Conference going part II or Why the hell did I go to Ohio?

Because Ohio is awesome, of course.

In all seriousness, however, some of you may be wondering why in the world one would pay all that money to voyage across half of the United States and sit, as I mentioned before, in a bar. Not that I spent a whole lot of my time in the bar, of course. I was not so worldly. But that aside, what are the advantages of going to a conference?

Let's rephrase that question: what are the advantages of going to a mecca of authors, publishers, and literary agents? Clarified a bit, didn't we?

So, putting aside all of the useful information that can be garnered on the actual craft of writing and terminology used in your genre by the professionals (and talking the talk is indeed part of walking the walk, so I wouldn't look down my nose at this) one can also meet a lot of very cool people. Or, alternatively, very useful people to know. Essentially, it's good business. And one of the best places to meet people happens to be at the bar or in room parties.

So choose carefully where you go to get the biggest bang for your buck, and remember not to forget the local events in your area. Once I started searching, I discovered tons of writer's groups, workshops, and conferences on the east coast, including but not limited to:

Writer House in Charlottesville (not to be confused with the publishing house in NYC)
- This place is conveniently doing a fantasy writing workshop on January 15th
James River Writers in Richmond
- Currently preparing for a best unpublished novel competition or some such.
Valley Writers in Roanoke
- Meets the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month in the Universalist Unitarian Church, Raleigh Court area
Bay to Ocean Writer's Conference
- Writer's conference on February 26th in Easton, MD
AWP Writing Conference
- This year this is in DC on February 2-5 (I'm not sure if it's always in DC, since I'm not done with my research)

Basically, until you look around you never know what you'll find. So hit up Google, work on your pitch, and away we go! Maybe I'll see you there?