Writers Journey Paying It Forward—Even Sideways

 I’m just back from the Superstars Writing Conference in Colorado Spring, which celebrated its twelfth conference. It was also the largest at 250 people. Now, that might not sound like a lot, but this group of people were the perfect group for me to network with… This is also the third of those twelve conferences that I’ve attended.

I’d never participated in the Craft Day, a pre-conference experience, so I did so this round. I went to a wonderful presentation in the morning with award-winning author Jonathan Maberry, where he spoke about pacing, and in the afternoon with author Craig Martell on writing with all the senses. But it was that evening, attending a session on back cover text description, where a panel went through a number of our back cover ad texts, where I learned I’d never thought about from the panel. For example, they pointed out the essentials in what makes the best copy that I found an eye opener… which helped  me update the text to my first novel. (I’ll be posting that soon online.)

Among the highlights of Superstars for me were:

·         Hearing Jim Butcher’s author “Origin Story.” He brought tears to my eyes at the end of it—and I heard him say to someone later it was his first motivational speech in a very long time. We also had a candlelight remembrance of Dave Wolverton/Farland, who passed away last month. Dave was a founder of Superstars and the head judge of the Writers of the Future Contest. That was another teary-eyed moment. Dave shared stories of what he learned that I’ll never forget—and some of those lessons were from his blog. His Daily Kick is something I read almost religiously for several years.

·         Getting writing career counseling from Dave Chesson, the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, who shared with me a number of tips and told me more about Atticus, a software that he developed which helps writers share their work with editors and others in real time. I also met with Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Director of Business Development with Draft2Digital. (The day I arrived in Colorado Springs I learned that Draft2Digital bought Smashwords.)

Another highlight was the VIP dinner. The guest at my table of five other authors was Jonathan Maberry, award-winning horror writer, comic book author (he’s written for Marvel Comics), and is the Executive Producer of V Wars, currently on Netflix.

More importantly, writing can be a lonely profession. Superstars offers an amazing opportunity to network and just share knowledge. I had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with old conference friends and many people I’d never met, all of us at different points in our writers’ journeys.

Learning about the differing experiences—for editors and publishers alike, too, offered me the opportunity to ask question about a passion project I’ve been quietly working on for year, a Middle Grade chapbook. I’ve never done anything like it. The project requires illustrations and I’ve been looking for the right illustrator for, well, years. I met one of the judges of the Illustrators of the Future Contest in the game room. (Yes, there’s a game room at the conference, but it was a slow night. So, we chatted and I showed him a sample illustration I’d commissioned. He shared with me what I really need to consider—full color illustrations and an entirely different approach to finding an illustrator. So, there I was, my idea that black and white illustrations would cut it—and that I’d need even more than I’d figured... I then went to the  hotel bar, saw another author friend, who was with another fellow traveler, someone who happens to do offset printing. So, what the Hell, I asked him what he thought of the color illustration idea since I’d thought I’d do my project through Amazon. Well, you’ll likely not be surprised, I learned more about the benefits of Ingram Sparke than I’ ever heard before. And, he shared not only was color illustrations the way to go, but I was going to need even more illustrations.

So much to think about. But I’m not in a rush. Some projects are just going to take more planning, while I continuing to working on my novels—and short stories.

Just as people answered my questions, I shared my thoughts, helping not only those just getting started but those who had similar experience to mine. I’ve been testing ways of book promoting they may not have—and learned from them what they’d found worked.

That’s what Superstars is about. It’s about authors helping authors—and in our case, those who have a love for writing sci fi and fantasy in all its forms. And its why the conference often establishes an anthology with all the proceeds going to fund future scholarships. Six were given out this year. They announced two more scholarships both merit based—one the David Farland Writing Endowment Scholarship and another for diverse writers.

Now I’m thinking about what story I might submit…

Today I’m offering Dare 2 Believe, book one of the series, free on kindle for a limited time.

In other news, on the giveaway front this month Apocalypse Knot, prequel to Bigfoot is Not Your Friend, appears in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Pulp Fiction.

Dare to Believe.

D.H.