Seattle Writing Day Workshop Seattle 2023

April 29th was the Seattle Writing Day Workshop, at the Seattle Convention Center. I have participated as a volunteer with them for years, but this was the first year I was a presenter. I'm such an overthinker, I prepared three different handouts, 3-4 pages each. Everyone seemed happy to have them, though! 

There were around 150 attendees to the conference. After lunch, I led the "Writers Got Talent! First
Page" panel, with four of the attending agents giving feedback to the anonymously and randomly chosen first pages. Always a valuable experience to listen to the impressions made and advice given by the folks who do this on a daily basis. 

Following that, I made my presentation, "Writing Is Not a Solitary Act," where I discussed different types of writing groups and their benefits, how to find one or create or your own, and the basics of giving and getting good feedback.

Surprisingly, I forgot to take photos all day! Very unlike me. Thanks to Edwin Staples, I have these two shots of me in my presentation. 

Despite people coming in and out (mostly to attend their appointments with agents, to pitch their manuscripts), I had a good audience. Most attendees were very engaged, and I was happy to be able to answer many questions regarding writing groups and feedback. I love you question-askers!

I will be happy to present again in the future, on this or another topic. 

It was fun to meet a few members of my Monday night writing group in person, for the first time, since we have been meeting on Zoom for three years. As always, chatting with my writer friends that worked as volunteers at the event was great, too. It's hard to make time to see everybody... events like this are a good excuse to catch up!