From Edie: Julie Lavender shares what to do after a writing conference with 10 practical follow-up steps to build connections, submit your work, and keep your writing moving forward.
After a Writing Conference: 11 Things Every Writer Should Do Next
by Julie Lavender @JLavenderWrites
A Writer’s Post-Conference Pondering
If you attended the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, you’re now three months post-conference. Or maybe you attended another stellar conference offering in the Christian community in spring or early summer.
If you’re like me, when I’m there at a conference, my plans for my post-conference time seem literary-grand. “I’m going to do this when I get back home … and this .. and that. I’ll turn in this manuscript and write that devotion and read that how-to book.
Yet when I get home, “life” gets in the way and my plans get waylaid. I postpone and I procrastinate. Then I think, “I’m not really sure that manuscript is ready to send out. I think I need to redo that chapter before I email it.”
Well, it’s time for us to ponder and rethink our mountaintop plans. Where are you on your to-do list? Have you checked everything off? Anything?
Now that we’ve had several months to catch up with “life,” here are 11 steps we can take to capitalize on the amazing conference we attended.
- 1. Remember all those business cards we collected from new friends and re-newed friends? Have you connected with each person online? Have you liked or shared one of their posts? Have you emailed an encouraging note to several of them about their writing journey?
- 2. How many book reviews have you written following the conference? I’m sure, like me, you had the chance to talk with attendees who released books this year. Have you blessed them with a book review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and maybe their publisher’s website?
- 3. Have you reached out to anyone you met at the conference to offer a guest blogpost? Many bloggers frequently spotlight guests on their site. It gives them a break from regular writing and gives you another writing credit. It might even result in some extra publicity if you craft your bio just right.
- 4. Ask yourself the same question as above, but substitute “podcast” for “blogpost.” Podcasters also need frequent, fresh content.
- 5. Did an editor or publisher at the conference encourage you to send your work to them? Have you followed through?
- 6. Which workshop inspired you with a new, brilliant writing idea? Have you written that piece yet? Have you edited it, re-edited it, and sent it out?
- 7. Have you joined a critique group, like Word Weavers, International (highly recommended, BTW!) or perhaps formed a small, informal one of your own with like-minded folks you met at the conference?
- 8. When was the last time you cracked open your copy of Christian Writers Market Guide and searched for a new submission opportunity?
- 9. What does your TBR pile look like on the bedside table? Have you read all or some of the books you bought at the conference bookstore? Did you leave a review? Reach out to the author and gush about their greatness? Tell a friend about the book?
- 10. Did you shoot off a quick thank-you note to the conference directors, session leaders, or workshop instructors?
- 11. And last, but most importantly—how many people from the conference have you prayed for specifically? Do you pray daily for your own writing? Have you started praying for next year’s conference yet?
What have you pondered post-conference? What suggestions would you add to my list? Have you scratched through each of the bullet points on your post-conference to-do list? Join the conversation and let me know your after-conference success stories.
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