Writers' Institute Rocks!

Today I have returned from my trip to Madison,Wisconsin and the Writers' Institute refreshed, renewed and excited. Anything seems possible now! Actually, anything IS possible. And it was before my trip. This conference and the people I met proved to me for certain that I am on the right track. I felt it already, but it is so nice to have such positive reinforcement.

I met some fabulous people at the conference. If Linda, Paul, Carleen or Pam happen upon this blog, it was such a pleasure to meet all of you! You'll be hearing from me!

For anyone, especially those in the Midwest, who are looking for a writing conference to attend and have no idea how to go about it, I highly recommend the Writers' Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It's a great town, a great facility and phenomenal speakers and instructors. The participants are also wonderful. Everyone is incredibly supportive and friendly. There's no snobbery, which is something I was worried about before I attended last year. I admit it, artists are weird. Writers can be quite weird. Writing is a solitary endeavor, and to take yourself away from your cocoon of writing and then wander into the world outside that cocoon can be daunting. I've known some people who think they're the bee's knees and won't give a fellow writer the time of day ... unless they feel there's something for them to gain by it. But that's not why most writers write. We write to connect with people. Being snobby and thinking you're the awesomest of the awesomest awesome is lame. To those people I say, "Come back to this planet and don't be so uptight." There is plenty of room for more awesome people. Besides, some of the folks who think they are better than chocolate can really be sucky writers. We're all learning endlessly. It's a beautiful thing.

So in a nut shell, this is a fab conference. This was the first time I've ever talked to agents. And it was not even scary!

I have so much I could talk about from this weekend, but I have to unpack and also get ready for the Avril Lavigne concert tonight. I'm going with my friends Leita and Deanna (Leita is 10, and Deanna is her mom and wife of one of my bestest friends). I just talked to Tim, and he said Leita is all excited and has her eye makeup on. It's going to be a blast.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Minda

www.TheCemeteryClub.com