Conferencing

When a writer has no income, it can sometimes be hard to take advantage of all the wonderful conferences and festivals around, but I have to admit, there's nothing like the atmosphere and buzz surrounding a good conference to spur me on. I come back to my desk refreshed and re-energised and totally focussed on my writing. This year I've been very extravagant. In February I was in Sydney for the SCBWI conference; in May I went to Melbourne for the CBCA conference, and I'm looking forward now to the CYA Later Alligator conference in Brisbane in September.
I remember vividly the first writing 'do' I ever went to. No one spoke to me. At all. All night. I broke the ice a couple of times with gems such as: 'Sorry, am I in your way?' 'Oh, dear, it's crowded, isn't it? Was that your foot I stood on?' But those few attempts fizzled away.
Fast forward five years and things have changed. The conferences I go to are nearly all focussed on Childrens/YA writing, and childrens/YA authors would have to be the friendliest, most helpful and supportive group of people I've come across. I've been told Romance writers are friendly, too.
To anyone thinking of attending a conference for the first time - do it. Conversations do become easier with practice, and you'll gradually make friends and soon find the same familiar faces pop up at a lot of different festivals around the country. Then it's quite easy to say: 'We met briefly in Sydney. That was a great weekend, wasn't it?'