CONFERENCE PREPARATIONS

Next week is the Midwest Writing Center's annual David R. Collins Writers' Conference held at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. Because of my involvement with MWC, I am intimately involved with this high quality, high value conference offering three-day workshops on a variety of writing topics.

This year, MWC is offering an unprecedented eight total workshops and I had a very hard time choosing which I wanted to take. I know each of them will have something valuable I can immediately apply to my writing; however, at this point in my writing life, I know, deep down, that what will help my writing the most is just sitting my butt down at my computer and doing it. So, what will I do? I'm compromising.

I've signed up for one of the last workshops of the day: The Novel as a Machine of Desire. It is being led by Amy Hassinger who has written several highly acclaimed and award winning novels. Plus, she's written a history textbook. The workshop promises a study of novels from the slant of character desire with work on novels-in-progress. In my current novel, I am having extreme trouble staying true to my characters' natures while also inserting elements of surprise. I'm hoping the workshop will help.

To satisfy my writing practice need, I'm planning to work on my novel at home in the mornings until ten or so. And then to help with the conference, I'm going to volunteer my time from about 11 a.m. until my workshop starts at 3:30 p.m. I'll be filling in at the registration table when MWC's Executive Director is at his workshop, introducing instructors, and just filling in where I'm needed.

It will be like a three-day writing vacation! I'm so excited. Three days of writing, learning, and interaction with some of my favorite types of people - WORD People.

Have you had any awesome writers' conference experiences or insights on how to make the most of one? Please feel free to comment below.

Happy conferencing!
The Wordsy Woman