Returning from a writing conference takes a day of reflection.
Non stop classes, workshops and meet ups wind you up with inspiration, sending an urgency for you to produce more, expect more and then you hit home brain dead with sterilized, brand new input. You need to incubate.
From the first morning where new authors gathered for a celebratory breakfast, it was like letting a calf out of the rodeo chute. So much to learn, to do, to tweet, to Facebook, to LinkedIn, to change, to write, to write, to write.
A mass of business cards await my attention. Needing to say thank you to so many for their generous comments, ideas and inspirations.
Anne Hillerman and her business partner, Jean Schaumberg, head up the Tony Hillerman Conference in Santa Fe, NM, which is an extension from Tony Hillerman’s legacy.
Approximately one hundred people came, gleaning information from those who came before them, with top-notch authors headlining the event. David Morrell, John Sandford, Joseph Badal, Steven F. Havill, Sandi Ault, Melinda Snodgrass and CB McKenzie to name a few.
The beauty of this conference was the easy access to thriller writers. Unique. Whether it was following a panel discussion, dinner or catching someone in a hallway of the Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza.
The main thing I garnered from the experience was:
Write what you have inside you.
And … don’t follow the market.
