Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Many thanks to Lynn Clement and Gill James for two photos included here. Other images (especially of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick) were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hopefully later this year, I will be off once more to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and I expect to take in a couple of other writing events. It took me ages as a new writer to pluck up the courage to go to my first writing event where, ironically, I ended up meeting the lady who would become my publisher. Neither of us could have known at the time.
Why go to writing events at all? What benefits are there for writers? Does it pay to work out what it is you would like to achieve by going to a specific writing event? I hope the following helps.
Writing Event Benefits
It can be a lonely life as a writer. It’s just you, a mug of tea or other drink of choice, and a blank screen or notebook. One of the top benefits of going to any writing event is meeting other writers. They will understand the ups and downs of the writing life given they go through it too. It is encouraging to know it isn’t just you and your blank screen/notebook against the world. Also, you get to make friends. That is a fabulous thing.
Another benefit to networking like this is it gets your name out there. People can’t look up your work unless they do know who you are.
The courses/workshops you go to at these events will teach you so much and help speed up your professional development. I’ve learned so much from every writing event I’ve attended and will continue to do so. Writing is great for the brain in that you do keep learning all of the time as you seek to improve. Nobody can ever say they know it all here and this pushes me on to learn as much as I can and apply it to my writing.
Many writing events will allow delegate writers to advertise/sell their books (and/or other writing services). This is an enormous help. I’ve often found my sales have an upwards spike (especially on Kindle) after an event.
Events can also point the way to further opportunities, depending on what courses/workshops they’re running.
Where events have guest speakers after the main workshops, as Swanwick does for example, there is much to be learned from these too.
Picking Events Which Are Right For You
Naturally writing events cost and it is a question of figuring out what will work for you. Every organiser has to ensure their costs are not just met, but they are then able to go on to raise enough money so they can offer future events. It’s not an easy balance to get right between making something affordable and putting the prices out of people’s range.
So it is vital to take your time thinking about what it is you want to get from the event you’re thinking of attending. I pick and choose the events I go to after careful consideration.
For example, for Swanwick, I like to go this because:-
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There are always several courses I’d like to try.
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There are even more workshops and shorter courses I’d like to try.
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There are networking opportunities everywhere – in and out of the courses and you never know what might come from these.I’ve made several friends at Swanwick and it’s lovely to catch up with them again in person.
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I get to immerse myself in the world of writing for a few days with no other distractions. I find that invaluable. By the end of Swanwick, I’m always glad to get home to loved ones again but those few days when I can just write, amongst other writers who have the same bug, is something I cherish.
So, for me, because I always get a lot from Swanwick, I do all I can to ensure I can go. But it does mean I have to exclude myself from going to other residential writing events. I focus on the one big event here – allowing for the time and money factors involved. I find this works for me.
You do, I think, have to work out what is in the event for you and your specific needs. It is worth you taking your time to do that. It could save you from a costly mistake. Also some of the bigger events, like Swanwick, do offer part time options (and gift vouchers) so it could be worth exploring those to see if this kind of event is the thing you are after. Going to a longer event on a part time basis can give you a good feel for whether the “whole thing” would be for you in another year.
Also, if one writing event doesn’t suit you for whatever reason, there are others out there.
Day Events
These are cheaper (though you still have to factor in the cost of transport to get to them) and you still get plenty of opportunities to learn and to network. As they are cheaper, you may well get to go to more of them but I would still counsel look at what the event is offering you. Is it addressing your needs as a writer or looks as if the courses on offer might do that?
My big day events are usually the Association of Christian Writers in person Autumn Gathering and Bridge House Publishing’s Celebration Event every December. Again, I get to network, learn, and catch up with friends I can only see online for the rest of the year. Talking of which…
Online Events
I love Zoom. It made things possible during the pandemic including my launch for Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Nobody chooses to bring out a book during a pandemic!
Zoom meant writing events could still go ahead and online events are still incredibly useful. Where I can’t get to an event in person, if they offer an online alternative and if the topic is of interest, I will go to that. My Book Brush graphic design program often offers webinars. They’re based in the USA. There’s no way I’m hopping on a plane to get to those in person.
The webinars give me opportunities for learning (and this is the point of all writing events – they should help you develop in some way) which I would never be able to access another way.
Zoom has also given me the chance to run a Flash Fiction Group for the Association of Christian Writers on a monthly basis. The members live hundreds of miles apart so we could never meet in person but our online meetings give us the chances to swap news, including of competitions, as well as get to draft some flash fiction in response to the exercises I set. I gain invaluable experience in running such workshops.
Zoom talks are often a good way to “test the waters” with a writing topic to see if it really is for you or not. Also if an organiser offers online and in person events, if you like the online version, it should be a good indicator you’ll like the in person type too.
Conclusion
I love writing events. The combination of networking and learning is irresistible for me. Plus I know I have learned so much over the years which has helped my Continuing Professional Development. They also give you the chance to find out more about what is going in the writing world, which is also a good thing.
Whatever writing events you go to this year, I hope you gain plenty from them. I hope to do so with Swanwick and the others I’ll attend.
Also, such events give you a chance, as you get to know other writers, to talk about your work. It’s no bad thing writers get used to doing that. It helps with confidence building and, at some point, you are going to have to talk about what you write. So why not do that with friendly fellow authors who will understand your drive to write?
If I see you at an event during the year, I’d be glad to see you for a chat over a cup of tea too!
Related Posts:-
Author News – Allison Symes – Getting Out and About with ACW
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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