writerjenn

This weekend, I'll be planning for a couple of writers' conferences.  One conference I've attended regularly for years; the other will be new for me.  

I love browsing the brochures and figuring out which workshops to take.  Every year, I have different goals, which drive my choice of sessions.  For example, for years I avoided sessions on writing dialogue, because dialogue has always been one of my strengths.  I wanted to grow in my weak areas.  But one year I took a dialogue session because I told myself, "Hey, don't assume you know it already; maybe you'll learn something new!"

I tend to take a mix of craft-oriented and marketing/networking-oriented sessions.  Right now I'm debating such questions as: Do I want to try a poetry workshop?  Which promotion-related topic do I need the most?  In my fiction sessions, do I want to focus on character, plot, theme?  I am very happy to have such questions before me.  I don't know exactly where I'll end up, but at the moment I think I want to focus most on the nuts and bolts of novels.  And I'll take at least one session that will be a real creative stretch, to keep me moving forward.