Is it Conference Time Yet?

Maybe it's the winter blues. Although winter's my favorite season so that doesn't seem likely.

Maybe it's the fact that it rained for about a week straight recently and it's about to start doing it again starting tomorrow.

But I have writing conferences on the brain and I'm looking forward to the next one I get to go to, even though it's months and months away!

I'm planning on going to the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Conference in September. That's seven months away, which seems like a long time, but y'all, it's really not! I have little kids, so they make life fly by with all the growing up they do, and I know that September will be here before I know it. Which means I need to get serious about prepping for this conference and make a list of things I need to do before hand. I'm sure people have talked about this before, but once that list exists, maybe I'll share it with you. After all, who doesn't love lists?

But today I just want to tell you something you've also probably heard a dozen times. Conferences are completely worth it. If you haven't been, you need to go. If you have been, you need to go again. Yes, they take money and time. But they are an investment into your writing that will pay off in the end. Obviously, they're great for learning. The classes are designed to teach you things you can use in your writing, whether they're craft classes or classes on that mysterious, elusive "brand" authors theoretically have that's become such a hot topic and a buzzword. They're fabulous opportunities to meet with editors and agents. Even if you don't have a book to pitch to them, just talking to them is an excellent way to learn about the industry. Conferences are also a great way to meet other writers. One of my closest friends is someone I met at my first writing conference.

So. Whatever excuse you have to not find a conference this year and go to it, seriously consider whether it's a good excuse or not. If you'll be on a foreign mission working with starving children in India all year, that's cool. Probably the conference should wait. ;) But if it's a smaller excuse, see if there's any way around it. There are a lot of reputable conferences out there and one of them is bound to be close to where you live. You can google and find lists on several different websites. I'm partial to the ACFW conference, which will be in Indianapolis, Indiana this year. But like I said, there are some other awesome ones out there.

Are you looking at attending any conferences this year? Have you been to any in the past? What's stopping you from making 2013 the year that you go?