I realized (a little too late) that I could attend AWP virtually this year. So, after kicking myself a bit, I started researching other writing conferences I could attend from afar. Tech conferences have been amazing for my tech career, therefore….writing conferences will be good for my writing career, right?

I woke up early (6:45 am!) for the kickoff session, and I’m so glad I did — it gave me a chance to open the package of fun surprises they sent out, make some coffee and take a shower before sitting down to the work of the day. 

I started off in a session that sounded just perfect for some of the questions I have about my book, but it didn’t quite fit. So I hopped over to Maggie Cooper’s session on Comp Titles.

In addition to picking up a number of book recommendations (like Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars and Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad), I got a glimpse into what my life will be like next year, when the manuscript is closer to done.  I also learned about the (unsurprising) unbearable whiteness of comps (478 of the top 500 most comped titles were written by white people).

Then I hopped into Writers’ Hour, which is one of my new favorite things. And it’s free, so if you haven’t tried it, do. Tastes great alongside all the stimulus of the Muse conference. 

The next session I attended was Daniel Jose Older’s session History Walks With Us: Mythology, Memory, & Fantasy in the World and in Fiction. It was a free-ranging discussion of power, memory, trauma, detail, belief, religion — a potent mix of stuff that I’m struggling with for my own book (set in the distant future and wondering what, from this time, will make it through). 

Meditation for Creativity (Lara Wilson) was great, too — a guided meditation with visualization elements. I envisioned myself on a writing retreat in three different locations: A cabin on a lake in Minnesota, a small adobe house in the desert in New Mexico, and the warm, fire-lit study of Raasay House on the Scottish Isle of Raasay. I envisioned my book existing, in my hands, knowing that all I have to do is make it real. It’s already there. That particular trick hasn’t worked for me before, but damn, it worked for me today. 

Then she read Lingering in Happiness, from my favorite Mary Oliver, and it landed on me like water lands on stones underground. 

Finally, I attended the Welcome Write Night, which got me kickstarted on a new part of the novel, so I turned it off and focused — got about 1100 words in today. Best writing day I’ve had in a long time. 

Looking forward to: 

• The Day 2 envelope: What will be in there? 
• Sessions: Writing in the Age of Climate Crisis and Researching and Pitching Agents
• More London Writer’s Hour Support in the in-between times.
• And perhaps some reading. Because, y’all, I have about a year’s worth of book recs already.