Writers may be born with the ability to write, but they are not born knowing how to make their writing great, how to market it, how to obtain followers, how to format their writing to be sent out to editors, and so on. To learn about the writing field, we writers must read books and go to workshops and conferences.

June 21 through 25, I attended Saint Davids Christian Writers’ Conference at Allegany college in Meadville, PA. We stayed in the college apartments and went to workshops most of the days. We also had fun things like the literary coffee house, where authors had three minutes to read a piece from their recently published works. There was the Great Saint Davids Auction, where attendees brought new and used stuff to be auctioned off. The money goes into the scholarship fund to benefit next year’s conferees. There was also an awards banquet where we got fancied up, ate a nice meal, and saw who won the different categories of the conference’s writing contest.

I got to reconnect with old friends and make new friends. Conferences are a great place to network with established authors, other authors, publishers, and editors. I did lots of networking with fellow authors and have lots of new support in my writing career.

I met one on one with a woman who taught a workshop on talking to groups in schools. I got lots of advice from her. Now I have an idea on how to take my talk about bullying to schools, and I also have lots of work to get there.

I learned I can get paid to talk at schools and that schools have grants to have speakers. I need to find ways to engage the children in my talks and have them participate. I also learned I need to put together a printable pamphlet about my experiences as a speaker, what I will talk about, a blurb about me, quotes from places I have already talked to, a book order sheet and some other things. I need to get the book, Sell Books and Get Paid Doing Author School Visits by Kim Norman. Over the summer I have lots of work to do.

One thing that I learned at the conference is I must have an email newsletter to gain followers and an email list. Followers will buy my book, tell others about me, and bring more subscribers to my newsletter. Building an email list is important because those are people you can send links to upcoming books or announce books that you may have coming out. The email list you build from your newsletter are fans of your writing and they can help build your following and help with your sales.

I thought maybe I could just get away with writing about my book in this blog, but it’s not enough. I do have a fear of writing a newsletter. I’m not very good at editing. That is part of my learning disability. All writers must have someone edit their writing, but I have a hard time even editing a letter. I don’t know grammar very well. I get confused with nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs. I have tried over the years to learn more about grammar, but I still struggle. I have an author friend edit these blog posts before I post them.

When I came home from the conference, I spent hours trying to figure out how to use Mailchimp (a free program to build newsletters). I just got frustrated and confused. Today I will attend a zoom meeting on how to use Mailchimp, so hopefully I’ll make progress. It takes me time to learn new things. I must be shown several times. Luckily the workshop will be recorded, and I can refer to it.

Keep your eyes open for a place on this site to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a gift. Even though I have risen above the bullying I faced in school, I still fear failure and I worry what people will think of me. So be patient with me as I figure out this newsletter.

I also learned about building platforms. An author’s platform is a way to target audiences by making the author visible to the readers. This means becoming part of online groups, networking, becoming part of organizations that pertain to the subject you are writing about and building a website. I have a website, I’m a director for One Life Project, and I’m part of groups on social media. I learned how to improve my platform and how to become more noticed.

I learned so much that when I got home, I felt like my brain was overloaded and steam was coming out of my ears. I have been going through my notes a little bit at a time. I have lots of homework from the conference to do to improve my marketing of my book and myself as an author.

The best part about a Christian conference is the kindness and caring. I had an asthma attack walking to workshops. Several ladies came to check up on me, one lady drove me back to the apartments, my roommate brought me dinner, and the lady who took me back to the apartments drove me each day to the workshops and the buildings where we used. They prayed over me and showered me with kindness. I could see God working within each person to make the conference a wonderful experience.

The conference lifted me up and gave me a gentle push forward in my writing career. It will help me succeed with my goals and grow as a writer. It has helped me stand in the light of recovery with bigger goals and dreams.