Good thing I promised to do this in a day or two, not right away.
Anyway, wanted to finally let you know how that conference went. I believe this is either the third or fourth such conference I have attended, and I think I learned something or got some insights from each of them. I think they have also given me more focus on my work and inspired me to take my interest in getting published more seriously.
I was thinking that this was going to be a massive post, but for reasons to be explained, it will wind up being relatively short. I will go over a few observations/points/notes in no particular order regarding the conference.
- I did not attend too many of the events at the conference. Part of my reason for that was because there were not any sessions that applied to what I have been writing recently. In addition, I was attempting to save some funds and not have to make the trip up to the Quad Cities more than I had to.
- What I did decide to do was participate in a critique of my work by one of the presenters at the conference and a pitch to the MWC Press for one of my works in progress. From the critique, I was happy to hear that my main character had made such an impression on her, even though she didn’t know his background and only had an excerpt from the book. She also had some good suggestions as well. Although I’m not sure whether anything will come of the MWC Press pitch, it was a great experience to be able to do that and be able to articulate why I thought it was a compelling project.
- I also have to give thanks to the Midwest Writing Center and St. Ambrose University for hosting the event. They always do a top-class job of hosting the event and making you feel welcome. Any writers who live in the eastern Iowa/western Illinois area, especially near the Quad Cities, would do well to check them and their programs out.
Well, I told you it was going to be short. However, if I can make it to next year’s conference, I certainly would go again.
Liegois Media 