This past weekend, I went to When Words Collide, my first ever writers conference, with Justine. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been to conventions like Calgary and Edmonton Expo before so I had a general idea what to expect but nothing can truly prepare you for a conference that’s exclusively about writing.
For starters, the entire vendor’s hall is just books. Anyone who knows me knows that books are basically my kryptonite (as if it’s a surprise for a writer to say this) and bookstores are very dangerous for my wallet. It was a test of willpower every time I went in that room. Miraculously, I only bought one more book than I had planned and that’s because I met the author and the book sounded right up my alley.
My two planned purchases were The Wizard Killer Season 3 and The King’s Horse by Adam Dreece. I’ve met Adam several times at various conventions over the last few years and he’s always awesome to chat with. He writes steampunk meets fairy tales, post-apocalyptic fantasy, and cerebral sci-fi and I’ve loved all of his books even though I don’t usually read in those genres. If any of that sounds interesting, you should check him out and support an indie author from Calgary!
My unplanned purchase was The Tales of Sage and Savant Book 1: Transmigrations by Eddie Louise. I met Eddie at the con as part of the writers speed mingle (more on that in a minute!) and I immediately loved talking with her. She was fun and interesting and every book idea she was telling me about was something I wanted to buy immediately. So, when she told me that the first book based on her podcast was available in the vendor’s hall, I obviously bought it. It’s a steampunk action/adventure with science and body hopping (sort of) and all kinds of weird fun stuff so if that appeals to you, you should definitely check it out.
Now, onto the actual conference!
I took nearly 30 pages of notes over the weekend and that doesn’t even include the panels where you could give them your email address to have the PowerPoint sent to you or ones that Justine and I went to together and it was her turn to take notes. I learned more than I could have possibly imagined and there’s a lot of it that I can apply to the next draft of Drawn Together. My book is going to be worlds better because I went to this conference and that right there is the best endorsement I could give WWC.
I went to panels on writing sexual tension, including other cultures in your story, how to write a good query letter, what tax deductions I can have as a writer, and so many more. One of the most useful panels I went to wasn’t even for my genre. It was about how to create tension in suspense and thriller novels. Some of it was obviously specific to those genres but so much of it can be generalized and applied to whatever genre you write. So, if you ever go to WWC or another writers conference, make sure you go to panels that don’t necessarily apply to your book on paper. You never know what kinds of useful things you could learn.
Other than the panels, I also took part in the writers speed mingle. It was basically speed dating but you got to meet other writers, network, and talk about your books with them. I met some really awesome people and got to learn about some really interesting works in progress that I can’t wait to read one day. If you ever go to a conference and you get the chance to do something like this, I highly recommend you do so. Having a community of writers around you makes the hard days better and the good days great.
The only thing I regret about this weekend was that we didn’t have time to do any after hours socializing. Since we drove home Sunday after the con, we couldn’t stay up late on Saturday when everyone was at the hotel pub or having gatherings in their hotel rooms. Next year (or whenever we go again), we’ll absolutely be staying until Monday so we can take advantage of the socializing and networking and hopefully make some new friends.
Have you ever been to a writers conference before? If so, what was your favourite part? If not, would you ever want to go to one? Let me know in the comments!