As I mentioned before, I’m an aspiring romance author. A few years ago I had the amazing opportunity to go to the RWA (Romance Writers of America) annual conference. It’s pretty much a huge party with authors, aspiring authors, and avid readers that lasts three days. Even through the seminars, it’s so much fun to learn and be among people who are just as passionate as you are.
Anyway, I pulled this from my former blog because it proved to be valuable info. Some of you may be authors or even aspiring authors like me and here are some tips and advice I gathered on what you should do after going to RWA, or any other writer’s conference for that matter.
Congrats! You survived RWA! It’s been a long couple of days filled with workshops, signings, parties, and margaritas, but you’re finally home! Time for a siesta.
……
Okay, that’s it. You spent the time and money, now you need to put it to good use. I get that the kiddos are excited to see you, that laundry is piled to the ceiling, and all you want to do is sink onto the couch and watch your DVR’d shows, BUT there are a couple of things you need to do. Sorry to burst your bubble of relaxation.
Here’s my checklist of what to do after a writer’s conference:
- Follow Up
- You met so many people, now keep in touch with them. Follow them on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, do whatever you need to do to keep them on your radar.
- Send off your manuscript.
- If you met with an agent or publisher and they wanted to see more, send it off! Don’t wait so long that they don’t remember who you are. If you said you were done and you weren’t, then you’d better finish those edits! I’d send it off no later than 3 weeks from the date you met.
- Go through all of your notes and handouts.
- Make sure you can read the notes you took and add any notes to the workshop handouts while the information is still fresh in your mind. Looking back at an outline diagram you scribbled down might not make sense 3 months from now.
- Jot down all of the new writing tips and techniques you want to try out for your current WIP and then all of the ones you want to try for future books.
- Get back to writing.
- Guess what? That manuscript you left behind hasn’t finished itself. After meeting all these great authors and agents, you should be more inspired than ever to get your novel done so start writing. Remember, this is why you went in the first place.
Have any other tips? Let me know what I should add!
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