I'm thrilled to welcome Hildie McQueen, one of my fellow Crescent Moon Press authors, as a guest poster on my blog today. I'm trading places with her and posting on her blog about selecting names for fantasy characters and places. Hope you stop over at her blog.
But for your reading pleasure here, Hildie will share her advice on attending conferences. I'm very envious of the fun she's had and all the networking she managed. Please welcome Hildie McQueen!
The Conference Junkie
Conference whirlwind girl reporting from Newark, NJ Airport. Let me tell you, it's been a wild ride that
although I am glad to finally get off, would not have missed for the world. After each conference, I leave excited and
refreshed, fully charged after being surrounded by amazing uber talented authors.
#1 Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone, introduce
yourself, make it a goal to meet new people. This is a hard one for introverts,
but it's the only way, you'll meet fellow authors and make life long
friends. If you are a shy person, pair
up with an outgoing writer and ride her coattails.
Those being said, if you are one of those life-of-the-party
types, reach out to those hanging on the fringes.
#2 Be Flexible -- Don't
expect everything to go as planned and do not have a strict schedule that you
feel you have to stick to. Like life,
conferences have a way of taking on a life of their own. A 50 minute session at the Georgia Romance
Writers M&M conference ended up lasting over two hours when we decided to
take our group to the lobby, sit on the floor and continue a super interesting
exchange. Guess what? We ended up hanging out for the rest of the
conference, made some awesome new gal pals!
#3 Be Proactive - - Carry the following with you at all
times: Business Cards, Tissues, Gum,
Pens and safety pins. Business cards
(Self explanatory), Tissues, (well you'll need them, trust me on this). Gum (in case you get sleepy or after
meals/coffee), Favorite pen (to take notes, get numbers) and Safety pins (because
if I'm at the conference I'm always falling apart and will yell, "anyone got
a safety pin?!" You will be my
immediate hero if you do).
#4 Go to lunch or dinner away from the conference with your
new group of pals. It's where
friendships are cemented, some 'ah ha' moments happen and y'all can promote
outside the conference.
Lastly, one of the things I love to do is collect extra swag
and when I get back home I make small bags of swag as prizes for my book club,
and for my blog and Facebook giveaways! It's
a great way to pay it forward by helping fellow authors reach new readers!
Hildie McQueen's goal is to bring the unexpected into
people's lives, one reader at a time.
Using sense of humor, coupled with her love of the unusual, she writes
across romance genres, from paranormal to western historical, contemporary to
erotic. The recurring theme in her writing
is the search and discovery between two people to find true love.
Hildie enjoys traveling, shopping, wine tasting and relaxes
by scrapbooking when possible. She lives in a small town in Georgia with her
super hero husband Kurt and two unruly Chihuahuas Pancho and Pepito.
Author of The Protector Novels. Latest Release Desperate
Surrender
Kieran Frasier, hasn’t
kissed, much less loved a woman in over three hundred years, his heart firmly
encased behind thick walls. The fierce immortal defends innocents from powerful
demons, but can he defend himself from diminutive Wendy, who manages to get
past all his barricades?
Faced with arranged
marriages to others and battling demons that will stop at nothing to capture
Wendy, will they be forced to surrender their chance at true love for the
greater good?
Sometimes your biggest
obstacle is not who you are, but who you love.
