I’m referring to the fact that lots of my writer and blogger friends are heading out for the annual American Christian Fiction Writers Conference and I’m staying home. I attended the last three years, but I just couldn’t afford it this time.
I realized a few days ago that instead of being jealous and disappointed, I’m actually a little relieved. The ACFW conference is a wonderful thing, but it’s also quite stressful—for me, anyway. I know other folks say it energizes them, and that rubbing shoulders with all those other writers fires their imaginations.
This wasn’t happening with me lately. I was putting far too much pressure on myself to pitch and to sell. I scarcely had a discussion with anyone about our stories or characters or the actual love of writing.
I’m pleased to report, however, that I found a substitute conference to recharge my creative batteries. That’s my story, anyway. I may just be entering my second childhood, or having a mid-life crisis. A couple of weeks ago, I did something that I haven’t done since I was in my twenties. I attended a science fiction and fantasy convention.
This one (Dragon Con) was huge—thousands of attendees and events covering four major hotels in downtown Atlanta. There were speakers and panels with writers, actors, directors, artists, costumers, you name it. Half the attendees seemed to be walking around in elaborate costumes, which was silly fun.
I have to confess that I myself wore two different costumes in one evening—one a Pirates of the Caribbean costume that I sewed myself.
I enjoyed hearing Sean Astin speak about playing Sam in the Lord of the Rings movies, and attending a panel with four actors from the Firefly TV series and Serenity movie. I rubbed elbows with tons of folks who may or may not have been writers, but who were passionate about stories and loved characters as if they were real.
What more could a writer on a budget ask for to fire her imagination?
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I was bummed in early August when it looked like I wouldn't be able to attend conference but when August 15th came and went I decided to trust God. Within the next two weeks my teaching schedule got so bogged down and my writing so filled up that last night I actually stopped and was relieved that I wasn't there.
ReplyDeleteThis is NOT to insult the conference-I do miss my friends- but I realized that this year God has given me so many opportunities to write and teach/tutor that my place was home.
I am glad that you had a chance to do something fun. I think to the key to trusting God with our writing is to not feel we've been forgotten when things didn't turn out as expected.
AHHHH I accidentally went in to blog mode. :-)
Tomorrow I get to attend a great one day conference on Magazine writing that I'm very excited about. It is put on by the Northwest Ohio Christian Writers. That will be fun!!
And I want to see the picture of you in the Pirates of the Caribbean outfit.
Oh, Robin, that looks wild. I'm glad you had a good time! The ACFW conference IS stressful. No doubt about it. But I reminded myself this year that the pressure was off, so I wasn't keyed up and stressed like I usually am. I just tried to socialize and have fun, and I did!
ReplyDeleteI also got to meet my fabulous agent, Mary Beth Chappell, in person! Yay! That was great. Got to meet Nancy Moser, who did a great critique for me. Wow, she's good. And I met all the Seeker ladies that I've been "talking" to for the past year. That was really fun. So it was good!
But I was kind of relieved last year that I wasn't going. Didn't have to deal with the stressful parts.
G to hear you had a good time sticking around home, as well as going to a gathering of fun, creative people. One of the things I appreciate about God is that He doesn't stick us in ruts. He's always changing things up, if we allow Him. So some years, ACFW is where we're supposed to be, and other years not. Christina and I probably won't be able to make it next year.
ReplyDeleteWe decided not to let ourselves get stressed out this year. Went into all five of our appointments with the prayer that we would be a highpoint in the editors' day. That they would feel better because of us having been there. And I think partly because of that way of facing the stress, we had wonderful meetings with each one.