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By Tammy Karasek @tickledpinktam

Writing conferences are in full swing already this year and the last few weeks we saw at least two conferences spoken about throughout social media. With classes of all the writerly kind, encouraging keynotes, the agent/publisher/editor appointments to give us homework, we need to remember to only take a short few days to catch our breath and be on to the new tasks at hand.

Once we’ve put away our tote bag of items, washed all the clothes and put the suitcase away it’s now time to get to work. Here is where it’s imperative to remember the cliché—sooner than later. The further we get away from the conference trip, the easier it will be to forget items we promised to do. We may have work to get started, notes we took we wanted to go through again to fill in missing info we later found out, or connections we wanted to follow through with.

Another reason to get to the task at hand now is the 80/20 rule. You may have heard this in a class or a keynote. It’s been said, people who attend a writing conference fall into one of those two numerical groups. A publisher, agent or acquisitions editor may ask a conferee to send them a synopsis, their first three chapters or even a full manuscript after the conference. Here’s where the two groups come into play. It seems 80% of people who’ve been asked to send in more information about their writing never do it. Whether their project wasn’t ready, they forget, or various other reasons—the requested item never makes it to the industry professional who asked for it. Then there are those in the 20% group. They come home on fire from a conference. They don’t let anything get in their way to get those materials sent off as soon as possible to the professional who requested it.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none” inject=”#Writing #Writinglife #BRMCWC”]A Writers Conference Follow-Up by @tickledpinktam on @BRMCWC[/tweet_box]

I want to see you be a 20% conferee! Below, I’ve written a list of items to jog your memory of items you may have had great intentions to follow through with as you went through your conference time and maybe even mulled them over on your travels home.

See if you have any outstanding actions on the list below:

• Thank You Notes. Some of you may have come prepared with a handful of blank cards and have done this already by handing a note to a faculty member or fellow conferee who encouraged or prayed with you. Good job! For others, this may have been a new concept and you didn’t know to bring cards. Although a hand written card is encouraging as a faculty member to receive at the end of a busy week—even an email a week or two after the conference is a welcome warm-fuzzy feeling.
• Follow Through with Connections. Maybe you swapped a handful of your business cards with other conferees or took a picture of their QR code, now what? Pull those out and go to your new writer friends’ websites and sign up for newsletters, follow or friend them on the social medias they have listed. These folks are your writer peeps. You’ve made the initial connections at the conference and can stay in touch over the next year until you meet again at the same conference next, or even a different one. At Blue Ridge, we often hear folks say it’s like coming to a family reunion. So, if you were just at Blue Ridge, welcome to the family, link up with your new brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Go Through Your Class Notes and Keynotes. When at the conference, we’re often madly writing down or typing notes and maybe don’t complete a thought. I suggest you go back through notes and see if you can fill in that blank while it still may be fresh. Or, maybe you attended a similar class that made a concept clearer, add that to your notes. Use a highlighter to highlight words or phrases that you want to remember and use soon.
• Implement something you’ve learned now. Did you finally grasp a concept that you’ve heard, but could never quite get it right? Figure out how to write a premise? Do some fiction fun and write a “What if?” and then the premise for it. And another, and another. Learn a speaking pointer? Practice it in the mirror. Understand how to use your newsletter service—write a short newsletter and send it to yourself to test it out. Put those new things into practice and quick. Otherwise, all those notes become dead without use.
• Send Items Requested Now. I’m going to tattle on myself with this one. A while back (not saying how long!) I had an agent or two request my proposal after looking at my one-sheet at my first big writing conference. I was a newbie to the core and panicked. What if it were wrong. What’s even in a proposal. I tried to find examples and they were all different. And I froze. Which translates into, I never sent either of them that proposal. I became the 80%-er. If you’ve been asked to send something, check their agency or publisher’s website to find their examples of the items they want from you. Most of them have them readily available for you to see. This point goes back to that cliché—sooner than later. I’m not saying don’t take the time to polish that item so it’s the best you can present at this moment. What I am saying, the more time you drag your feet and not complete and create the item to send, the easier it will be to not send it at all. (Or so I’ve heard…ahem!)

If you’ve attended a writing conference this year, I hope you’ll be able to use the tips above and get these items completed. If you’re heading to one in the near future, may they help you be prepared and ready to do these as well.

I’m sure I could list more—but I’d love to hear what after-conference tips you could add to the above list. Let’s help each other make our conference experience a fun and successful one, too.

Tammy Karasek uses humor and wit to bring joy and hope to every aspect in life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, drives her passion to encourage and inspire others and show them The Reason to smile. She’s gone from down and defeated to living a “Tickled Pink” life as she believes there’s always a giggle wanting to come out!

She’s a writer of Romantic Suspense—with a splash of sass. Her debut book, Launch That Book, released in November 2023. She’s published in a Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. Also, she’s a writing team member for The Write Conversation, The Write Editing, Blue Ridge Conference Blog, and more.

Known as The Launch Team Geek, she helps authors launch their books. You’ll also find her as a Virtual Assistant for several best-selling authors, the Social Media Manager for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Founding President of ACFW Upstate SC, and Founding President of Word Weavers Upstate SC. Connect with Tammy at https://www.tammykarasek.com.