As everyone knows, writing is a solitary activity where we writers spend most days holed up in our offices, speaking only to ourselves and our beloved characters. Which is why I felt especially blessed to attend the recent Women’s Fiction Writers Association’s (WFWA) Writing Conference in Alexandria, Virginia, so that I could connect live with other writers.
While I was packing for the conference, my husband asked me very seriously, “I don’t get it, honey. You’ve been writing all your life; how much more can you learn?”
Before I responded, I thought hard about what he’d said. Slinging my laptop bag over my shoulder, I turned to him and asked, “Do professional baseball players with a .300 batting average meet with a batting coach?”
He looked at me as if I had five heads. “Of course. How else are they going to get better?”
“But that’s a decent average, shouldn’t they be content with that?” I asked.
He answered smugly. “Not if they want to hit a home run.”
“Okay, and why do teams watch tapes after the game is already over?”
Very matter of fact, he responded. “So, they don’t make the same mistakes during the next game.”
I stared at him and didn’t say a word.
After a few seconds, he shook his head. “Oh, I get it now. You want to attend the conference to figure out how to improve your writing and not to make the same mistakes so your novel will be a home run.”
Sometimes my husband actually surprises me. That moment was one of them.
Upon my arrival at the Old Town Alexandria Hotel in downtown Alexandria, I connected live with my writer friends with whom I meet daily on Writing Date Zoom calls. Yes, IRL is definitely all that it’s cracked up to be and better! I networked and met new friends who offered to swap and beta-read each other’s books. Over coffee in the courtyard, we shared writing and publishing journeys —the good, bad, and even the ugly ones.
Then came the heavy lifting. Time to roll up our sleeves and dig our cleats into the dirt. Through sessions with literary agent Donald Maass, author Courtney Maum, and WFWA member experts: Kathryn Craft, Kathleen Barber, Lainey Cameron, Peggy Finck, and Nanette Littlestone, we—
- learned new techniques to avoid making the same mistakes in our writing to help attract agents and publishers
- applied strategies to help our words jump off the page, increase tension and improve our plots, and yes, we even created author platforms and marketing plans!
Thank you WFWA for all the wonderful resources and opportunities you offer to writers at all levels. For more information about the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, please visit https://www.womensfictionwriters.org
When I returned home after spring training in Alexandria, I felt confident that when it’s my turn to bat, I will be prepared to hit one out of the park!
Where the rhythm of the run meets the rhythm of the page,
Shellie
Log: 700 words
Miles/Steps: 12,000 steps
Shellie Pickett Author 
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