My Time at Emerald City Writers Conference 2015

The greater Seattle chapter of the Romance Writers of America always knows how to put on a great event. This was my third year presenting at their annual writing conference, and it’s still one of my favorite events as both a presenter and an attendee. The atmosphere at the conference was equal parts welcoming, enthusiastic, and casual, and I’m so grateful to the organizers for inviting me back this year.

As always, the workshops were a great mix of craft, business, and research subjects. Sabrina York gave an incredibly insightful workshop on street teams, while University of Washington Law Professor Zahr Said clarified a variety of issues regarding copyright law. While I wasn’t able to attend my good friend Gordon Frye’s workshop on firearms, I did get to go to Tina Shrigley’s wonderful presentation on the real face of PTSD. The most exciting workshop was probably M.A. Taylor’s hands-on crime scene investigation presentation. It was morbidly fun to search for blood marks, fingerprints, and telltale clues in a variety of mock crime scenes.

While there were no bloody knives or guns at my workshops, everyone attending still seemed to have a great time. Nearly every seat was full, and we all had a lot of fun as I taught about revision techniques, beta readers, and deciding where to start your story. My favorite part was when I was answering questions after my first workshop, and one lady came up to ask me what my other workshop would be about.

“Who cares?” said another lady nearby. “It’s him! Just go to it!”

“I will!” the first lady responded. “I just wanted to know what I’m going to!”

While the Emerald City Writers Conference may be organized by romance writers, the truth is that nearly all of the workshop offerings would be of benefit to writers of any genre. Of course, it is still very much a romance writer’s party. Nearly all of the attendees are published romance writers, as are all of the keynote speakers and organizers. Still, if you enjoy great workshops and the company of friendly authors, then this conference would be a good choice for the Seattle area. And if you’re writing romance, then this should definitely be your first choice for an annual writers conference.