San Fransisco Writer's Conference

What an amazing weekend! My first time in San Fran was a success! Visited Alcatraz my first day there (amazing!), and did conference stuff the rest of the time. It rained every day but Sunday when I left (California was teasing me).

Alcatraz

Highlights (among many):

Donald Maas, literary agent and author of Writing the Breakout Novel. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his workshops, do so. It's an invaluable experience and I've met countless writers and authors who have benefited from his wisdom.

Friday's lunch keynote speaker Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard out of Carolina. She was so funny that I really want to read her book now, though normally it isn't something I'd read.

Panel "Making Setting a Character in Your Novel" with authors Cara Black, Bharti Kirchner, and Kemble Scott. Fascinating topic, one I hadn't given a lot of thought to before.

YA panel with agents Amy Burkhardt, Minju Chang, Gordon Warnock, Jill Marsal, Caryn Wiseman, Christine Witthohn, April Ebernhardt, and Laurie McLean (I recommend all of them--wonderful people with so much wisdom to share).

Panel "How to Find your Tweet Spot: Promoting Yourself 140 Characters at a Time" with Tee Morris and Rusty Shelton.Check out both of their books (about Twitter and marketing). They were very informative and great speakers.


Speed Pitching: Pretty fun. I enjoyed listening to pitches and meeting a variety of interesting people. (Great to meet reader Heather McCorkle!)

San Fransisco from outside the hotel

Inspired by the topics of the conference, look for future blog posts. I'll pull from the experts while adding my two cents. Of course, the best place to really learn these things is by going to conferences yourselves or going directly to the source (when applicable). I'll be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Hope to see more of you at future conferences.

Happy writing!