2019 Realm Makers Debrief & Lessons Learned

We don’t write off the world because it hates us. We write for the world because it needs us.

Brent Weeks

I’ll be honest, I did not head to St. Louis last Wednesday all that excited about this writing conference for Christian writers of speculative fiction. I’d not had a wonderful experience at the conference I went to back in June, I’d been dealing with a rash of terrible feedback and post-book launch sadness, and I just wasn’t feeling the excitement that so many others seemed to be feeling. I wasn’t pitching, couldn’t care less about publishing my niche space opera writing traditionally, and knew I was older than a whole lot of the attendees. Talk about feeling left out!

But!

I went. And I enjoyed it.

Thursday

I signed up for the pre-conference session taught by Robert Liparulo about writing a series, and I was incredible thrilled to hear him say that writing by intuition is OK! I’d been terrified of hearing that you need a plot a series to death (something I’m just not capable of doing), and this pantser came out of that session validated and with some new ideas for Shadows of War. Completely worthwhile, even if I don’t remember anything else (thank goodness for notes).

I don’t have many notes from the keynote opening speech given by Brent Weeks – only one line, actually: The center of God’s will is the scariest place you can be.

As a writer, I can certainly vouch for that. More on that in a later blog post!

Friday

The first full day of the conference was busy. I jumped right into the continuing session that seemed most helpful: Balancing Life and Writing, taught by Wayne Thomas Batson. Again, I had the sneaking suspicion the entire class would consist of “ignore your family and write.” I was wrong. So wrong. Wayne gave us personal examples of the cost of the choosing a writing life, and concrete ways we can make up for some of this lost time. The first suggestion? Put God first. I can’t explain how amazing it is to be at a conference that seamlessly blends writing and faith.

Morgan Busse’s Organic Writing & the Christian Worldview was another class I was iffy on (as you sensing a theme here?) But for a general market writer, it was full of great reminders.  Every person’s story is different and authentic. Focus on an aspect of God that fits the story—if you choose to include a God character at all. The Book of Esther doesn’t mention Him. Jesus’ parables don’t generally don’t, either. But His fingerprints are all over the stories. For someone like me who doesn’t write overt Christian fiction, it was good to hear.

As probably everyone knows, I am not a fantasy writer by any stretch of the imagination, and I certainly am not into fairy tales. I found myself in CJ Redwine’s fairy tale retelling class anyway, and let me tell you all—while I may never do an actual retelling, you may as well start looking for some references in a new book. Maybe next year. Hint, hint.

Saturday

Sooooo, Saturday wasn’t nearly as filled with classes as the day before. I had a mentoring appointment in the morning (where I got to fangirl with Grace Bridges about the Vorkosigan Saga) and new headshots taken in afternoon (look for those soon!), so I missed most of the last bit of my continuing education class. I did manage to hit CJ’s Redwine’s class on anxiety and the creative life, which was so incredibly practical that I want to print out all the tips and hang them up by my desk.

And, though I didn’t make it to many classes on Saturday, I did attend Brent Weeks’s closing keynote. I’m not sure how he flipped what sounded like a discouraging speech into an encouraging one, but I know I’m not the only one who walked away feeling hopeful and terrified at the same time.

Lessons learned

Talk to people! They are generally not as scary as you think, and the ones who are will avoid you in the first place.

You’re not the only who [indie publishes, is a pantser, writes general market fiction, etc].

Don’t feel obligated to sit in craft classes. The writing life ones are just as beneficial.

The truth is terrifying.

People will ask about your books. Be prepared.

Take notes, because you won’t remember anything an hour later.

Mentoring appointments (at least at Realm Makers!) are not as terrifying as you fear.

You probably don’t need business cards.

If you’re scared of a story, it’s probably the right one to tell.

Not everyone is going to like you and your books, and THAT’S OK.

You’re still allowed to be disappointed over the reception.

God doesn’t always shout. Sometimes He whispers.

Don’t wait to write the story that’s on your heart.

Bring snacks. And a water bottle.

Hugely successful published authors have the fears as everyone else.

 Do not leave your reading glasses in the trunk before a 10-hour road trip home.

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And that’s it! It wasn’t a flawless conference on my part—I lost my badge during the pre-con, my son had more than one meltdown, I hardly sold any books, we had to take a detour around an 80 minute interstate delay on the way back (really, GDOT?), and the cats were out of food when we got home . . . but I can’t wait for 2020.

PS—Brent Weeks’s absolutely convicting closing keynote? It may be responsible for me finally finishing Faded Embers despite the lukewarm and downright critical feedback. Stay tuned for more on that.