Yesterday I was studying memoir with the International Women’s Writing Guild at the National Arts Club. It was a great group of women in New York’s most beautiful brownstone.
This morning I was journaling about how much I love writing conferences and being in community with other writers. I also love Twitter chats around the hashtags #blogchat and #wjchat (web journalist).
Writing is a solitary endeavor so communing with other writers online or in person inspires and energizes me. I fill my soul with other writers’ stories and feel less lonely and more courageous when I return to my writer’s desk to write my own story.
Here is advice on attending writing conferences:
- Sit in the front, pay attention
- When a volunteer is called for, raise your hand
- When a question is called for, have one ready
- Make one friend
- Tweet one quote from the speaker
- Tell someone about your big secret project
- Share the struggle, share the joy — be honest
I mostly took my own advice:
- I sat in the back, but I paid attention
- When a volunteer was called for, I read something funny about marriage and work being overrated (got some nice laughs)
- I made a friend who is heading to Abu Dhabi to report from a falconer conference
- I tweeted, “Writers make the invisible visible” -Eunice Scarfe #iwwg
- I told Judith Glynn about my secret project
The International Women’s Writing Guild is a fabulous group that has empowered me as a writer, by giving me mentors and a sense of belonging.
100 Days of Poems and Pics 
Thank you Mary Beth for the mention. I had no idea. Yes, it was a lovely event. away enriched, jealous of the writers who produce non-stop and touched by the inspiration angel. See you next year.
No problem, it was great to meet you there and chat over lunch! I am so excited to read your novel – I charged my Kindle and now that I’ve downloaded it, I can read your novel, A Collector of Affections — especially looking forward to those HOT scenes!