Conference Rundown...Delayed

Okay, now I'll write about the conference. I've been hibernating for most of the week, sorry.

The PennWriters Conference proved to be a valuable experience for me. I wasn't terribly loquacious or outgoing, but I still did manage to meet some interesting people. I sat next to a Tor editor at dinner the first night. I stayed up late talking writing, TV, and movies (among other things) with two of the most interesting people I have met in a while. They are both published and both incredibly talented, and I was amazed at how comfortable I felt interacting with them.

My poem didn't win anything in the peer voting contest, but I wasn't really looking for it anyway.

The sessions were primarily informative, and I got a chance to introduce myself to an editor I hope to work with this fall. I went to the session given by Donald Maass on Saturday and ended taking notes on Monogram the whole time. I'm not ready to start courting agents at this point anyway. Nowhere near ready.

I didn't do any of the face-to-face agent/editor meetings or any of the hands-on sessions this time. I wasn't equipped materially or emotionally for that this year. Maybe if I go to Pittsburgh next year I'll sign up for some of them.

I did do a little writing there and have done a bit since I got back, and that's primarily what I was looking for when I went. I wanted to step out of the surreality of my life as it is now and into the writer-creative energy I knew would be fully present there.

I'm planning on joining PennWriters and seeing what else they have to offer, and I'm hoping to start and maintain a correspondence with a few of the people I met while I was there.

By the way, go out and get Phobos, then read it as soon as possible! It is an engaging read, inventive and well-crafted. The story keeps you guessing and comes to a logical conclusion, while opening the possibility for further adventures for Mike Brogue and his Hammers (Please, please, please, Ty!). A well-researched science fiction thriller with nods to the earliest science fiction authors.