Conference Tomorrow on Writing

 

I’m attending a writer’s conference tomorrow in Glenpool. It’s only about 25 minutes from here down 75. I got the idea last week to start attending some workshops to start networking with other writers. I’ve been very lazy in this regard. I don’t like to talk about myself to others and feel that awkward sense I’m being judged. Or, I feel pressure to appear like I’ve accomplished more than I have in writing.

Even putting that much down on the page makes me feel like a neurotic. Am I overly self-aware? Yes. Does my awareness lead to a crippling sense of social paranoia? No, but it does mean social grace is not natural for me. I need to force it a bit.

 If there is a silver lining it’s that this sense of not measuring up is less a problem than it used to be. With age comes a comfortability in who you are. I’m never completely at ease but I’m less concerned with how people might see me.

I can’t shake the feeling that these events are a dead end, most of the time.

But what else am I really doing? What am I giving up to spend a few hours at a free conference? Nothing. I’ve got no excuse to pop in and at least shake hands, ask people what they do. The event is put on by the Tulsa Night Writers. They’re an organization of local writers that support and mentor each other in book projects. I’ve thought about going to their once monthly meeting where I’m sure a published author talks about their style, process and inspiration. I’ve avoided it because it’s so fiction heavy. It’s a group focused on writing novels and not much else.

I could be wrong about this of course. The director sent me a list of the classes for tomorrow. I picked the ones I really wanted to attend from 1 to 10. All were geared to writing novels. “How to write Dialogue” and “On World building” I did see at least one about self-publishing. That’s useful enough for me.

 The guests are published authors in the area of fiction. I might end up leaving at the halfway point, I’ll decide after the first couple of classes. The fact remains that a good number of these attendees may actually have professional writing jobs already. I’m in it for the networking. I’ve never considered writing stories. Actually blogging is what I do but because I have such a high tolerance for politics it often feels like journalism.

Journalism is a high bar though if it’s done right. I prefer the opinion heavy stuff. I don’t have to source it as well. If anyone complains, “I’m just a guy with a blog—whaddaya want?”

 I think I would’ve liked working at a newspaper. But then everyone prefers the work they don’t do to the work they do. It always seems easier somehow. But writing on any level requires some creativity that I never thought I had. But Creativity is a muscle not a gene.  At a certain point though if we exercise muscles they grow. Writing skills need to grow and develop in the same way. 

I used to think some people were creative and some weren’t.

It’s not right though. Some have a knack or talent that’s innate. But most people can learn to do other things in the creative sphere. Writing is one of them. Few will sell books like James Patterson or Sue Grafton but they’ll get to a point where they achieve success. The negative thing about writing is that it’s tough to get over a certain hump. “When do I start making money, and will it soon dry up?” is kind of the thing everyone needs to figure out. It’s where I’m at right now.

The positive thing about writing is a lot of people give up on it. It’s time consuming and Oh So competitive. But what isn’t competitive? You got a federal job I don’t know about? Competition is good for us; it keeps us sharp.

But the few writers I’ve known are a helpful group. The market is competitive but writers can be cooperative. As fans of the written word they probably assume there is enough work and quality will rise to the top. Whatever their reason, I hope to run across a few tomorrow. I regret not printing off some business cards with my logo on them. Maybe next time.