For Writer-Type People

One of the surprising things about running a blog – even an anonymous one – is that I have gotten to know a lot more people than I expected. As time goes on, I have gained many new friends and followers, and I notice that this group tends to have a high number of writers in it.

Some of the writers are wannabe writers, many are trying to be writers, some are real-live published writers, and some work in the publishing industry. Whenever I make a new friend or follower that is a writer, I get a little nervous. At first, I figured they were just reading to witness the trainwreck that is my blog – as an example of “how not to do it.”  I waited for the letters to come correcting my grammar and punctuation – but they never came. (OK, I did get two comments last week asking me to proofread my posts. I looked up this term “proofread” and learned that one can actually re-read the things written and correct errors before you hit the publish button. Who knew?  I am going to try this someday.)

Anyway, my fears were unfounded, and it turns out that these writer-type people are really, really nice. They are generous and supportive – and not as self-absorbed as you might imagine a bunch of writers to be. And the other difference between these writers and the ones you see in the movies, is that these writers consume much, much less alcohol – which is always a plus. Especially for Mormon writers.

One of the Superwomen of Young Adult Fiction is Janette Rallison. She has sold over a million books. That’s a lot of books. If you took a million books and stacked them up, you would have a really tall stack, and probably get a letter from your HOA. Janette writes about things we all lived through: Teenage angst, puppy love, time-travel and killer dragons.

Somehow, whether by fate, luck, or my exceeding faithfulness in the pre-existence, I am friends with her. She is nice to me and actually did a giveaway on her blog of my book “Failed Family Mottos,” which you can purchase now and get it in plenty of time to give to your EC for Valentine’s Day. That way I too, can feel like a writer.

Anyway, Janette asked if I I would be willing to do her a favor. Usually I turn down such requests, but, because I’m a little star-struck, I said yes. Apparently she thinks my blog audience is mildly literate and would be interested in learning about this:

My first thought was to wonder why people would be writing about the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, then I remembered that it was ANWA, not ANWR. It makes more sense that Janette would belong to the American Nordic Walking Association – oops – the American Nepal Women’s Association.  Wait… I got this:

Now I can vouch for these people. Judging by blog comments, these people do write at night, because they leave clever comments when most humans are supposed to be sleeping. And they have an annual conference, which it turns out, is a pretty big deal.

This year, the conference is being held in Mesa, Arizona on February 21-23. That should be enough right there. You know what they don’t have in Arizona? Snow. You don’t have to scrape snow off your windshield. It seems that would justify the trip by itself. I imagine everyone attends the conference in either flip-flops or cowboy boots, eating oranges, complaining about their sunburn. and sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them. (Well, that’s how I imagine it – I’ve never tried to sign up – I hate rejection.)

There is a website that has all the details about the Conference.  There’s a lot of good stuff to learn, people to meet, and connections to be made. It is a two-day conference with workshops and talks. You can even stay at the hotel where it’s held and call room service and tell them “Please knock softly, I’m writing.“

I’m not telling ANWA how to run their conference, but I think at $180 they are underpriced. It is open to the public, and ANWA members pay a little less. Note: It costs the same even if you sleep at night and write in the daytime.

Here is the link to learn all about it.  http://anwa-lds.com/conference I’m sure a lot of you are already going, and I imagine that several of you will now sign up, merely because I recommended it.

If you are attending, leave a comment -to humor me because I am curious.

Thanks! And have fun in Arizona where you can touch your tongue to metal with impunity.