If your goal for 2020 is to get more serious about your writing career, then you might want to consider attending a writer’s conference.
There are plenty of reasons to attend a conference: to find an editor, to connect with an agent, to learn more about your craft, to gain motivation, to expand your network, among others. Only you know what you want to accomplish when you get there.
Knowing which conference to attend can be daunting however. There are numerous conferences to choose from and there seems to be more every year. Which one you choose to attend will depend on your budget, of course, the location, and perhaps the size of the event. It’s also important to consider your goal for the conference: what do you hope to achieve while you are there? You might also be enticed by the editors and agents who plan to attend, or who the keynote speaker will be.
Your best bet is to choose a conference that is a) locally accessible and b) serves your genre. That way you know you can spend time with other like-minded professionals who are writing within the same genre and you can connect with editors and literary agents who specialize in that genre. For example, if you write science fiction or fantasy, your best bet is to attend a writer’s conference for the sci-fi genre, though you can get just as much out of a general writer’s conference too.
If cost is a concern, check conference websites for information about scholarships. Some conferences do offer scholarships for part or all of the cost of the conference, so it might be worthwhile to check it out. Also, some states offer grants for individual artists to pursue a professional development goal or complete a project. For example, the Illinois Arts Council offers grants for individuals artists (although as of this writing, funding has been expended and won’t continue until 2021).
Below is a brief list of writer’s conferences for the first half of this year. There are plenty more in the second half, but most of them have not published dates or registration information just yet. Most of the conferences listed below are located in the Midwest, close to where I live. If you live elsewhere, check Google for writing conferences and university-sponsored workshops close to you. Later this year, I’ll do a follow up post about scheduled conferences for the second half of the year. Stay tuned.
What about you? Have you attended a writer’s conference? Where did you go? What was your experience like?
March
Midwest Writers Workshop Agent Fest
Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana
March 13-14, 2020
Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference
Presented by Chicago Writers Association
Chicago, Illinois
March 21-22, 2020
University of Wisconsin Writers Institute
Madison, Wisconsin
March 26-29, 2020
Southern Kentucky Writers Conference and Bookfest
Bowling Green, Kentucky
March 30, 2020
April
Screencraft Writers Summit
Chicago, Illinois
April 24-27, 2020
Spring Fling Writers Conference
Presented by Chicago-North Romance Writers of America
Chicago, Illinois
April 30-May 3, 2020
May
Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference
Black Mountain, North Carolina
May 24-28, 2020
Bear River Writers Conference
University of Michigan
May 28-June 1, 2020
Indiana University Writers Conference
Bloomington, Indiana
May 30-June 3, 2020
June
Rutgers-New Brunswick Writers Conference
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
June 5-7, 2020
Write by the Lake Workshop and Retreat (not a conference, but a working retreat)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
June 15-19, 2020
Write-to-Publish Conference
Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois
June 17-20, 2020
Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference
Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota
June 22-28, 2020
Jackson Hole Writers Conference
Jackson, Wyoming
June 25-27, 2020
And the big daddy of them all:
Writers Digest Annual Conference
New York City
August 13-16, 2020
More conference listings to come later this spring.
The Regal Writer 