Are You Looking for Your NEXT Opportunity?

This past weekend I was in Lakeland, Florida speaking at a conference and meeting with writers. I love these opportunities to give back to writers, listen to their ideas and encourage them. At this event, I attended a number of amazing sessions from other speakers. Several of these speakers I have admired from a distance but never had the opportunity to meet face to face until attending this event.

When they finished their session, I made a point to connect with them personally for a few minutes, express my appreciation but also exchange business cards.  I asked for their card and if they did not have one (which happens often), I asked for their contact information.

Why take such actions? Because I want them to be able to reach out to me. Also if I have a need, I want to be able to reach them. As a consistent practice, I'm always looking for the next opportunity. These possibilities are everywhere. Are you sensitive to them? Are you seizing them when they come?

Here's five action steps for every writer:

1. Send a follow-up email right away. During the weekend, I reached out to one speaker and turns out he was working on a book proposal and promised to send it to me in a few weeks.

2. Be generous with your business cards and contact information. Ask for the contact information from others. Make sure they can reach you and you can reach them. For example, I included my contact information on my handouts.

3. Always be looking and open to the possibilities. There are many different types of opportunities. Sometimes the opportunity is to write and other times it is to speak. The director of the conference this past weekend, I met a year ago at one day event in Orlando with the Florida Writers Association. You have to be open to various possibilities and see what happens. 

4. If possible, respond right away to the idea. Send email, respond to their emails, etc. We are in the communication business. The reality is that few people communicate—so if you do, you will stand out.

5. Express gratitude to others. I can't emphasize enough the importance of gratitude. We live in a thankless world where few people express gratitude. You will stand out and have other opportunities if you express gratitude. Did someone give you a book? I received on this past weekend. I will be writing this author a personal thank you note.

Bonus Action Step: When you see that you've let an opportunity slip past you, take action on it after the fact and see what happens. If you do nothing, then nothing will happen but if you do something then something may happen. 

I've had authors send me their book proposal and submission years after we first met (yes years). As an acquisitions editor, I continue to look for new authors and book projects every day. When this author sent her book, I was still looking and she ended up publishing her book with Morgan James and now it is out into the bookstore. I'm sure this author hesitated to reach out to me months after we first met—yet she still took action and it paid off.

As writers, we must seize the opportunities which come across our path. You never know where your next opportunity will take you.

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Answer The Question

Over the last week, I've had limited opportunity to add new entries about The Writing Life. I was traveling to the Florida Writers Conference in Orlando. For me, I was with a new group of writers and always brings some interesting interaction and dynamics. Each writers conference has it's own rhythm and personality. Throughout the past year, I've been to almost a conference each month. During June, I spoke three weekends in a row--which was a bit intense especially zigzagging around the country from home to Amarillo, Texas to home to Roanoke, Virginia to home to Charlotte, North Carolina to home.

At the Florida conference there wasn't a faculty meeting or occasion to meet the various leaders of the local group so I had to pick up this information throughout the conference. Some conferences begin with a faculty meeting which provides this type of information. I taught two workshops and as the weekend progressed, I learned my volunteer room monitor was the Vice President of the Florida Writers Association, Chrissy Jackson. To get feedback about the individual workshops, each participant was given a simple evaluation slip when they came into the room. After the workshop, they filled out the slip and returned it to the registration desk. Why? Because when they turned in their feedback, they were given a numbered raffle ticket. At various points throughout the conference, these numbers were drawn and the winners received some nice prizes. This system gave the participants plenty of incentive to fill out the feedback forms and gather as many raffle tickets as they could collect.

At the end of the conference, Chrissy promised to send me my feedback from the registration forms, then she said, "I've seen your evaluations. It was very positive."

The way she said that statement made me think it was unusual and I said, "Isn't it supposed to be that way?"

Chrissy said, "Your workshop was different because when someone asked a question, you answered it for them in a way they could understand and apply."

As someone who has been attending writers conferences for many years, I was a bit confused. It didn't seem to me like I was doing anything unusual in answering the questions of the participants. "What's so different about that? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do if you teach a workshop?" I inquired.

"You'd be surprised at some of the other workshop leaders, Terry," Chrissy said. "Yes, they give an answer but it doesn't connect to the question nor does it answer their question?" I was a bit surprised at the reaction and grateful that my teaching was well received.

Tomorrow I will continue to write about my experiences from this workshop. I met some fascinating people at this conference and formed some new and valuable friendships. It's another one of the benefits of going to different conferences--something I recommend.