Joy Harjo, my personal poet-crush (Nikita Gill I will always think you are the beginning, middle, and end of all things awesome you are a poetess and a kick-ass goddess of a writer). But Joy has moved into my love-fest as well. She played the saxophone and read her poetry in between sets and I fell in poet-love. She rocked the whole conference. Where can I buy ’I Joy’ T-shirts? Anyone?

I joined a fair amount of poetry sessions which were both wonderful and informative and one or two that were sadly, deeply demotivating. Actually, it was just one. And it was eye-opening. 

If Poetry Makes You Feel Less – You’re Reading the Wrong Kind

I can see now why people can be put off by poetry – through no fault of some of the obviously highly intelligent hosts with poetry both complicated and multi-layered, a small amount of it felt abstract and unattainable. I read a poem to get punched in the gut, not to wonder if I have brain damage, or if I’m too dumb or uneducated to understand it. (This coming from someone with a degree in psychology and literature.)

I feel like I should put up that disclaimer about ‘the columnists views and opinions may not reflect those of the studio, please be advised…’ I’m being completely honest here – and I hope I’m not offending anyone. If you write highly cerebral poetry – please continue to do so. 

I attended a seminar on science and poetry and how they intersect and I found all those wonderful women to be approachable, with material both beautiful and meaningful. So, it isn’t ‘big words’ or even science as subject matter that threw me off.

Poetry Written To Impress

This is obviously highly personal – but one or two (okay it was the one) felt like they were trying to impress us with their writing methodology? With the ability to create metaphor and throw complex concepts around to prove how well-read, how intelligent, how obviously talented they were.

It was as if they were writing in code, and only those people with the right education and reading lists could know what they were saying. It’s this kind of ridiculousness that stops people from even trying to write poetry. And that makes me really mad.

Poetry Is For Everyone

Poetry should be accessible to everyone, and not just a select few sitting in ivory towers, passing poems back and forth in an endless closed loop of approval. Poetry should be guttural, immediate, the roar of a hungry bear at your door, the call of a wolf pack tugging at your wild soul to run and play. It should be the crying child, the growl of an alley-cat jumping to the top of a fence.

Poetry should bring that apple you’re eating into sharp relief, so you can taste it, so you can slow down. Poetry should be a tool for social change, sure, but also for every-day meditation. You should be able to write about the red leaf falling that reminded you of your grandfather who just passed. That’s what poetry is. It’s the connection of a moment in my life to a moment in yours and we can all feel that grief and know we are not alone. Good poetry connects and expands and brings the light and shadow of my heart to yours and reminds us we are all the same at our core. Not one of us better than the other.

Sonnets Are Hot

So just to be clear, I’m not talking about any specific form of the poetry. I attended an amazing seminar on sonnets and I am now super ‘hot’ for sonnets. I’m going to learn more about how to do it right so I can play around with this old-school form of poetry and I can’t wait – whoot!

I am at odds with the intention of the poem. If it’s just to prove how skilled you are – go learn a sport. Poetry is for artists and explorers and lovers. Wow I’ve just offended everyone who has ever played an organized sport. (Of which I am one! Field Hockey in grade school – hiyo!) I think you know where I’m going. 

Poetry isn’t for preeners. 

It’s for those of us who are pierced by the joy of a dog laughing in the sun. It’s for those of us who feel deeply, and need to use the plain black font to put some space between the world and our hearts. It’s for the playful, the grief-stricken, that community of souls who believe there is truth to be found at the end of a pen.

Good poetry won’t necessarily make you feel happier, but it will make you feel connected. In short, good poetry makes you feel more human, never less.

Disagree? Tell me all about it at angela@diymfa.com]

Angela Yeh hails from Atlantic Canada but lives and works in Texas – after her liberal arts degree she wandered into Corporate America but managed to escape. She is a staunch advocate for writers and literacy/learning with her online writing community at DIYMFA.com. She also teaches a love of creative gardening to pre-k kids in her physical community. She lives with her husband, two lovely human children, and two cranky fur babies. You can check her out on Insta – @thatpluckygirl or at her website, www.thepluckycanadian.com

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Even these days, where most conferences are being held online, you can gain a lot from the experience. But still, all good things must come to an end. When the last class has ended, the closing ceremony has inspired, and you pass out the last good-byes, then it’s back to the real world.

Enter the real world.

Time to get back to work. Only sometimes getting back to work after a writers conference is difficult or even impossible. Why? You learned so many new skills, you have so many new exercises to try on your WIP, you’re so inspired by the successes of the people you’ve met. But you can’t write.

Having all of this new awareness leads to over-thinking, to over-criticizing. Yes, you have notes on a new skill or ten, but you haven’t practiced them, haven’t internalized them. You haven’t made them your own. You look at this cool new skill and you go to use it—and you don’t know how. Yes, logically you know (you have notes!), but your writer’s intuition needs practice first.

You are not alone.

Believe it or not, this is a common occurrence. Basically, a writers conference increases your awareness of writing and the writing world very abruptly. Suddenly you have pages of notes of new skills, new goals, new aspirations. You’re aware of things you could be doing (or even ‘should’ be doing) with regards to your writing. And your writer’s intuition hasn’t had time to catch up.

For example, just because someone explains their own winning strategies for chess does not mean you simply go out and start winning games. It doesn’t even mean you would suddenly play better games. You would need to play many games of chess, and even do poorly, so you can improve your ‘chess intuition’. It’s the same thing with writing.

So what should you do?

First off, understand that you did not get worse at writing. Let me pause and say this again: you did not get worse at writing. You’re at the exact same level you were before the conference. It’s the sudden increase of awareness that makes you think you’ve gotten worse. The good news is that you now have the opportunity to grow into that new awareness. Since you’re aware of places you’re lacking, then you go to work training yourself. Try the exercises, poke at the skills, play with the advice, and forgive yourself for a lack of perfection.

And as you thank about what you learned from the writers conference, find the bits that work for you and throw away the rest. Don’t try and internalize everything. You are at the perfect point in your writing journey, and you can expand your writer’s intuition, but that doesn’t mean you need to (or should) take everything. Some of it will not work for your style, and some of it is not what you need to work on at this time. And that is perfectly alright.

What you want to do is go back to writing the way you always do, and work on incorporating the new skills where you can. You’ll make mistakes, and your writing might make you cringe. But remember: this is normal, you will get past it, and you will be a better writer for it. Growth and learning do not happen when things are beautiful and easy. You will get to a place where you are again happy with your writing. And then it will be time to go to another writers conference and the process will start all over again.

Laura Highcove has a degree in computer science, which is obviously why she is a fantasy writer. She is influenced by anime, video games, table-top gaming, programming, horses, and Norse mythology in no particular order. She currently lives in beautiful Blacksburg, Virginia with her computer, two cats, and husband. Her psychic abilities have not yet developed, but she remains hopeful. If you’d like to learn more about her, head over to her website and sign up for her newsletter (and get a free short story) here.

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Full Disclosure: I got a press ticket to this event, but that has in no way influenced my opinion. I get press tickets to stuff all the time, and frankly if an event is not amazing I don’t write about it and I definitely don’t go back in subsequent years. The fact that I’ve been going to ThrillerFest year after year only goes to show how much I genuinely love this conference. OK, so now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s my Ode to ThrillerFest.

ThrillerFest, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways…

1) Top-Notch Instruction

CraftFest is probably my favorite part of the whole conference. While the ThrillerFest portion is a lot of fun, nothing beats the day-and-a-half of hard-core writing classes. After all, where else can writers find classes taught great thriller authors like David Morrell, Charlaine Harris, and Steve Berry all in the same place? What amazes me about this conference is not just the quality of the instructors (the line-up is a veritable who’s-who of the thriller writing world), but also the level of depth covered in the talks themselves. By Wednesday afternoon I felt like I had stuffed my brain to the point of exploding with all the newfound writing knowledge, and that was just Day 1!

2) No “Us vs. Them” Nonsense

I go to a lot of conferences and one thing that often irks me at many events is the cliquishness among the speakers and veteran attendees. Not so at ThrillerFest. Of course, there are writers who have been going to this conference for the past decade so they know each other well, but there isn’t that “us versus them” attitude that you spot at most other conferences.

Right away, you notice a different vibe at ThrillerFest. For instance, there’s no “speaker” label on any badges. Whether you’re going to the conference for the first time, or you’re speaking for the tenth year running, the badge says the same thing: your name. That’s it.

What I love about this is that it puts all the writers at the same level. They’re colleagues getting together for a week of learning and fun. There’s none of that hierarchy or exclusivity nonsense. All the writers—including some really big-name folks—are approachable and friendly. This egalitarian vibe makes ThrillerFest the kind of event I love to be a part of.

Even the Awards Banquet is laid back and relaxed. (In the hands of movie celebs or politicians an event like this could easily spin out of proportion and turn into a “look how cool I am” self-love fest. Not so here.) Instead, the speeches are short, sweet, and sincere. The recipients are normal human beings who just happened to win a cool prize for writing something awesome. And it’s truly inspiring to see writers honoring members of their community for doing great work. There’s a collegial energy in the room, a collective desire to celebrate exceptional books and writing.

3) Awesome Author Interviews

One of my favorite parts of the ThrillerFest days is the series of spotlight interviews. This year, the interviews included: Charlaine Harris (interviewed by Karin Slaughter), Greg Iles (interviewed by Dan Conaway), Mark Billingham (interviewed by Lee Child), and the 2015 Thriller Master, Nelson DeMille (interviewed by David Morrell).

More casual than the panels and less structured than the CraftFest talks these interviews are like being a fly on the wall, listening to two great thriller authors (or an author-agent pair) talk about life, the universe, and writing. What I love most about these interviews is how honest and open the authors are, sharing many insights into their lives and process. Not to mention the entertainment factor—there have been moments during some of these interviews that I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair.

4) Different Tracks for Different Writers

The days at CraftFest and ThrillerFest are jam-packed with sessions in four different tracks. This means that no matter what, you’ll always find a talk or panel that will interest you. Several times throughout the week I found myself torn between which session to attend. (Don’t worry, they have recordings that you can purchase.)

I also love that there are no long, boring speeches. During CraftFest you get intensive nuts-and-bolts classes focused on specific areas of craft or publishing. During ThrillerFest, the sessions alternate between those amazing interviews (see #3) and multiple tracks with panels on various topics. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned veteran, you’ll always find a session that suits you.

5) Meeting Friends, Old and New

By far my favorite part of ThrillerFest is connecting with awesome people. When it comes to networking opportunities, this ThrillerFest never disappoints. During this and past events, I’ve met and befriended many wonderful writers and I’ve had a chance to chat with amazing authors whose work I long admired from afar. And, as always, ThrillerFest is a great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and mentors I haven’t seen in a long time.

All in all, ThrillerFest is a fantastic conference and if you write anything in the Thriller/Suspense/Mystery/Horror genres, this is an event well worth considering for 2016. Watch the ThrillerFest website because they’ll likely start posting info about next year’s event soon.

I don’t know about you, but I know where I’ll  be come July 2016.

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Apparently the keyboard fairies didn’t get the memo.

But I digress.

Once the writing is done, there’s more writing to be done. Query letters. Synopses. Blurbs. And then there’s the editing. And the editing. And the editing.

Did I mention the editing?

But eventually, each of us needs to break out of our self-imposed cocoon of writerly solitude, get out among the people, and more importantly, find an agent or editor to take our project to the next step. A good place to look for an agent is a writers conference.

I have attended several writers conferences over the last seven or so years, and I’ll be honest; I don’t think I’d be published if I hadn’t. You can learn some craft as well as have the opportunity to meet with that big New York agent you follow on Twitter in person. Also, they’re a pretty good time.

The SEAK Writers Conference

My first was the SEAK (Skills, Education, Achievement, Knowledge) Writers Conference, an event that specializes in doctors (and to a lesser extent, lawyers) wanting to pursue a second career in writing. I attended the conference two years running when I was still early in my agent search. The venue for meeting agents was basically a free-for-all, where the agents each sat at their own big table and the writers would line up at the table of the agent(s) they’d like to meet.

I learned on my first trip that I simply wasn’t ready to talk to agents and that my manuscript wasn’t ready for prime time. The second time, I learned how to pitch, how to follow up, and, unfortunately, how to handle an all-new form of rejection. The waiting in line let me hear a lot of pitches, good and bad, taught me a lot about patience, and brought the cold realization that I was far from the only person in the United States trying to get the attention of the few literary professionals in the field.

DFW Writers Conference

I have also attended the DFW Writers Conference twice, both times with a friend and fellow writer. My recommendation? These things are way more fun with a wingman, as I’ve flown solo to most of the others I’ve attended. This one was a hike from North Carolina to Texas, but it was totally worth it. At this conference, the price of admission granted you an appointment with one or two of the agents in attendance. Otherwise, it was whoever you could meet in the hallways and bars. Remember, following an agent into the bathroom or other such cringe-worthy behaviors are not likely to produce the result you want.

I learned through this system that it’s important to do your research and ensure that you are pitching to the right person. Not every agent represents every genre and it’s important not to throw a football to someone wearing a catcher’s mitt, if I may insert a sports metaphor. I also learned the importance of preparation as well as spontaneity. You need to know your book inside and out, but you don’t want your pitch to come across as robotic or overly prepared. The Gong Show, where they read query letters and the various agents on the panel gong when they would stop reading is a thing of legend. My buddy Matthew and I also learned that crowd-sourcing a novel plot is anything but a good idea.

But again, I digress.

Backspace Writers Conference

My favorite of the conferences I have attended is the Backspace Writers Conference. This no longer occurs live and in person, but has recently been resurrected as an ongoing online conference. The way the mornings were set up at Backspace was by far my favorite of the conference writer-agent interactions. On each of the two mornings of the conference, two agents and twelve writers, all interested in the same genre or type of book, would sit for two to three hours and have round table discussion about each writer’s stuff in turn.

On the first day, the two agents would read the twelve writers’ query letters and tell them not only where they would stop and say no, but more importantly, why. On the second day, the first two pages of your book got the same treatment. Similar to The Gong Show from the DFW conference, this let you know what was working and what wasn’t. This kind of direct and specific feedback was some of the best I’ve ever received.

These are just three of literally hundreds of conferences available out there. Each taught me many things, both tangible and intangible, and as my Backspace experience ultimately led to my agent, I think they’re a pretty good place to start. For more information, here’s another article from Chuck Sambuchino on Writers Conferences along with links to a few conferences that are coming up in 2015. These events may be expensive and involve some travel, and therefore aren’t for everyone, but I recommend everyone who can afford the time and expense to make it happen.

First and foremost, when a bunch of writers gather in one place, you are likely to find members of your tribe, a tribe you may not have even realized existed. Hang on to these relationships as no one understands a writer like another writer. You could be making a friend for life. Second, meeting a publishing professional live and in person is so much better than the cold call of the unsolicited query letter. Third, being immersed in writing and nothing but writing for a weekend or even a week can be like drinking a canteen of ice-cold water after walking for days across the desert. These experiences can reinvigorate you when the writing well has run dry. Last, and most importantly, they’re fun.

And if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong

………………

Darin Kennedy is the author of The Mussorgsky Riddle, a paranormal thriller published by Curiosity Quills Press. Doctor by day and novelist by night, he writes and practices medicine in Charlotte, North Carolina. When not engaged in either of the above activities, he has been known to strum the guitar, enjoy a bite of sushi, and rumor has it he even sleeps on occasion. Find him online at darinkennedy.com.

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