Time Management Tuesday: Did We Carry Through With That Decision We Made?

Well, the decision I made, anyway. The one about staying home to work instead of going to last weekend's New England Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators regional conference. Did I actually do anything with the time I created for myself?

I won't keep you in suspense. The answer is yes.

Friday Night

First off, many of my NESCBWI colleagues who did go to Springfield posted pictures on Facebook of the fun time they had going out to eat with friends. As luck would have it, I went out with friends Friday night. We had fun. 

Saturday

 

I worked three-plus hours mid-day Saturday and some more late in the day. I outlined/blue printed/underpainted three different chapters. For one of them, this involved a major fix. I also did some research for this project. In terms of time, this was the equivalent of attending three workshops.

Then I went outside to do some yard work.

I'm not mentioning this because I'm one of those bloggers who thinks everyone is interested in every minor moment of her life, in spite of that restaurant picture above. No, I'm mentioning this because of what happened while I spent an hour raking this bank. What happened is that I realized I needed another chapter for the book I'd worked on that morning.

• I was rushing the ending
• There were lots of chapters in the first half of the book, making the second half seem skimpy.
• This new chapter would be about yard work. Seriously, it should work. 

That new chapter came about because while cleaning up the day lilies and the fern bank, I had a breakout experience, something I haven't written about here for a while. In short, what happens with a breakout experience is  you spend some time working with a problem, then do something mindless, like raking. While your brain relaxes because nothing is required of it, it continues working on some level on what it was working on before. And...BOOM...a breakout experience.

Sunday

We had plans to attend an organized walk Sunday afternoon. Walking, I thought. That's like raking while covering a lot more ground. So I made a point of working Sunday morning, underpainting that new chapter I'd come up with Saturday afternoon, for one thing. Work in the morning, I'd have a breakout experience in the afternoon, right?

Well, no. Not a thing. Not a single thought came Sunday afternoon. Except for the one about doing a blog post on why this happened. Stay tuned.

Sometime over this weekend I also knocked off a 800-word satirical essay about my experience without the Internet last week. It's unlikely I'll be able to publish it, but it was a good experience getting something done that fast.

So I made good on my plan and had a successful "conference" weekend.

Time Management Tuesday: Don't Do Things Automatically; Make Decisions

It is spring in New England, and in our region's childlit world, writers' minds turn to the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' annual conference. It's coming up this weekend. People have been looking for roommates on the NESCBWI listserv for the last month or so. A chunk of my writers' group will be there. There's been talk on Facebook. People will be getting really psyched there over the next week.

What's Gail Doing Conference Weekend?

Lunch With Writers' Group

Within a day or two of registration opening I decided to skip it again this year. I've written before about my mixed feelings about conferences in relation to managing time. And this is another of those situations. I saw a couple of workshops I was interested in this year, but not on the same day, so I could just go up for Saturday or Sunday. Or even Friday afternoon. But there also wasn't enough programming I thought I could use right now to justify me being there all weekend. Sure, I would have seen a number of people I know and had lunch with my writers' group at least once. But, still, to get those two workshops I could have ended up there for a lot of time. A lot of time.

I've had many weeks recently when I could only work three days. This week it's going to be only one, unless I can squeeze in a few minutes here or there. (I'm not working today, by the way.) I rarely am able to pick up any work time on weekends. I have a big project I want to finish before fall and a marketing project I want to plan and pull together for July. I need to make a synopsis for two different manuscripts before I can submit them. If I were to go to a conference on a weekend for two days, or even one, that would be like working on a weekend. Except I wouldn't be doing any of the work I need to do to produce and promote material. I wouldn't be working toward my major professional objectives for the year.

A Writer Is Supposed To Write

These last two months while I've been second guessing my decision about the conference, I've been thinking a lot about a woman in a writers' group I was in years ago. She had a marketing plan for a book she hadn't written more than a chapter or two for. She may not have written that much. She really needed to be writing, not planning how she would sell something she hadn't created yet. That's how I feel about a two- or three-day conference and me right now. Without getting some more work out, do I really need a conference?

That's the kind of time decision writers need to be making all the time. The year my computer guy and I went to the NESCBWI Conference to take a workshop on creating eBooks, I needed to be there. (Well, he needed to be there.) The year I took a storytelling workshop that revolutionized my school presentations, I needed to be there. This year, I don't.

So What's Gail Doing Conference Weekend, Again?

 

I'm writing.

Even before I attended last weekend's nature writing retreat, I had planned to create a pseudo-retreat for myself during NESCBWI Conference weekend. If I am able to work even two or three hours, that will be the equivalent of attending two or three one-hour workshops. Instead of making time for a conference on a weekend, I'm going to make time to write.

That's the plan, anyway. And plans are so important for managing time.

It won't be easy. Soon after deciding to do this, we had an opportunity to take part in a two-hour hike Sunday afternoon. Okay, that's like going for a walk at a retreat, which I did last weekend. So we're probably going to do that. Then a couple of weeks ago, I was asked to do some volunteer work that weekend. Being a witch, I begged off. On the positive side, it's not my weekend to do eldercare.

My NESCBWI friends and I will all be doing professional activities this weekend. We've just decided we won't all be doing the same thing.

NOTE: The weekend is three days away. That's a long time for things to go wrong Chez Gauthier. Plenty of opportunity for my weekend work plans to blow up in my face.

Weekend Writer: Professional Gatherings For Children's Authors

 Okay, weekend children's and YA authors, a few years ago I covered How To Attend A Conference. Today I'm going to point you to a list of conferences, etc., for you to attend.

Author Chris Barton maintains "A Comprehensive List of U.S. College- and University-Sponsored or -Hosted Children’s and Young Adult Literature Conferences, Festivals, and Symposia." This month he updated it.

Networking For Introverts

Gail's Perception Of Networking

Conventional Wisdom tells us that writers tend to be introverts, drained by lots of interaction with large numbers of people, at their best with small groups or even working by themselves. Presumably that's one of the reasons we're attracted to writing in the first place.

And, yet, in the 21st Century, so much of nonwriting writer work is done in large groups--conferences, book fairs, speaking engagements, etc. I've written here before about introverts attending professional gatherings. The structured workshops, panel discussions, critiques, and even one-on-ones aren't a problem. Those are the reasons introverts go to these things. The meandering around before and after events is another thing. Lunch. Coffee breaks. Grin and bear it time, folks. You sometimes hear about how these excruciating moments are the most important part of a professional gathering. So important, that they have their own name...networking.

Networking is like going to singles bars, but for professionals. In publishing, it's when people hope to meet the agents and editors who will change their professional lives. Maybe even in an elevator, which is where the expression "elevator pitch" comes from. Personally, I don't believe that story that was going around years ago about a woman shoving her manuscript under a toilet stall to an agent at a conference. Urban legend, in my humble opinion. But it makes a point about expectations for networking.

I will be honest and admit that I don't even try to network anymore. Though I've been to enough writing events over the years that I usually see people I'm at least acquainted with when I attend them, I can't say that I've made any career changing connections at any program I've ever attended. I've taken in some great content from presenters, but meeting someone who boosted me up the publishing ladder? No. When I see on meeting instructions that there will be a half-hour of networking before the program that is my real goal for the day, I figure I can sleep in thirty minutes and get there late.

NESCBWI's Agent And Editor Model

Which brings us back to last week's Third Annual  New England SCBWI Agent/Editor Day. This Agent/Editor day was organized so that participants would meet in small groups with with an agent or editor in the morning and then with another agent or editor in the afternoon. What you're essentially doing is creating a writers' group, then creating another one a few hours later.

The materials we received asked us to be sure to arrive by 8:45, though the first group didn't begin until 9:30. I looked at it and thought, Yeah, sure.

Then I thought again. What if that 8:45 thing was a test? Hmm?

Of course, it wasn't a test. Nonetheless, I ended up leaving the house under a full moon that morning to get to New Hampshire for 8:45. I pulled into the parking lot after 8:30, knowing nothing would be happening for 45 minutes. I wasn't miserable, by any means, but I definitely wasn't enthusiastic.

Then I get inside and see tables set up in a ballroom...with a dance floor, not that that matters. And each table has the name of the agent or editor assigned to it. And everybody just went immediately to their assigned tables, because evidently introverts follow instructions really well. What followed was forty-five minutes of pretty meaningless chit-chat, but, hey, painless!

After two hours of very good literary criticism, it's time for lunch. Remember how much fun the high school was the first day of a new school year? Yeah, that's what lunch is like at conferences. But last week, instead of drifting off to some other spot and forcing ourselves on other people, we picked up our food from the buffet and came back to our table. Our very same spots next to people we'd been with for hours. Well, just under three hours. But that's hours. It was as if we knew each other, in that way you can know people whose name you can't remember, even though everyone's wearing name tags.

Then we got up and all separated and headed to other tables for our second session of the day where there was another sign, and we were good to go for another couple of hours. During that second session, by the way, someone brought around plates of cookies, which was kind of hygge-like. (Yes, I am reading The Little Book of Hygge.) Hygge--comfort, contentment, coziness. Not that I ate any of the things, but the hygge was still there.

Crunching Some Numbers

Number of people at last week's event: Between 100 and 114

Number of people participants had to interact with: Seven or 8 at a time, 14 or 16 altogether

One hundred to 114 people, not that manageable. Seven or 8 people? Totally manageable. Seriously, I barely knew anyone was there besides my two groups. This thing was an introvert's dream.

Now, I can't say at this point that I made any career-changing connections at this thing, though I may very well change the way I write as a result of my time there. But for me this set-up will remain the gold standard for a professional gathering for quite some time to come.

Time Management Tuesday: Is Stroking My Ego A Good Use Of Time?

A couple of months ago, the administrators of a regional writers' conference announced next year's conference theme. Lo' and behold, not only did I actually understand the theme, I  liked it. Very rare, people. Very rare. It was something I became interested in just this past winter.

As a result, I decided I'd submit workshop proposals for next year's conference. I say "proposals," because the conference wants faculty to teach two workshops in order to cut down on administration and costs. I have two workshops I've led in the past that I thought would fit the theme well. I didn't think it would require a lot of time to work up the proposals, because I know this material. Because I'd taught the workshops in the past, I thought I'd be able to handle teaching both of them over one weekend. I was a woman with a plan.

Then I learned last week that next year all faculty are expected to attend the entire conference, not just the days they teach, as has been the case in the past.

This is not a drastic imposition. The conference is only three days, not three weeks. In fact, it's probably closer to two and a half days. Plus I live only an hour away from the conference site, so I could (I assume) cut out for the evenings and wander in for my first workshop each morning while whatever opening event is running. I really like conferences for the workshops, not the rubbing shoulders, so, though I'd have to pay for at least a day of conference time I may end up not wanting, at least I wouldn't have to find something to do during the long evenings or early in the morning before the workshops started. But going home each night also means I won't have a hotel room to escape to during the day to work or nap, which is what I've heard other writers do when they can't find workshops to fill all those conference hours.

Thinking about how I would manage time if I'm on the conference faculty next year has led me to think about other time-related issues involved with teaching at a conference. There are a number of them. Among them what will I be getting for my investment of time? Should I or should I not submit workshop proposals?

Reasons To Submit Proposals

Vanity, Total Vanity. If my proposals are accepted and I make the conference faculty, I will feel that, despite whatever career setbacks I've experienced over the years, I am still a contender. I am still one of the writer tribe. I know this is the case because I was on the faculty several years ago and felt very tribal. This is pretty much the only reason I want to do this, to pump up my ego. Try as I will, I cannot come up with another one.

Reasons Not To Submit Proposals

Submitting Takes Time.While the sponsoring agency requires faculty to teach two workshops, it suggests we submit proposals for three or four for its staff to choose from. This would increase our odds of having workshops chosen, but it will also increase our workload substantially now. If you have ever worked as a consultant or known people who have, responding to Requests for Proposals in order to get jobs is a financial black hole.  It takes time to put proposals together. Time is money. The money consultants make is for the work they are proposing to do, not for the work they did on the proposals. They never get that back. They may consider it the cost of doing business, but it's still a cost.

For writers, the time used on creating workshop proposals is time we could be generating work or submitting. Some writers who have a portfolio of workshops on hand may not have to put that much time into writing a proposal. You may recall that right now I only have two that I think will fit the theme. If I want to submit more, I'll have to put in time starting from scratch to come up with others. Even if I end up being selected for next year's faculty, there's no financial return on the time it will take to make the proposals.

If the submitted proposals are rejected, I will still have some planned workshops that I could use somewhere else. So I could justify the use of time that way. I have to say, though, that I've had a few proposals rejected over the years and as of today have not used them anywhere else. An outline is required with the workshop proposals. If rejected, that outline could become an article I could submit. Again, this hasn't gone anywhere in the past.

Workshop Prep Takes Time. I know writers who have years of experience teaching grade school or high school or who are adjunct writing teachers at the college level. My guess is that they're skilled enough and comfortable enough that they don't need the weeks of prep time that I put in before a presentation. If we're talking new material, I'll start working months ahead of time, creating a script, designing slides, working on timing. If the two workshops I think fit the theme were selected, things shouldn't be that bad because I'll have run variations of them before. But if I were to come up with a third or even fourth workshop proposal and have that selected, that's another thing. Again, this is all time I could put toward generating new work or submitting.

Performance Anxiety. A large part of the reason I put in so much prep time. The more time I put into prep, the less anxious I am. One of the reasons I make appearances is to prove to myself that I'm tough enough to deal with performance anxiety. I recognize that that may not be particularly healthy. In fact, I think at least one family member has told me as much.

Income Flow. I haven't seen any information on what the sponsoring agency is offering for compensation next year, but when I taught in the past there was a small honorarium, the conference registration fee was waived for the day I taught, and I was offered a room for the night I taught. So if my proposals were accepted, the real income generated would be that honorarium.

However, recall that next year faculty need to attend the entire conference, meaning we'll be paying conference fees for the day(s) we don't teach. As conferences go, the fees for this one are quite reasonable. But depending on which day(s) I'm teaching and which day(s) I have to attend and pay my fee, I could end up spending nearly as much to attend the conference as I'd make for teaching.  Which is why I didn't put "Generate Income" under "Reasons To Submit Proposals." In reality, I may not be generating any.

What To Do?

Given that I have only one very shallow reason for submitting workshop proposals to this conference, I think it's pretty obvious that in terms of time, there's very little reason for me to do it. In the best case scenario, one in which my proposals are selected for the conference, I'd end up taking a lot of time from writing just to make me feel good. I felt pretty good the last two years attending the conference without being on the faculty. I can do that with a whole lot less effort.

I have until August 1st to submit, so perhaps I'll change my mind. We'll probably discuss this at my writers' group next week. Maybe someone there will have a really compelling reason to try get on the conference faculty. 

Time Management Tuesday: Are Conferences A Good Use Of Time?

For some people, going to writing conferences and retreats is like going to camp.  They get quite excited about seeing friends and, I guess, being away from home. Personally, I'm more into the creative buzz I get from attending a day-long writing program.

Not Everyone Finds Conferences Fun Or Creative

I believe I've written here before about my family members who won't attend conferences in their fields. The uneven quality of the workshop offerings at these things makes them feel they're wasting time. They're also serious introverts. Not only are they unlikely to be able to take advantage of the networking opportunities at conferences, those networking opportunities are torture for them.

This past Saturday I met a woman at the NESCBWI Conference who had been there since Friday. She was mulling over how much benefit she was getting to from her experience. She asked  me, "Have you had a single workshop you were satisfied with?" Though I had, I also had to admit that I'd given some thought a little earlier to whether or not I would be getting more from my day if I'd spent fifty or sixty dollars on books about process and locked myself in my sunroom with them.

Uneven quality. No possibilities for networking. Yearning for a sunroom. Sometimes you do have to wonder if conferences are a good use of time.

Realistic Expectations And An Open Mind 

As I've said before, in order to get anything from conferences, you have to keep your expectations realistic and your mind open.

Expectations. The odds of you coming away from a conference with an agent who is going to get you a multi-book deal for your still unwritten manuscript and sell it to Hollywood are very, very low. Not every workshop you take is going to be stellar. Some of them are going to be really disappointing. You're going to see some agent presentations that leave you wondering what's the big deal about agents. You're going to see some keynote speakers who are incredibly charismatic, which will be both entertaining and soul destroying, because you'll be all too aware that you are incapable of doing anything like that. At some of these places, the food is really bad. (But not at the Sheraton in Springfield.)

You have to go into conferences aware of all this and reconciled to it. You really don't want to go into these things as if it's Christmas and you're sure you're getting a pony. That sets you up for a very bad conference.

An Open Mind/Beginner's Mind. On the other hand, if you can relax and not sit in workshops waiting for a gold ring to appear so you an snatch it before somebody else does, you may notice creative jolts. A speaker on Subject A may say something as a total aside that gives you an idea for something unrelated to what you're there for, which happened to me Saturday morning. While trying to make out what a disorganized and disappointing workshop leader is doing, you may come up with your own plan for how to do what she she was supposed to be speaking about. You may notice how another conference goer takes and maintains notes and later start up a similar system for yourself. (Yeah, that happened to me.)

Essentially, you have to expect that it's going to be the odd little moments at conferences that will provide you with the most benefit, not the advertised events.

The Ultimate Test For Determining If A Conference Is A Good Use Of Time

 

Years ago, I worked for an agency that ran training programs for municipal and state employees. We were grant funded and had to justify our existence, in part by showing that what we did had value for the people we did it for. We tried to do that by conducting post-training surveys, well after the contact date.

Why? Because we were trying to avoid the halo effect, the belief that a training program was good because the participants had a good time or  liked the trainer. We wanted to be able to tell if the training the participants received changed how they worked. Because the point of a training program, or a conference, is not to have a good time or to get a creative buzz on. It's to change how you work, your behavior.

So putting aside the whole fun with friends and getting off on creativity business (legitimate reasons to attend a conference, IMHO, for those who roll that way), a very practical way to determine whether or not conferences are a good use of your time is to pay attention over the weeks and months after you attend one. Notice whether or not you're using things you learned there. Anything at all, whether it was real material from a real workshop or something related to a brainstorm of your own.

Hmm. I'm going to try to do this during my Friday goal and objective checks.

Since We Were Just Talking About Writng Conferences...

Yesterday as part of the Weekend Writer feature, I discussed getting the most from conferences, particularly writing conferences. This morning I heard about this list of multi-day (except for one) workshops/retreats/conferences at VonnaCarter.com. 

Isn't this what's known as perfect timing?

The Weekend Writer: How To Attend A Conference

You know that I'm into training. I train, therefore, I am. It's a rare writer who is going to make much progress without training. If, as a new, Weekend Writer, you're not actively studying writing in an academic program, you probably should look into finding training in some other way. Conferences and various types of workshops can do the trick. I've directed you to conference information in the past. Now I have some other thoughts to share on the subject.

In order to have the best experience at conferences, it helps if you approach them with a certain attitude.

Keep Your Expectations Realistic

Program quality varies at conferences, retreats, etc. just as the quality of everything else in life does. You can't expect every workshop offered at every conference to be the equivalent of a semester long course at the Iowa Writers Workshop. Or if you do, you're going to be very disappointed. You know how a cookbook usually has only a few really good recipes? Yeah, that's how a conference is. The trick is to try to get to some good conference recipes.

Many people believe program content isn't that significant. The real reason to go to a conference is the networking. Why, deals are made at conferences! Connections are made that lead to jobs! In writer world, conference goer fantasies involve meeting editors who ask you to submit a manuscript and then make an offer as soon as they read it. Or, at the very least, conferences are where you will meet the AWESOME agent who clicks with you and sells your manuscripts to top editors for the rest of your life and then gives the eulogy at your funeral.

Expectations like these are why you hear those stories about editors/agents being handed manuscripts under stall doors in ladies' rooms at conferences or being trapped in elevators with participants who do, indeed, pitch. Yes, that's where the term "elevator pitch" comes from. Once upon a time, it wasn't considered a classy thing to do.

In my humble opinion, don't ever go to a conference just for the networking. That's putting a big burden on you and your ability to interact with others. Go because there really are some programs that look as if they might be useful for you. Networking is what happens between sessions and during lunch. It's the gravy of your conference experience, not the meat and potatoes.

Once Again, Maintain The Mind Of A Beginner

You have a much better chance of finding, or perhaps I should say, accepting, the good bits at a conference, if you're not focused on how much you know. If you believe there's always something you can learn from any situation, in all likelihood you will. Remember the story of how Computer Guy attended a NESCBWI conference so he could hit a workshop on making digital books? It was a two-hour event, but he got his moment within five minutes. What he got from that workshop was the knowledge that he could make an eBook. To paraphrase him, it was huge.

Gotta get a bigger book.

More recently I was at a plotting workshop at a conference, about which I don't remember much now. But in the course of the workshop, we did a little writers' group exercise. I was part of another group at a writers' retreat maybe a year later. Those two program experiences led me to seek out a writers' group last year. A very odd bit I acquired at a content marketing workshop earlier this year? I noticed a woman taking notes in a nice journal. Now, taking notes at programs has been a problem for me. I bring a pad of paper, take my notes, then what do I do with them? I've been copying them over into my digital journal, but that's time consuming, and for the most part, they get lost in there. But I started using a book for workshop/conference notes and just leave them there. It's been fantastic. I don't spend any time copying over notes, and browsing them is easy.

I could give you a lengthy list of these odd little things I've picked up at conferences and workshops that have made a difference in my day-to-day work life. But I had to recognize that nothing that happened around me was too minor to be useful.

But The Money And People Issues

The expense involved with attending conferences and the discomfort introverts feel with unstructured people time add to conference pressure for many. Regular conference/retreat goers can go through a lot of money, sometimes a family's money, and they can become frustrated over not seeing a quick return on that investment. Extroverts love this stuff, but introverted personalities  can end up spending a lot of time at meals and evening "extras" that are tedious for them and, speaking from experience, not very productive because we just don't roll that way.

Looking for shorter events closer to home can help manage both those problems. One-day programs run by local colleges, museums, libraries, or professional organizations are less expensive than the ones that last a weekend or longer. They also won't require extensive travel and housing expenses. Bored to death at the pre-event coffee? Sleep in and skip it. A day program means you can head home at the end of the day, no motel rooms and meals to pay for, no hours watching others chat each other up.

For introverts attending multi-day events, you just don't have to go to everything. You can spend time in your room so you can decompress. I've brought yoga mats to retreats. Hell, I brought a DVD to a retreat to watch on my laptop in the evenings.

Be realistic, be open, manage your issues...There's your best chance at getting the most from a conference.

Conference Day

I spent yesterday at the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators spring conference. A very good day for me. In the past when I've attended professional events, I've reported on the people I knew who I ran into. Well, I seem to know quite a few people now. Reading a list of them wouldn't be that fascinating. So I will go on to other things.

Workshops Attended

Crafting Short Stories with Trisha Leaver. I may spend a month later this year revising a number of my short stories because of this program.

Show Me the Money with Chris Eboch. This workshop dealt with what I've heard called "income streams" for writers. There are a number of options, but they require so much work! I came up with some pitches for someone else I know while I was in the class. And this workshop was a good lead-in to the afternoon workshop I attended, which was on school visits. School visits, you see, are an income stream for writers.

Bringing Books Alive During School and Library Visits with Marcia Wells and Kwame Alexander. Interesting story here. When I signed up for this workshop, I'd never heard of either of these people. And then Kwame Alexander won the Newbery Medal! Marcia and I have already become Twittermates. I'll be doing a separate post early next month on school visit workshops.

Lunch!

The New England SCBWI regional conference is huge in terms of attendance. Computer Guy went with me a few years ago when we were preparing to republish Saving the Planet & Stuff so he could take a workshop on making e-books from scratch. He was stunned by the crowd then and amazed by the lunchtime picture to your left.

That is why it was terrific that Jill Daily, a member of my writers' group, somehow snagged a table for the nine of us. It was great not to have to negotiate a ballroom full of people on my own. I am afraid I was not a great lunch companion, however, because I was seated in such a way that I had to turn my back to everyone to see the lunch speakers. And I also was busy taking notes and pictures.


During lunch Deborah Freedman received the Crystal Kite Award for the New England region. This was for her book, The Story of Fish and Snail.




Kwayme Alexander spoke during lunch, too. Extremely charming and charismatic. I actually read a book of poetry this year, and I think I'm going to ask for one of Kwayme's (I went to his workshop, so I can call him Kwayme, right?) adult books for my birthday.

The lunch panel discussion was a surprise for me. I wasn't looking forward to it, because it was on nontraditional publishing. I've spent a lot of time on my own nontraditional publishing effort, and this past month I've been promoting the living daylights out of it. I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about hearing more on this subject right now.

But I was totally taken with this discussion. I think what made it good was the variety of viewpoints of the panelists. There was a self-published writer who is very encouraging on the process, someone who runs an editing company that also helps authors self-publish who recognized that some people are going to need help, someone who had been involved in some kind of self-publishing company that wasn't successful, and a traditionally published author new to self-publishing. I appreciated that they didn't all speak with one voice.

The panelists: Chris Cheng, Laura Pauling, Erica Orloff, and Steve Mooser. J. L. Bell, from the NESCBWI was the moderator. There is a reason for that. He's very good at it.

I'll be doing another couple of Conference-related posts later this week.

I am finishing today with a picture of lunch because Kwayme Alexander used a food slide in his lunch talk. It was terrific. People love looking at pictures of food. It is a universal truth.

The Weekend Writer: Conferences

So you're writing and studying. You're not part of a MFA program, but you want to get some live instruction. Or maybe you're done with a MFA program and you want more or different live instruction. You start thinking about attending a writers' conference.

Zakia R. Khwaja at Scribe's Madness has a post on preparing for a writers' conference. And it involves more than putting together the right outfit. Her section on creating conference goals is the particularly important bit here, IMHO.

A Couple Of Opportunities For People In Connecticut

From Creative Process to Curriculum Connections: Children's Books in the Classroom is not just for Connecticut residents. It's one of the NESCBWI sponsored events at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. And though it is described as "A Program for Teachers, Librarians, & Other Educators," it's also open to authors, illustrators, and "others."

In news specifically for Connecticut librarians, Kelly Jensen of Stacked has announced that she will be speaking at the Connecticut Library Association Conference in April.  Kelly will be speaking on April 28th, and the conference continues on the 29th.

The Weekend Writer: WriteOnCon And Writers' Conferences

I'm going to take a little break from writing about finding our stories with plot, so I can talk about writing conferences and their value to very new writers.

When To Consider Attending A Writers' Conference

When I was a young whipperwriter, just starting out, my sole experience with writers' conferences was working in the kitchen at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Conferences didn't litter the landscape back then the way they do now, so attending them wasn't something I gave a lot of thought to. Things are different now. Conferences are everywhere.

Conferences could very well be a good next step for an unpublished writer who has put in some time writing, studying, and maybe with a writers' group. I wouldn't advise it as the first thing someone considering getting started writing should do. You will get more out of a conference, if you have some kind of knowledge base to begin with.

Many people will tell you that the big benefit of conferences is networking and making connections that will help you professionally. Cannot say that has ever happened with me. I still think conferences are beneficial if there are workshops being offered that specifically deal with the kind of writing you do or with writing problems you have. That increases the probability of you getting something from the experience. That's another reason to wait to attend until you have some knowledge of writing. Without that, you won't even know what conference options are best for you.

Going to a writers' conference and sitting in the same room with other writers can make you feel like a writer. It's good to be with your own kind every now and then.

What To Look For In A Conference And What To Expect

Conferences are iffy things, though. Anyone can rent some space, higher a few people to speak, and call it a conference. Look for conferences run by organizations that have been around for a while, like the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and its regional branches or Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America or established colleges, like Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Even then, not all conference workshops/panels/lectures are created equal. Many are taught/given by writers who have different amounts of experience both as writers and as speakers. Publishing one book doesn't make anyone an authority on anything, no matter how successful it was. Publishing a dozen books doesn't mean someone can speak well and explain what s/he does. You have to go into these things thinking of them the way you would a book of essays or short stories. Some essays/short stories in an anthology are mind boggling. Some you don't know what they're doing there. You're going to come away with some transforming moments from some conference workshops, you're going to have wasted your time in others. That's just the way it is.

Which Brings Us To WriteOnCon 

 

Are you all excited now about attending a writers' conference? You want to go to one very, very soon? You can get a little exposure to one, cheaply and easily, by attending WriteOnCom, a free, online, children's writers' conference being held August 13th and 14th. "...keynote addresses, agent panels, and lectures are presented as blogs, vlogs, moderated chats, webinars, podcasts, and livestreaming." If you can't be in front of your computer one of the days of the conference, you can check out most of this online material at your leisure. I "attended" last year's WriteOnCon about two weeks after it was over.

I hope to go closer to the actual dates this year, and will, no doubt, be blogging about some of what I see there.

A Change Of Schedule 

 

Some of my faithful readers may have noticed that I'm having difficulty blogging on weekends this summer. To deal with the reality of this situation, I am going to cut back to blogging just once a weekend. I'll be alternating The Weekend Writer with Weekend Links.

So you shouldn't expect to see The Weekend Writer again for two weeks.

Situational Time Management Workshop References

On Friday, May 3, I taught a Situational Time Management workshop at the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference. This post contains information related to the writers and people I referred to during the workshop and is here for the benefit of participants and anyone else who is interested. The author materials are listed in the order they appeared in during the workshop.

Francesco Cirillo,  The Pomodoro Technique

Ellen Sussman, A Writer's Daily Habit: Four Steps to Higher Productivity, Poets & Writers, Nov./Dec., 2011

Herbert Benson, The Breakout Principle  Article about: Oprah

Dorothy Duff Brown  Post about with links to videos: Original Content

Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct  Articles and book excerpts  Psychology Today blog

Timothy Pychyl, The Procrastinator's Digest  Psychology Today blog

Alan Lakein, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life  About the Swiss Cheese Method of Time Management

Susan K. Perry, Writing in Flow

Frank Gilbreth Lillian Gilbreth  Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen

Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory

Charles Duhigg,  The Power of Habit

The Weekend Ahead

I am leaving in a few hours to attend the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators regional conference, where I will be running a workshop this afternoon on situational time management. Sometime this weekend I'll be putting up a post dealing with references for the workshop. Beyond that, I don't expect to be active here.

I guess I'd better go finish getting ready.

Connecticut Winter Workshop For Writers And Illustrators

The Shoreline Arts Alliance, home to the Tassy Walden Awards, is sponsoring a one-day workshop for writers and illustrators on January 12th. That's only a little over two weeks away. Note that the deadline for registration is next Wednesday, January 2nd. There will be two morning workshops and a networking luncheon as well, as an optional afternoon prep workshop for people interested in preparing manuscripts or portfolios to submit for the Tassy Walden Award.

The day starts at 8:30 AM, costs $65, and will be held at the Guest House Retreat & Conference Center in Chester, Connecticut.

Among the workshop presenters are Lynda Mullaly Hunt and A.C.E. Bauer. I actually know Lynda and have met Alice. In fact, I may have met other writer/presenters for that workshop and apologize, if I've forgotten.

If this isn't the first Connecticut writers' conference of the year, it's very close.

Well That Was Stimulating

I had a great day in Fishkill, New York where I attended the SCBWI Eastern New York's Mid-Hudson Valley Conference. Susan Campbell Bartoletti gave the keynote address. Quite honestly, she is kind of a goddess. I have yet to read any of her books, but she's a tremendous speaker, and her primary research sounds very impressive. I don't mean to brag, but I got to talk to her personally because I cut out of the last session early and caught her while she was by herself at the signing table.

I also went to my first literary agent talk and my first digital publishing talk and on top of all that, I ran into three people I know. They were other Connecticut escapees hitting the New Yorkers' conference.

So I am quite happy right now, even though tomorrow is a home maintenance day, which isn't exactly what anyone would call something to look forward to. Ah, but remember what the Zenny folks say--don't dread the future, live in the moment.

I Have Summer Plans. Really.

Today I sent in my registration for the SCBWI's 15th Annual Eastern NY Regional Conference: Out of the Box, which will be held on Saturday, June 11, in Fishkill, New York. This conference called to me because it is only one day, there is something I'm interested in during every session, and it's only a two-hour drive from my house.

The length of conferences really is an issue for me. A weekend-long conference or retreat means taking a big chunk of time from family work and home/life maintenance work that may have to be made up somewhere down the line. Making up those kinds of work often ends up coming out of my professional work time. On top of that, being away for a weekend almost always means some kind of prep, some of which comes from...yes...professional time.

Also, having to behave myself and be nice to others and do without exercise and reading time for extended periods is very unhealthy for me and everyone around me. It is not a good idea to put myself into those kinds of situations.

I live with two other adults and we get along very well because we all go our own way in this house. At a conference, you are not supposed to go your own way. I think that's the point of a conference. You are supposed to confer.

So that's why I'm pleased to have found this one-day thing. I can be with other writers for six or seven hours, thinking about writerly things, and then I can head home to do some sun salutations and decompress. And I'll still have half a weekend for life maintenance work--clean a toilet...iron some clothes...make some cookies.

It could work.

Attending A Conference In My Sweatpants

Last night I checked out The Official SCBWI Conference Blog, which is, in case you haven't looked at it, a blog relating to the SCBWI's Winter Conference that was held in New York City last week. It's a neat idea because it opens the conference up a bit to all of us who weren't there. And, in my case, to someone who has never been to an annual conference.

I was particularly taken with the post about Sara Zarr's Keynote address. She is semi-quoted (paraphrased, I guess) as having said, "Your greatest creation is your creative life...Rejection can't take it away; reviews can't take it away. The life you create for yourself as an artist, may be the only thing that's really yours..." That is sooooo true. "Celebrate career milestones, but remember that they aren't the point. What's important is the love of the work." Yes! Yes, yes, yes.

Because sometimes the milestones don't come. Or sometimes they come for a while and then don't any longer. If you don't have a creative life that you enjoy, those TV adverts for antidepressants are going to have special meaning for you.

I Guess You Would Call This A Writing Nightmare

Last night I dreamed that I had attended a multi-day writers' conference. This is quite odd because my inability to tolerate more than three-hours or so of human contact has been well documented here at O.C.. But this is a dream, remember. So it's the last day of the conference, and I'm headed back to my room to pack up my things. On my way into the building in which I'm staying, I notice that there is a grill in the sidewalk. It's the top of some kind of chamber, and one of the other conference attendees has been locked down there. I can see him through the grill, and he's not happy.

Once I'm inside, I mention what I saw to a small, gray-haired woman who appears to be in some kind of position of authority. She tells me that, I, too, will have to put in some small amount of time in the room under the grill because of some minor infringement, some little error on my part the day before. Don't I remember? (If I did at the time of the dream, I don't now. Wouldn't you love to know? I would. It seems significant.) I infer from what she's saying that I must agree to submit to the punishment. As a member of whatever organization sponsors the conference, I am expected to toe the line.

While I like to think that I'm into discipline and personal practices of various kinds, toeing others' lines is another thing. Even in my dreams. So I tell this woman that I refuse to allow myself to be degraded in such a way. I will not submit to such humiliation.

I get quite torqued up. It's clear that I am making a scene, that my fellow conference participants are not happy with me. The gray-haired woman announces that she is going to write an unflattering essay about me. At the same time, I wonder if I could get someone to publish an essay telling the truth about what goes on at writing conferences. Interesting, isn't it, that we both immediately turn to writing as our weapon of choice?

As a general rule, my dreams are very superficial. Anyone who has watched a couple of episodes of Oprah or Dr. Phil can analyze them. This one is no different.

This dream indicates that I think that I'm doing something wrong as far as professional networking is concerned. It also suggests that I don't give a damn.

The not giving a damn part should serve as comfort for getting the professional networking part wrong.

Going Places And Seeing People

Today I finally made it to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, in spite of the best efforts of my GPS to keep me from getting there. The New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators sponsored an event there called Overcoming Challenges. The morning session covered career challenges, and the afternoon session covered what I would call craft or process challenges.

Panelists: Elise Broach, Lita Judge, Grace Lin, and Sara Pennypacker (She has a website, but I couldn't make it open.)

I had lunch with Karen Pandell. She'll be getting a website sometime in the future.

I heard some thought-provoking stuff. Provoking thought is good.