This Friday I make the trek across the land (a few kilometres east) and water (the Fraser River) to the Surrey International Writers’ Conference (SiWC). I’ve been attending since 2018 and I can’t wait to go back.
I am staying at the hotel as the time there is, for me, mostly about reconnecting with other writers and meeting new ones, and with the social events following the talks in the evening. I will I’m sure learn tons from the programmed talks and the Blue Pencil I have booked. But for the first time I won’t be pitching to agents, but will instead be asking many questions of other writers about getting their books out there and all that entails.
I met my current writing group members at SiWC and have met virtually every month (for six years now), and I look forward to meeting some of them there this year.
I also look forward to meeting in person several folks in my historical (hysterical) fiction meetup (via Creative Academy), with members arriving from across North America.
For those not sure about attending SiWC, I highly recommend it, if only because it is where I began to build my tribe of writing friends, and every writer needs their tribe.
Then in early November I fly to the Kauai Writers festival. I attended last year as a way to combine a much needed holiday with an inspirational conference, and it achieved both admirably. It has a unique vibe, the quality of speakers is top notch (Salmon Rushdie will be giving a talk entitled Advice to Writers – hard to top that!), writers come from around the world, and of course the location is perfect for both learning, writing and relaxing. Highly recommended!
Then it’s home and my cover reveal, and the ramp up to my book launch in May followed by the start of the 2025 conference season – see my home page for conferences and festivals I will be attending.