www.inkthinkerblog.com — My recent interview with Lois Winston, author of Talk Gertie to Me and a talent scount for the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency, was published in the Summer 2006 issue of the Rose & Thorn Literary Ezine. Check it out!

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Talk is cheap. Good writing is priceless.

www.kristenkingfreelancing.com

www.editingforeveryone.com

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — The woman behind me was peering at me.

“You look familiar,” she said. “Have we met?”

“You look kind of familiar, too,” I said. “Do you belong to Virginia Press Women?”

She didn’t.

“I know I’ve seen you somewhere,” she said. Pensive silence. “Do you have a blog?”

“Yeah, actually. Inkthinker?”

“That’s it! That’s where I know you from. I read you all the time!”

Awesome.

__________________________________________
Talk is cheap. Good writing is priceless.

www.kristenkingfreelancing.com

www.editingforeveryone.com

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Yesterday, I attended the half-day forum on connecting writers and resources in Virginia with my writer best friend at my side. We met there, went for breakfast beforehand, and sat together at the event. This was the first time I have ever attended a conference or forum that I wasn’t by myself. With the exception of maybe three people who were perhaps only 10-15 years older than us, we were by far the youngest people in the room by a good 20 years (and more like 40 or 50+ in some instances). “Is this normal?” Best Friend asked me. “Pretty much,” I said. I’m always the youngest person in the room at these things (although usually the gap isn’t quite as large for quite as many people as it was yesterday).

It was nice to have a built-in buddy for that awkward “Where do I sit?” moment, but it was, well, weird. I usually follow Cher’s sage advice from Clueless, in which she insists that one “do a lap before committing to a location” at an event, and then plop down beside someone who looks interesting. I talk to that person and the people around us, we all exchange business cards, and by the end of the day, it’s like we’ve known each other for eight hours. Yesterday, I had direct communication with only a fraction of the people in the room, and gave out only a handful of business cards (instead of the whole stack I’d brought with me). If there were like 300 people there and I spoke with 10% of them, no big deal. But there were more like 25 people there and I talked to five or 10 of them. Not bad percentage-wise, but numbers-wise, I was slacking.

I’m glad Best Friend and I went together because we had a great time, but I never dreamed what a different it would make in the way I interacted with other people in attendance. What am I going to take away from this? Chances are, I won’t be attending many of these things with a partner in place in the future. When I do, I’ll make sure that we touch base throughout the day, but do our own thing for the most part.

The whole point of attending conferences and events is to step out of the everyday and do something different, expand your horizons, extend your reach beyond your grasp, so why not do it all the way? It’s tempting to bring a friend along for moral support, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t do that, but don’t rely on that one person for all of your conversation, companionship, or input. You have an opportunity to interact with folks you’ve never met before, to learn from a vast store of knowledge by simply striking up a conversation. Take advantage of the opportunity.

__________________________________________
Talk is cheap. Good writing is priceless.

www.kristenkingfreelancing.com

www.editingforeveryone.com

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a half-day forum discussing a way to connect writers, publishers, and writing groups in Virginia. I’m very pro-statewide organization to link existing groups and support their efforts, and I was surprised at the resistance to that idea from some of the attendees.

I think what it comes down to is that people are, for understandable reasons, loyal to their current memberships and, for reasons that have yet to become clear to me, are fiercely and exclusionarily NOT INTERESTED in anything that may threaten those memberships. But how does an organization whose main purpose to support existing groups and foster their growth and coordination in any way threatening their existence or validity? On the contrary, an organization like that would only help those groups, bring them additional resources (and members!) and encourage their development.

Who could possibly be opposed to creating a database through which Virginia writers can locate and take advantage of available resources for writers? Who could possibly be opposed to creating a means through which groups across the state can share expertise and experiences WITHOUT having to attend a bajillion meetings or join every writing group in the state?

Virginia writers are in desperate need of connectedness, something that we sorely lack. No, it’s not going to happen overnight, and regardless of all the benefits some people just aren’t going to like the idea, but it needs to be done, and it needs to be done now. I’m not sure where the idea is going to go from here, but one thing I can tell you is that if it fizzles in its current incarnation (however inchoate), I’ll be taking up the cause myself. In the meantime I’m looking forward to working in the development group formed yesterday to explore this further.

What are your thoughts?

__________________________________________
Talk is cheap. Good writing is priceless.

www.kristenkingfreelancing.com

www.editingforeveryone.com

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King