Writer and book reviewer Serena from the Savvy Verse & Wit blog brought up a good question yesterday about how I learned about Edie Hemingway's writer's workshops in Frederick, MD. I thought the answer could do with repeating, so here it is - I found out through the Maryland Writers' Association email list.
I recently joined the Maryland Writers' Association, and I've received a lot of great information from my fellow members. Members also get to put their sites up on the member sites page. In addition, the discount to the annual conference just about pays for the membership, so if you're planning on going to the conference, it's more than worth it. Attention emerging authors: you ARE planning on going to a writer's conference, right?
Of course, many of the people reading this probably aren't from Maryland. For you, I have a special resource that I've been working on: my Local Writers' Associations By State site. More than two hundred writers' organizations from across the U.S. are listed here (and counting!)
You can find a lot of great information online - believe me, that's how I started. But nothing beats a local writer's association for giving you that extra insight into local conferences, conventions, workshops, readings, and more. It can be a great advantage to a new writer to join one of these organizations, or even just to stop by their site to see what's going on locally. And hey, sometimes us writers need to get out from behind the computer screen and meet with people in real life, and what better way to do this than through a local organization?
5 comments:
Thanks for posting this. I have to join up one of these days.
I agree, Emma, local writing groups are a great networking tool as well as sources of information. As a member of the Florida Writers Association, I had the opportunity to meet Robert Gelinas of ArcheBooks,who turned out to be the publisher of my novel.
Jane Kennedy Sutton
Author of The Ride
http://janesutton.com/
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
Sounds great, Serena. And if you do, don't forget the annual conferences!
And there you have it, folks. Straight from the published author's mouth! Jane Kennedy Sutton knows what she's talking about. I've heard similar stories time and again, and the statistics show that you're much more likely to get published if you get to know people in the industry.
Thanks for the resource. I had been a member of 1 local writer's group and after being active for years let it lapse as my personal "circle" of friends moved away or worse--died. I have to get back to putting that effort in and this will help.
I totally agree with your post. Writing conferences are indeed helpful especially to the newbies like me. I am a coursework writer and I do it as a freelancer. Since I am just new, I need to meet other writers personally or through their online resources so that I can get some tips and advices.
Post a Comment