Writers Conferences and Your Soul – guest post by Stephen Weinstock

WRITERS CONFERENCES… AND YOUR SOUL

I saw a clip from a TED talk the other day that enumerated the top ten factors that enabled people to live to a hundred years old. Yes, there was a focus group of long-living folks and tons of data about them. The topmost factor? Connecting with other people on a daily basis, whether it be a partner, a colleague, the mail carrier, or a random stranger in an elevator. Besides being a beautiful truth – that we keep each other alive – it provides me a bottom line for encouraging all of you to attend a writer’s conference.

I went to my first conference last November, after almost fifteen years of writing and networking on my own, or online, with very little face-to-face time. I had a writer’s conference on my To-Do list for years, but I needed a little shove. Although I have been in the performing arts for decades, your basic collaborative fool out for a good time playing well with others, as a writer I followed the shy, reclusive model happily. So what brought me out of the cave to seek the light of my fellow authors? My story will vary from yours, but hopefully it will help draw you out of the Writer Cave.

Two summers ago, I became curious about a training program in Akashic Records readings. Since my fantasy series, 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles, touches on this concept of a cosmic database of our soul histories, I thought it would be interesting research. What transpired is another story for another article, but my curiosity led me to become an Akashic Records reader, start working with clients, and work on myself with the teacher, Andrrea Hess. In one session where I asked Andrrea about finding an audience for my quirky, genre-bending, and Visionary Fiction books, she enjoined me to spend more face-to-face time with people.

I meditated on what this advice meant. Some souls can manifest change internally; do I have to act so externally? So much self-marketing and self-published books have to do with online connections, so why the face time? And what are we talking about: appearances at the local library, readings in front of a writer’s group, lectures about my area of expertise? As I contemplated, I finally conducted my own Akashic Records reading, and did the personal work to clear the bad karma and attached souls from my past life history. A month later I felt lighter in spirit, my problems still existing, but with less troubling energy. A nice result from my clearing, but now it was up to me to manifest change in my life.

Vowing to do one face-to-face event a month, I signed up for the Indie Author’s Conference sponsored by Book Baby in Philadelphia. The event was less about creativity and writing technique, and more about the business of self-marketing, promotion, and publicity. The writing process talks leaned toward productivity, and the motivational speakers inspired the authors to sign up for newsletters and products. But tons of useful information!

I returned home with a list of a hundred and one things to do, and spent the next month prioritizing and organizing the list into a five-year plan. For someone that was tepid and inconsistent at best in my book business, I was on fire. I dashed off emails and posts every day, I researched sites and services, and I built new strategies integrating the different aspects of my life. So attending the conference galvanized my intentions.

Although my energy had spiraled upward through the psychic work, causing me to wake several hours before the alarm or the cats, or engage in conversation with random strangers, I heartily believe the conference helped with this renewal and motivation. Along with gaining a long life through human interaction, this boost is the second reason I recommend attending a writer’s conference. It can be a more traditional conference focused on writing craft; use it to boost inspiration and creativity, as you would in a writer’s group.

PREPARATION FOR A WRITERS CONFERENCE

In the process I learned that it was important to prepare for a writers conference. My biggest fear before going to Philadelphia was freezing up or not knowing how to connect to people I encountered at the meeting. To experience the face-to-face event fully, I had to do more than sit in sessions and take notes. I could download webinars for that experience. So I made a choice ahead of time to set a goal that would inform my interactions. At this time in my career my big question is defining my readership. Who wants to read our strange, beautiful Visionary Fictions in general, and who wants to read my complex, puzzling epic in specific? So I decided to ask everyone at the conference this question. To prepare, I had to craft a pitch that would describe the 1001 series succinctly; then I could elicit a response about my audience.

It was a great strategy. It empowered me to focus on what was primarily useful in each talk (though there was lots of other important information), and to approach the presenter afterward. I asked my question to people from organizations shopping their products at booths, which helped me assess the product’s worth without being drawn into their spiel. I asked some writers, but I found less speculative fiction writers there than non-fiction, memoir, and self-help authors. I went home with a list of over two dozen suggestions!

My strategy also reinforced my networking with the service providers and gurus at the conference. I now have a handful of new allies who know my work, from publicists to indie writer advocates. I may hire some of them in the future for services, while others I can email anytime for advice. In December I was in contact with Eva Lesko Natiello, who presented a strategy for using Goodreads giveaways for marketing. When Goodreads announced it was going to charge for the once-free service, I informed Eva about it before she knew, discussed an alternative strategy with her, and offered ten giveaways in the final weeks of the free version. Hundreds of readers signed up, but that’s also another story. The point is that without contact with Eva I would not have engaged in this work.

As part of preparation, I looked at a number of blog posts and videos about choosing and attending a writers conference. One youtube video clarified how to prepare. Another video had helpful advice about what supplies to bring. The Book Doctors are always a delightful and thoughtful resource for perspective on book business. They helped me understand not to make a random choice about which conference to attend.

All in all, I gained a tremendous amount of energy, renewal, and confidence from the conference. I learned where I already possessed important information, but also where my blindspots were. The atmosphere of the conference was supportive and empowering, and I left with a bag full of useful materials. It was affordable and pleasant as a getaway, so definitely worth the value, something to determine when choosing which conference to attend.

I did miss like-minded writers there. It was fascinating to be among a diverse crowd, an author of Amish mysteries sitting next to a high school senior writing historical fiction. I did not attend the first night, when Book Baby organized soirees for authors in various genres, because I was there for marketing advice more than creative conversation. But if you wish to find a conference for developing your creative craft, I would be careful to look at the genre focus.

All of this is to say that, along with encouraging you to get out and renew your soul at a conference, I would love us visionaries to meet and greet one another at one of these events. It would be a huge undertaking for the VFA to organize its own event, but perhaps those interested members could collectively find a conference to attend together. Book Baby will host another Indie Writer conference this year, and the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) was a great presence at the Philly conference, is an excellent resource for members, and hosts other conferences.

At any of these meetings there would be social and/or networking portions of the conference where VFA members could actually have a face-to-face encounter. And thus we’d all live to 100!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BIO:

In his past life before writing 1001: The Qaraq, Book One of The Reincarnation Chronicles, Stephen Weinstock created music for theater companies, choreographers, and dance studios (Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham). His theater works included the musical Rock and Roy, with writer Barry Jay Kaplan, about the double life of Rock Hudson.  He has worked as a musician/teacher at UC Berkeley, Princeton, Juilliard, and LaGuardia Arts HS (the ‘Fame’ school).

For years he had the idea of a novel puzzling out an intricate past life history between a group of souls, but only with the epiphany of using the ancient frame tale structures of The Thousand and One Nights did he decide to jump fields.  By day he still brings dancers to ecstasy with his improvisations, but at night he enters the world of metempsychosis, time-honored storytelling, and worlds ranging from historical fiction to romantic fantasy.

As Stephen nears semi-retirement at the Fame school, he delves into Akashic Records readings. You can find more information on the 1001 series, Stephen’s posts on culture and cosmos, and free book offers on his website.