I spent last weekend in Elizabethtown, Kentucky at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. This month has been crazy busy, and I’ve been running around with no down time, so I arrived breathless and exhausted.
Friday morning they placed the appointment schedule sheets on a table and opened it for attendees to sign up for 15 minutes appointments with the faculty. I teach screenwriting and visual storytelling, which sometimes makes me feel like the odd woman out at writing conferences. The editors’ and agents’ sheets fill up while mine remains open. This time, though, I had names! Even more surprising were the people who just popped in when they saw me free. Each person had a specific question, and I was able to answer their question and direct them to more resources.
I was scheduled to teach my screenwriting class Friday afternoon. I’ve taught screenwriting plenty of times, but I’d changed it up a bit, so I was a little nervous about that. Then, I had breakfast with Susan May Warren (yes, THE bestselling author Susan May Warren!) and she mentioned she was looking forward to attending my class. Ok, no pressure there! Fortunately, it flowed well, and I didn’t say anything dumb (I don’t think…).
Susan was the keynote speaker, and each one of her addresses spoke to me personally. In her first presentation, she even talked about storms and walking on water which tied in so perfectly with my upcoming storm-themed prayer retreat this next weekend.
When I wasn’t holding appointments with attendees, I was able to attend workshops. I learned about newsletters from prolific romance writer Hallee Bridgeman. I gained insight about writing devotionals from author Charis Rooks. And I received valuable information about Amazon selling from author and friend Hannah Conway.
It’s a good thing I was teaching visual storytelling on Saturday, because I looked at my feet during the opening assembly and realized I was wearing one blue shoe and one black shoe. It was raining all day so I couldn’t really go out to my car to change, so I spent the day in mismatched shoes. Yeah… I called it a visual lesson, although what that lesson is, I’ve yet to discover. 🙂
If you’re a writer looking for a great writing conference, be sure to check out Kentucky Christian Writers Conference and make plans to attend next summer. You’ll be glad you did.