The 2022 Writer’s Digest Conference is just a few weeks away and, after some deep soul searching, I’ve decided to attend. This will be my fourth time heading to the annual conference, but I’m not sure what to expect.

For the last year and a half I’ve put my writing goals on hold while I tried to cope with some major lifestyle changes. In addition, my experience at the 2019 conference was not as great as the two previous years. The magazine’s ownership was changing hands and things seemed less organized than I remembered. I also added the pitch slam at the last minute (therefore I wasn’t prepared) so I fumbled through my pitches and ran out of time. It wasn’t all bad; I met a great group of writers who I’m still in contact with three years later.

Aside from one unpleasant experience, the conferences have been an amazing help to my writing career. They provide a place to meet other writers and learn about their experiences. In addition, I’ve been able to connect with agents and industry leaders which, when I started writing, seemed impossible.

NYC’s Query Shark, literary agent Janet Reid, gave me permission to me create a Query Letter Infographic based on her 2018 workshop.

After taking some time to contemplate my writing goals, I’m happy to say, I will attend the 2022 conference with a different purpose. I’ve spent the last year aggressively editing my novel and decided to self-publish it this fall. As such, I’ve (tentatively) selected workshops geared toward publishing and platform building.

Although I don’t think I’ll be on this year’s program cover (like I was in 2018), I do plan on live-tweeting from the event, all weekend long, as I’ve done in previous years.

Since conferences are about getting out and making connections, I put up a conference page with my (projected) schedule, social info and links to some of my pre-conference blog posts.

I can’t wait to see what this year’s conference has in store. See you all at the Midtown Hilton!