Wednesday, October 19, 2011

SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN WRITERS STUDIO


I have made my way to Glorieta, New Mexico this week for the Southwest Christian Writers Studio. Not a massive, top-heavy, cattle-car conference, the SWCWS is quite intimate. Some might see a smaller conference as a bad thing. Not so. This conference is person-to-person, hands on brilliance.

I don't have to stand in line to talk to one of the well-qualified staff. I sit down with them at meals, walking across campus or in the coffee shop. The classes are small enough to encourage interaction and the seminars are down to earth and applicable to the every-day writer, every day.

For those of you who have not yet attended a conference, I highly recommend them. Not only do you learn inside tips and facts about the publishing world, but you meet WRITERS. Established writers, novices, and in-betweeners are here. You will talk to publishers, agents and editors in a casual, friendly, setting. The networking you accomplish is more than worth the cost of the conference and travel. You are starving your writing career if you ignore the conferences.

It's pretty exhausting, running around at 7,500 feet, but well worth the effort.

1 comment:

Carol Anne Wright Swett said...

Don, you are so right. This experience is quite wonderful. I am so thankful for the faculty and students. Can't wait to begin applying all that I am learning when we get home but will be sad to leave. So thankful that we can all stay in touch and continue to support each other's growth as writers in the days ahead.