A New Attitude

So I'm back from the New Jersey Conference. I had a good time, met some cool new people, went to some workshops and danced like a fiend. Still, I came away thinking that I had more FUN last year. I don't know if it was because my monthly friend showed up Friday aternoon so I was cranky and tired most of the time. I was trying to analyze it, and it came to me was that last year Liz Maverick and Marianne Mancusi were there, and they know how to put on the fun. Also last year, I had just come up with the idea for Scandalous Women.

This year, no Liz, no Marianne and nothing to pitch to editors. It made me realize that I need to rethink why I go to conferences. In this economy, it no longer makes sense to spend the money to attend conferences just to hang out with my friends. Even though I had a good time, I could probably have used the money I spent more effectively in other ways. Perhaps by going down to Philadelphia to do research or work with a professional editor on my historical YA.

I also need to expand my horizons as well. Each year, I've been going to 3 RWA conferences. Next year, the only things on the menu are the Historical Novel Society conference and National. Since I'm writing a historical YA novel, it makes more sense for me to go to HNS than to go to any of the RWA regional conferences. As for National, I'm hoping to be presenting one or two workshops.

In the future, I think going to conferences, apart from National has to come down to whether or not I have anything to pitch or promote, and whether or not I'm presenting a workshop, otherwise, it's just not cost-efficient.