writing. The Mount Hermon conference ran from Friday morning to Tuesday noon. I also signed up for their “early bird” Head Start program (more about that in a moment), which started on Wednesday afternoon, so I had six days away from home and day job to focus on writing. I came away with a new vision for both my current project and the possibilities of future writing.
  3. Inspiration, ideas, and renewed motivation. Before I left for Mount Hermon, I had been stuck for a couple of months on some unfinished scenes in my novel. I knew what I needed to accomplish in those missing scenes, but didn't know how to do it. Fortunately, I had signed up for the Head Start mentoring program. That meant that during the first day and a half, I was privileged to spend several hours in a very small group–just me and two other writers–mentored by Susan Meissner. As part of that program, each of us got a thirty-minute one-on-one session with Susan, to talk about whatever we chose. My one-on-one turned into a brainstorming session, in which Susan tossed out an idea that flipped a switch in my brain and led to a solution to the block that had prevented me from finishing.
  4. Refreshment and encouragement. The Mount Hermon setting is spectacularly beautiful and refreshingly peaceful. Unfortunately, during my everyday life I seldom take the time to sit on a bench outside and soak in the sunshine and fresh air. At the conference, I did. It made a world of difference in my outlook on life and writing and a lot of other things. Even better, conferences like this create an environment that fosters spontaneous conversations with other writers (in addition to fun discussions in the various workshops). Around the table during meals, outside during breaks, it's easy (even for an introvert like me) to enter into conversations with people I don't know, because you can always start with, “So what do you write?” Some of these spontaneous (God-arranged?) meetings left me encouraged in a way I deeply needed at this point in my writing journey.
  5. New friends. I've listed this last, but it's by no means the least of the benefits and blessings I came home with. I can't described the impact any better than agent Karen Ball did in her post-Mount Hermon blog post on community. Writing is a solitary, and often lonely, enterprise. Maybe the best thing that happened to me at this conference was connecting with some amazing people with whom I hope to remain in contact. We've already continued our communication via Facebook and email, so the encouragement and–dare I say?–friendship that began in California continues now that we've all gone home.
The "Smoking Gunns" at MH, courtesy Ashley Mays

The “Smoking Gunns” at MH, courtesy Ashley Mays

Sure, there was networking and there were opportunities to pitch my story to editors and agents. And maybe another time I will do that. But that wasn't my objective this time (although I did get an invitation to send a proposal to an editor I visited with at lunch one day!). For now, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to experience all this (and more) at the conference, and look forward to attending one or two conferences a year in the future.

**Like many other similar conferences, Mount Hermon offers the opportunity to apply for scholarships to attend. If you're interested in attending next year's conference but finances are tight, be sure to check out their website for information about the scholarship opportunities.

Your turn: Have you attended writers' conferences in the past? If so, what are the top one or two benefits you received?

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Greenville, Texas
I Was Just Thinking . . . 
Legal Blog: Real Estate Law Blog
Twitter: @LauraMcMom
Email me

Giving Thanks & Starting Over

It's hard to believe that the first quarter of 2013 has passed already. Why is it that the older I get, the faster time seems to fly by?

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Have you accomplished what you hoped in the first three months of this year? I haven't, although I did get some things done for which I'm grateful. I had hoped that Do No Harm would be finished by now. And that I would be back on track in my regular workout schedule.

But here's the thing: hoping won't get goals accomplished. Only doing will make that happen.

And here's another thing (a really great thing): every day is a chance to start again.

God's mercies are new every morning (thank God for that!)

And every morning the world starts over.

My tendency is to focus on the things I haven't done, the things that haven't gone the way I'd hoped. But I am trying to learn to focus on the positive. And honestly, the last couple of weeks I've been consumed with the many things I have to be grateful for. Such as:

  • the fact that God's mercies are new every morning (!!)
  • a husband who loves me and supports me in the crazy things I think up (like . . . this whole writing thing, and moving to New York a few years ago with our five young kids so I could go to law school, and . . .)
  • my kids are healthy and happy
  • I have a great job that challenges my mind every day
  • I've been given opportunities to grow and learn as a writer–and make some amazing new friends–by attending the My Book Therapy Deep Thinkers retreat and, most recently, the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference
  • affirmation of my writing by judges in the fiction contests I've entered this year
  • a major breakthrough in a complicated, contentious matter I've been working on for three years (for a client of my law practice)
  • did I mention those new mercies every morning?

Today is the first day of the second quarter of 2013. I spent some time last night thinking about my goals for this quarter, and writing them down. Some of them are very private, but I thought I'd share some with you:

  1. Finish Do No Harm and send it to the agent who, at Mount Hermon, reaffirmed her request to see it when it's finished.
  2. Get back on track with regular workouts and healthy eating. (For those of you who are time management geeks like me: yes, the actual goal as I wrote it down is more specific and measurable than that!)
  3. Give thanks daily for the many blessings in my life.

Your turn: What are you thankful for today? What is one thing you plan to accomplish in the next three months?
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Laura
Greenville, Texas
I Was Just Thinking . . . 
Legal Blog: Real Estate Law Blog
Twitter: @LauraMcMom
Email me

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