Are you a writers conference goer? I love them!
I attended my first Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers recently and they had the absolute best keynote ever.
Jodi Thomas
She is a 3-time RITA award winner and Romance Writer Hall of Famer.
Her speech was absolutely inspiring and hilarious. I’ve cataloged some of the best tidbits from her speech for you below.
Jodi Thomas’ best quotes
“If you are a writer, you need to realize you are not normal.”
“The longer I write, the harder it is to be around normal people. I was at a cocktail party where this woman was telling me about picking out new carpet. Before she was done, I was plotting her death.”
“The day you stop taking critiques is the day you’ll be as good as you’ll ever be.”
“Writers are like drunks. First we start out doing it socially, then we’re in denial, then we lock ourselves in the closet to do it. Writers conferences are like AA for us.”
“Creativity is the black gold of the future.”
Jodi’s Thomas’ best advice
“Triumph comes through perseverance.” She saw this in a cemetery after being rejected for all six categories she entered in a contest.
“Be proud of what you write.”
“Always deliver when you say you’ll deliver.”
“Be honest. Be nice. Believe in yourself.”
“Never walk anywhere you wouldn’t go in your Sunday shoes.” In other words, don’t write because a genre is hot. Write because you believe it.
If you are even remotely considering attending a writers conference, I urge you to just do it.
Pick a small regional one first. It’s easier to meet folks that way.
You’ll learn some great things about craft, marketing, publishing, and meet some incredible subject matter experts. I’ve met FBI agents, coroners, coffee shop owners, bull riders, circus clowns. You name it.