Things to Do If You Aren't Going To RWA Nationals

Not going to San Fran for the big conference?

You aren't alone.

Keep in mind that while it may seem like everyone is going, reality is out of over nine thousand RWA members, less than a third are attending.

That's SEVEN THOUSAND of us not in attendance.

There also happens to be a lot you can do from home to prepare for the new writing year--as defined from conference to conference.



1. Check out the upcoming RWA conferences, ACFW conference, and local conferences to find one that will accommodate your budget and schedule. Start planning now.

Next year's ACFW conference (held in September) will be in Denver, Colorado, my backyard. Denver is also known as the Mile-High City or 5280 (miles above sea level). I'm looking forward to this event!

The RWA conference calendar looks like this :

2009
July 15-18
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Washington D.C

2010
July 28-31
Gaylord Opryland Nashville

2011
July 27-30
NY Marriott Marquis


Keep up with RWA Conference happenings this week through these sites:

• RWA National 2008 Conference Blogging at the National site.
  
• CONFERENCE BLOG IS HERE
  

• Blog Nationals . com--A bunch of bloggers. One National Conference





• Camy's Loft will be sharing photos of the FHL mini-conference

If you know of any podcasts for the Saturday night glitz and glamour ceremony please share. I'd like to watch in my jammies eating chocolate cake. You all are welcome to join me.


3. Post conference you can catch all the publisher workshop recaps by subscribing to Cindi Myers yahoo newsgroup. There is a weekly post and no chatter.
Anyone can sign up by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

4. Head over to Bill Stephens Productions to get the conference workshop tapes and cds. The site posts conference specials that end shortly after conference. In past years I have gotten the entire conference on MP3 cd for $99.00. They arrive in late August.


5. While you're home this week remember it might be a good time to finish your current manuscript in time to submit it to the second contest of the 2008 Challenge.

• The second contest has no beginning, but ends August 31st and requires evidence of a manuscript completed in 2008 (not necessarily begun in 2008). The winner of a random drawing will receive $50 to assist their manuscript entry into the 2008 Golden Heart competition. This contest may be entered once per completed manuscript; however, there will be only one winner.

6. If you are reading this and are not in San Fran then that means you are eligible for a fantastic drawing here in Seekerville. Just post and tell us why you want to win.

You could be the winner of a the audio CD version of The Hero's Two Journey's by Michael Hague and Christopher Vogler .You can find out more about this great workshop at Michael Hague's site, Screenplay Mastery.

OR

You could win a copy of Write Tight, the comprehensive and indispensable writing resource by William Brohaugh.

Product Description:

William Brohaugh, former editor of Writer’s Digest, goes beyond the discussion on redundancy and overwriting to take on evasiveness, affectations, roundabout writing, tangents and invisible words. Other topics include:

• Outlining the four levels of wordiness
• Identifying 16 types of flabby writing
• Exercises that help writers avoid wordiness
• Streamlining through sidebars and checklists
• Tests that show how concise a writer’s prose is

The winners will be posted on Saturday at 8 p.m. MST.
(after the conference) Only those not attending RWA Nationals are eligible to enter this contest.

7. Finally, remember this is a great time to prepare your contest entries for the end of summer and fall contest fever that is about to hit. Be sure to visit Seekerville on Friday for a huge contest update post.