On The Road Again
By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
After 14 months off the
road, when I publish these words, I will be traveling again. Like many other
people, a worldwide pandemic has changed my writing life. I want to celebrate
the return to normality and in this article talk about the advantages
to attending live events.
On the surface, publishing looks
like a simple business but from my experience it is complex with many options
and possibilities. What people don't say is much of it is outside of the
author's control. There are active steps you can take as a writer (which has
been my focus for years and what I encourage you to do as well). Who you know is
often as important as what you know. A random conversation at a conference can
turn into a book deal or a writing opportunity—if you are aware of it, follow-up
and take action.
Live events are a break in your
normal routine and provide opportunities for your writing. These events will be
coming back and I encourage you to plan them into your writing life. I'm in a
Facebook group of writers preparing for the Blue Ridge Mountains
Christian Writers Conference. I've seen several people say they attended in
the past but spent most of their time in their room. While I understand the
majority of writers are introverts, don't hide in your room during a conference.
You have to pace yourself not to get exhausted because they are intense—but I
encourage you to be outside of your room with others as much as possible.
It might not seem natural to you
but smile, greet others, start conversations and exchange business cards with as
many people as you can throughout the event. Each person you meet can be an
opportunity—for you to help them and for them to help you—no matter if they are
a first=timer or have attended multiple conferences. Beginning and building
relationships take time and you are offered this opportunity during a
conference. These events are active (and at least for me) nonstop from early in
the morning until late at night. They provide opportunities for me to tell
people about my books and sell a few books plus even give books to key people
who have influence in the publishing world.
I am teaching a continuing class
which picked up on a key publishing buzzword: platform: What Is A Platform and
how can I get one? I'm teaching about things that I do day to day but rarely
teach these details to others. Conferences provide a wonderful opportunity to
give back to others through your teaching and handouts. Years ago, I learned the
importance of handouts in my classes and I put extra effort into providing
handouts which have high value to the reader with additional links and
resources.
The challenge I have attending
these live events is to keep up (in some ways) my life as an editor and writer.
The majority of my authors have no idea I'm away from my office and on the road.
I will still get the regular stream of email and phone calls. Some of those
emails I can put off until my return but others will require processing them on
the road. The consistent communication with authors and others never stops and
is a key part of my writing and editing life. Like everything, we make time for
what we need to do—even on the road.
Some Recent Other
Articles
In these articles, I've
encouraged you to guest blog for others to reach new readers. If you follow my
Twitter feed, you will see that I regularly write for other places. Here's a
couple of my recent articles for Writers on the Move (Why Writers Must Follow-up and
Searching for a Magic Bullet)
and the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference blog (Writer, Use the Power of Asking
and Why Writers Do More Than
Write). I hope you will follow the links and read these articles then apply
them to your own writing life.
How do you handle attending a
live event? Are you planning on attending some live events this year? Let me
know in the comments below.
Labels: Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, books, conferences, On the Road Again, publishing, The Writing Life, travel, W. Terry Whalin, writing
