I enjoyed presenting three sessions over Zoom at the Write Stuff Writers Conference yesterday. I wasn’t feeling one-hundred percent thanks to a lingering sinus infection (and a new bout of depression and anxiety that sank its claws into me a few weeks ago), but I gave it one hundred percent as always and all three seemed to be well-received.
My first session of the morning, “Anatomy of a Compelling Short Story” was brand new. It covered a lot of ground and I had to rush at the end despite practice. I realized afterwards that it lacked one topic, which I added this morning for the next opportunity. Might trim out one of the other slides. We’ll see.
“Time Management and Self Care for Writers” was, to me, my best session of the day. It received an overhaul in the five years or so since I last presented it and now has more substance in the Time Management section. The brief self-care portion was added after COVID.
My final talk on self-editing was one that I’d given three times before, but for some reason (possibly due to my propensity for speaking quickly), it ended about ten minutes earlier than any previous occasion, even with the addition of three slides. That allowed more time for audience engagement, which was wonderful and inspired me to add two more brief topics to the slide deck.
Between and after my sessions, I attended Sara Karnish’s wonderful presentation on “Putting Research to Work in Your Writing” and all three of Lawrence Knorr’s classes on self-publishing and ebook creation, which were helpful given my future goals.
Overall, a fine day with my tribe. I look forward to next year when we’ll be able to gather again in person at the conference hotel and I’ll be off the hook as a presenter. 😁 Many thanks to conference chair Charles B. Kiernan for inviting me to speak!
