Adventures At The Midwest Writers Workshop

“The world isn’t discovered in books and maps, it’s discovered out there,” Gandalf, The Lord of The Rings

I’ve never learned this lesson more than at the Midwest Writers Workshop. While it’s definitely a good thing to read writing books and blogs, nothing compares with sitting down with an agent or a best-selling author in a class or at lunch, and listening to them talk about their personal experience and share their best tips. It was mind blowing.

Day 1- getting ready to head "out there" to the Midwest Writers Workshop

I’ve always thought of writing as a solitary activity, and spend a lot of time writing by myself, but after a weekend at the Midwest Writers Workshop, I realized I’ve been missing out!

The conference made me see how important it is to connect with other writers. There is something to be said when you walk into a room and other people have pens tucked behind their ears, and way too many notebooks stuffed into their bags too!

The picture above is from buttonhole the experts. They set up thirty different tables with experts who discuss all sorts topics applicable to writers . Some of these included; The Young Adult Market, Writing the Series, The Writer's Life, Ask An Agent Anything, and What's A Comp Title, just to name a few! They gave us two, one hour sessions with the experts, and after twenty minutes at the table, they rung a bell, and you had to run to another table. It was so hard to decide which tables to go to!The blurry picture above was fitting, because I was on the run!

These are some of the buttonhole topics. There was so much to learn from all of the experts, but my favorite was tips on self-promotion for the shy, introverted writer with expert author Lori Radar-Day. She was so fantastic that I  signed up to receive her e-mails and even bought her book.

Day 2- Taking a breath before I headed in to eat breakfast, listen to the "Ask an Agent" panel and do my first pitch session.

They had us running around from 8:00AM (if you wanted coffee and doughnuts) to 9:00PM (if you stayed for the activities after the dinner break) doing workshops, activities, and one-on-one sessions with the faculty. They offered classes about EVERYTHING! A few of the workshops I did were writing middle grade, editing, social media, and taxes for writers.

These are the schedules for the agents and authors. They kept us writers busy, but they kept the faculty even busier! I'm really thankful for how much time they put into the writers at the conference. What made this conference were the people. The staff was incredible. They were friendly and helpful, and more than willing to give me directions every time I got lost. I had imagined sitting in a huge lecture hall with one hundred other people and listening to an agent speak up front… not even close. There were only twenty or so in most of the workshops I took, and the agents, authors, and faculty were completely accessible. I had an agent sit next to me and ask me a question, and I was so star struck that I could barely get any words out of my mouth! They were all so down to earth and friendly, and genuinely wanted to help the writers there be successful.

I loved the workshops with the authors, because so many of them explained what it was really like once we signed a contract. It was so nice to have a heads up about what to look out for, tips on how to handle different situations, and what to expect once you sign with an agent and a publisher.

The picture above is from the social media workshop taught by agent, Lauren MacLeod. I needed this class in the worst way. She did a fantastic job explaining the ins and outs of social media. I tend to ignore social media, but she did an amazing job explaining why it’s such an important avenue for writers to use, and is the reason why you will see more blog posts coming from me in the future. I've always seen social media as daunting, but her tips were helpful, funny, and took the intimidation out of using it.

They offered one on one pitch sessions, query critiques, and manuscript critiques with the agents, editors, and authors!

I look all smiles, but I was SUPER nervous as I waited to do my query critique.

Day 3-This is me with Lisa Wheeler, who sponsors two scholarships for the Midwest Writers Workshop. What a privilege it was to meet her! Without her, I would have never had this opportunity and I am so grateful that she wanted to invest in the lives of writers. I love what she had to say about sponsoring the scholarships. She explained that she sponsors the scholarships to give someone else the opportunity to write and contribute to the good of writing in the world.