Realm Makers: My Summer Writers’ Conference Takeaways!
Imagine a place where introvert readers and writers suddenly blossom, not only in their craft, but also in their writerly friendships, and even willingly deck themselves out as fairies, knights, monsters, steam punk characters, and more.
This place exists as Realm Makers Writer’s Conference, and this year I attended this conference for the first time in person.
2022 was actually my first Realm Makers, where I “attended” the conference virtually. As far as virtual conferences go, it was one of the best. I gained so much from the quality workshops and even got to chat online with other virtual attendees. However, attending in person this year elevated the entire experience to a whole new level.
I did not start out strong, I’ll admit. Upon my arrival from the airport to the hotel via shuttle, I stood around awkwardly for a couple hours. I observed so many people hanging around in groups and chatting and visiting, and my wallflower tendencies took over. I actually called my husband crying telling him I made a mistake and that I wasn’t cut out for this. Granted, I hadn’t slept more than an hour and a half the previous night and had just come off several hours of harried flights. Being the unflappably calm man that he is, my husband assured me I was fine, told me to go eat, and that it would all turn out okay in the end. Would it? I very much doubted it, but I followed his instructions.
With food in my stomach and the arrival of my roommate, the day significantly improved as we were able to check into our room, and I had someone to tag along with. Note of advice for my introvert writer friends: a) try to find someone a little more extroverted than you and then try to not annoy them too much by becoming their shadow, but seriously, b) a LOT of authors are introverts—you’re all in this together when it comes to writers’ conferences. Embrace the awkward!
Also, going into the conference with so little sleep is not advised. The opening keynote was absolutely brilliant, but I super struggled to stay awake as the adrenaline wore off, and I finally was sitting down to absorb all the amazing wisdom. Next time, I will do my best to ensure I have more sleep going into the event. I took a nap during the dinner hour and functioned much better for the remainder of the conference.
The speakers and workshops were brilliant, but I knew they would be based on the quality of teaching I had experienced last summer. What made all the difference this summer was the in-person networking and relationship-building that I got to experience this time around. Several people I finally got to meet in real life finally after spending months or even a year interacting with these other writers online. I also met several new authors who I am now online friends with and got the opportunity to sit down and hash out the first ten pages of my manuscript with science fiction writer Kerry Nietz and also got to speak with two different publishing companies about my works, as well as an editor and agent.
One person asked to see my manuscript! (Happy dance!) And another told me that I had a very strong emotional hook to my pitch that set mine apart from others! (Definitely taking a moment to celebrate these little wins!)
On the one hand, I felt so encouraged, but on the other hand, after my conversation with Kerry Nietz and taking in all the teaching, I also realized how far off I am from being able to move forward with my current novel. Realm Makers bolstered my writing goals, while also painting a more realistic picture of what that might look like for me. I still believe I will be a published author, but I believe my craft needs a lot more work before I will see that goal come to fruition.
Thank you all for cheering me on in my dreams and for taking my crazy dive into cosplay at Realm Makers in stride. I appreciate how each of you have impacted my writing journey! I hope to see new friends and old back at Realm Makers next year!
