Recently a writers group hosted a writing conference at a local hotel, and several of the workshops were relevant to my science fiction novel. Feeling very bold, I decided to attend. Now I've recovered sufficiently to describe the experience.
Being in a place I don't know, surrounded by strangers, is disorienting for me. It took some wandering among the rows of tables to find the one where I was supposed to check in when I first arrived. The friendly volunteers gave me a packet with lots of information about the conference, my appointment times for pitching my story, and my badge. They pointed me in the direction of another table where I could customize my badge by adding ribbons to indicate my writing style (plotter or pantser) and the genre(s) I write. Each ribbon was a different color, and made it easy for attendees to see things we had in common. Speakers had a yellow ribbon, which gave me a ready topic (What are you speaking about?) when I ran into them in the elevator.
Planning ahead helps me cope, so I already had a list of which sessions I wanted to attend when, and the rooms those sessions would be in. The packet I got when I checked in included a map and descriptions of the sessions -- online they only listed the titles of sessions. The descriptions helped me decide between first and second choices when the title alone didn't indicate what the session was about -- for instance "Write Naked" as a title certainly grabs your attention but gave me no clue what the speaker intended to cover.
The first session I joined was my favorite, and was an excellent introduction to the conference. It featured a panel of agents and editors debating a set of tropes, describing why they liked or disliked each trope. They covered a lot of ground with great humor and a clear love for reading. Looking back, I wish I'd attended more panels, especially the ones with agents and editors. We'll get back to that in a moment.
Meals in the grand ballroom were a bit much for me, especially that first night. I gave myself permission to take breaks away from the action, and the first break was during dinner. I got a meal to-go from one of the many restaurants across from the hotel, and took it to my room for some peace and quiet. Then I headed to the grand ballroom for a training session on pitching. This was an event for attendees who had appointments to pitch their novel to agents or editors the next day.
When I first arrived for pitching practice I was bewildered. The event was supposed to be in the grand ballroom right after dinner, from 8:30 until 10:00. Instead, there was a raffle that lasted half an hour, and it took a while to find an empty spot to sit at the tables full of dinner attendees. The mass exodus from dinner didn't happen until after 9:00, and then there was a break as the tables were cleared. At last we got a very brief set of instructions before published authors took their seats -- one per table. Each author listened to pitches from those of us at their table and gave feedback. It was enlightening for me to realize that the pitch wasn't supposed to be a summary of the plot, but instead should be an introduction of the protagonist, the antagonist, and the conflict between them. It was also supposed to include what inspired me (ideally mentioning a book, movie, or show to compare my story to) and the genre. Back in my room that night, I rewrote my pitch seven times. Each revision tightened the focus, and helped me memorize the pitch so I'd only have to look at it once or twice.
On day two I attended workshops between pitches. The first pitch went the best, and now we get to the reason I think it was a good idea to attend panels -- I remembered the agent from the marvelous panel discussion I'd attended the previous day. She didn't feel like a stranger, and I was able to kick off the conversation with shared laughter about one of the tropes. It made me much more relaxed about the pitch, which went well -- she asked me to send her the full manuscript!
The more I became familiar with the conference space, and the more my fellow attendees looked familiar from one workshop to the next, the less intimidated I felt. I started having conversations with people. It helped that I kept the pressure on myself low. At one point a workshop I wanted to attend was cancelled. The alternatives at that time weren't as interesting, and I decided to give myself a break and go back to my room for an hour.
The good news is I feel more comfortable now with the concept of conferences, and hope to attend others. The good-scary news is I need to finish the edits for Prime Conditions so I can send the full manuscript to one agent and a partial to another. Time to get to work!
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