CONFERENCES – CONFIDENCE BUILDER OR CAREER CRUSHER

In less than two weeks I will be hitting Alligator Alley headed to a writer’s conference in Miami. Conferences are vital for anyone who desires publishing. They are full of agents, publishers, workshops, the latest inside scoop on the industry. They are the pep rally before the big game. Everyone loves them, anticipates them and is uber charged to attend.

Everyone but me.

I am dreading the upcoming conference like the swine flu.

Will I meet a lot of writers struggling like me?  Yes.

Will I exchange ideas?  Yes

Will I get great food? (Always a plus in my book)  YES

A nice room?  You bet!

A great roommate? Definitely!!

Will I hear all the things I need or want to here?  Need to hear:  Yes. Want to here:  Questionable.

The workshop facilitators are as enthusiastic as cheerleaders shouting the praises of their team, vigorously shaking their pom-poms of optimism and whipping the crowd into a writing frenzy.

Everyone but me.

I sit up front, I listen, I take notes, I really like the advice given. Then I hear it – those dreaded words from the publishers and agents. “We get millions of manuscripts a year and are only able to publish five.”

That, I say, is the pin in the balloon of enthusiasm.

Do I sound jaded? Yes. I shouldn’t because, one big “benny” from these conferences is the opportunity to send a manuscript into a publishing company that will not accept unsolicited or unagented manuscripts.

Sounds good – but last year was a bust for me. I sent in my best manuscript to an editor that was represented at that particular conference. I followed all their submission guidelines like they were carried down the mountain by Moses.

 So far, so good.

 Then nothing – I heard nothing, but I understand that waiting is part of the game.

 So far, so good.

A few months into the wait I read in one of my writers’ magazines that this particular editor had quit the company and had not moved to another as of that printing.

 So far, not so good.

I contacted the company. They had no record of my manuscript.

So much for that benefit!!!

Even though I am not as impressed as I once was with these conferences, I do meet great people. I receive great ideas and information about the writing profession. And, I continue to hold onto the hope that perhaps, just perhaps, I may be one of those lucky five in a million.