The Last Minute Substitute

Yesterday I received an email with a startling subject line:

“Help” It got my attention and I opened it and responded right away. A writer's conference director had a problem. One of his faculty members was ill and could not teach at this conference toward the center of the U.S. and it started on Friday. He wondered if I was available.


I wasn't real keen to get on a plane tomorrow but I checked my schedule and yes, I could substitute. Then we began to check the airfare prices. For such a last-minute ticket, the cost was going to be high. The director appreciated my availability but asked me to hold off on booking the ticket.


For several hours, I was going through my mental checklist of what I would need to clear off my to-do list in order to travel this weekend. I thought with the high cost, the director would be searching for a cheaper replacement.


Then I received the brief email that a closer replacement had been located. Whew. I was off the hook to become a last minute substitute. Several points about this experience:


1. I've been speaking at conferences for many years and I was grateful this director felt comfortable to call on me at the last minute. I've got the depth of experience where I can jump into a situation like this at the last minute without feeling anxious or worried.


2. While I could have traveled this weekend, I'm relieved not to be teaching for hours at this conference. As an acquisitions editor at Morgan James, I have a number of other things that are pulling for my attention. Now I will be able to focus on those matters and not be standing in front of a group of people teaching about writing.


I am excited about the various places where I will be speaking this year and next year. You can always keep up on these events at this page. As additions come into my schedule, I change this page to reflect the new events.


As a writer, what are you doing to open more opportunities to speak? You have developed a certain area of expertise with your writing. What is that area? How can you ask or open up possibilities for more speaking engagements?

Yesterday, my friend Sandra Beckwith held an hour long teleseminar where she gave over 60 FREE ways for every author to promote the book. I loved the information in this session. While the live event has passed, you can gain immediate access to the information for only $19. The ideas and resources Sandy gave were incredible.

You can take one or two of these free ideas and sell many books. Here's the key: you must take action on the ideas. Training is excellent and I listened to Sandy's teaching yesterday. The key for my book (and the key for your book) is to actually execute these excellent ideas.