1. Julie D says:

    I wish I could make it….

  2. Alex Mellen says:

    These are great reasons! I’ve loved going to writer’s conferences, and I can’t wait for Realm Makers!

    If you’re looking for practical advice about conference-going, I wrote a blog post about it.

  3. Julie, I’m with you! I could easily become a conference junkie, and I would especially love to go to Realm Makers.

    Alex, thanks for passing along your link! Important stuff. I especially agree that it’s important to go to as much as possible—sort of the “shop ’til you drop” approach. 😉 I’d also suggest to plan prayerfully. God may have appointments for us that we didn’t plan, and we shouldn’t try too hard to “make it happen.”

    One year at Mount Hermon, where conferees can sit at the round tables with the staff member of their choice for lunch and dinner, I planned to sit with a particular agent. Two others conferees were there ahead of me and saved the agent’s seat (which we’d been instructed to do). They also were shifting around to make sure they had seats on either side and that they had saved seats as close as possible for their friends. As it turned out, I was on the opposite side of the table. When the agent arrived, she informed the table that she liked to go around in a circle and hear what each person was writing. And she always started with the person furthest from her—me.

    All the planning those other two writers had put into trying to get where they could talk to the agent was for nothing.

    Yes, we should plan, but yes, we should trust God when He changes our plans.

    Becky

    • Alex Mellen says:

      That’s a good point, Becky. I’ve definitely experienced changes of plans–maybe I should list flexibility as one of my tips! But because I’m generally a planner, I’ve experienced the panic of not being sure which session to attend at the last minute.

      But really, there’s no way to get unhelpful information at a conference!

What do you think?