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My First Writer's Conference



End of July I went to my first writer's conference, Realm Makers, in Nevada.

It was a great experience! I loved being surrounded by so many writers ;0 

The best part was meeting people and having conversations. Some of which were about story, some of which were not ;) 

I'd like to share some highlights from the weekend :)


Faces I met, some of which I had previously seen only by picture: 


Met these two on the first day - Tracey and Lisa. Found out later on that they are good friends of one of my best friend's older sisters :D 

A bunch of awesome go teen writer teens!! Spent a lot of time with the two behind me, Audrey and Jonathan

Ted Dekker was the keynote speaker. 

Two more fun girls - Jessi and Charissa

One of the first people I met, Carla Hoch. I had a lovely appointment with her in which she gave me some amazing advice for my stories. She is big into fighting accuracy in stories and has this neat blog about it called Fight Write

One of the nights we all dressed up - Jill Williamson from Go Teen Writers and her husband dressed as characters from Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Olivia, a girl I knew from the blog GTW

Victoria, another GTWer I got to meet in real life ;) 

And Jill Williamson! It was a pleasure meeting her - I discovered Realm Makers through her post at the blog Go Teen Writers. 



There were so many neat things about the conference besides people - though the people were the best. ;) 


There was amazing food - a lot of the times we were served three course meals at fancy tables! 

That stick was chocolate ;p 

Such an artsy watermelon 

That stick was also chocolate ;) 

Dark chocolate fountain ;0 

Isn't that fancy?

For some reason I didn't take any pictures of the food, only desert. And the desert didn't taste nearly as good as it looked ;p

But it was still fun. ;)

There were so many workshops and classes. And I had a few appointments to speak with mentors and agents. 

All of these were extremely fun.

The first workshop was with David Farland. I really enjoyed that, and hearing his story. I found it super interesting that he writes diverse genre yet is a best seller :D


Keynote speaker, Ted Dekker.

Carla Hoch demonstrating realistic fighting techniques. 

I believe this and the next one were from Mary Weber's session - not sure on this ;/ 



Writer's can have some funny things sometimes - and this wasn't the funniest. Some of the topics were quiet questionable as to whether the speakers of words were sane ;)

Even though I was at a writer's conference didn't mean I couldn't write ;)
Hair washed, writing shirt worn, laptop ready.


This is actually true - though I've only put people I like in my novels ;p There's actually no one I hate anyways...lol, so not sure I COULD put in an enemy as those are non existent in my life. 


Of course I had to buy a shirt from the conference ;) pink. Loved it!
 


I made business cards for the conference - here's the back :D



Ted Dekker gave me a candy bar. I guess it was supposed to be calling to me? ;p 




Books I bought or were given to me :D I tried to be careful and not buy too many books - I feel I did good :) 



My "pile of contacts" ;p





The place I stayed at and where the conference was held:


Have to get a selfie ;)

 

Something from one of the book stands - just so lovely :) 


As you can see, it was an AMAZING time! 

Have you ever been to a writer's conference? If not would you like to go? If so what made the conference spectacular for YOU? 

Comments

  1. I thought I saw you in the pictures on Go Teen Writers! That conference looked like fun. Sounds awesome!

    iviewrites.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 🤗 You should go next year ;) it was fun ☺

      Delete
    2. It looks like fun. Maybe one day I'll go. Hopefully one day. Gotta earn the money first, lol. :)

      Delete
  2. It was great to meet you, Keturah! I'm missing Realm Makers already! And wait, Ted Dekker gave you a chocolate bar??? XD That's the best!

    I'm working on my RM recap right now--so many pictures and stories to include!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same, Tracey!

      And yes... it was funny 😂

      Can't wait to read your post 🤗

      Delete
  3. Aaahhh it was super cool to meet you and hang out with you! :D I had tons of fun and I'm working on my recap post also. IT'S ALMOST DONE. FINALLY. XD That selfie of all of us is so awesome though lol. Plus I'm super glad that I'm not the ONLY PERSON WHO TOOK PICTURES OF THE FOOD. *high fives*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pictures are just awesome all around - food...selfies... *return the high five*. Looking forward to your post :D

      Delete
  4. *fangirls over the whole post* just... wow.

    Ahem. Excuse me. Got totally carried away and must introduce myself. I saw this post on another blogger's sidebar (blogroll, it is called, I think?). And I've JUST BEEN WAITING FOREVER TO HEAR ABOUT REALM MAKERS AND THIS IS THE FIRST POST ABOUT IT THAT I'VE SEEN!

    Yeah. Anyway. Nice to meeet you! I'll be following you!

    Lisa
    thisinkwell.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also p.s. *whispets* Ted Dekker is like my favorite author. Of all time. (So far at least) xD just saying :)

      Delete
    2. Ah, thank you! Glad to *meet* you! I must be honest - I've never read any of Dekker's novels. But I've been following his writing platform awhile. And love it! I plan to read his historical, A.D. 30 soon 🤗

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  5. It was so cool meeting you at RM! It's a shame we really didn't get the chance to chat much...apparently that's what happens at conferences. Too many people to divide your time amongst. XD

    This post is just letting me relive the AMAZING time I had at the conference. One of the best decisions I've made was deciding to go there! <3

    Loved this recap and loved seeing all these snapshots from your perspective! :D (And ha, I concur about the dessert. I liked the red velvet cake, but the tiramisu left something to be desired. At least it looked nice. ;))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is too bad we didn't get to talk more - so many people, not enough time ;/ Thank you for visiting my blog! As to the desert - I'm just crazy with sugary and unhealthy foods 😂 I'm glad you also enjoyed your time at the conference! I hope it's helped you with your writing journey ;)

      Delete
  6. This looks like so much fun! I wish I could have gone.
    I recognized almost everyone in the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fun - would have been a blast to meet you :D

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  7. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS LOOKS LIKE IT WAS AMAZING!! (and I love your business cards!) I wanna try to go to Realm Makers one year!

    Glad you had a great time!!


    Alexa
    thessalexa.blogspot.com
    verbosityreviews.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks!! It would be soooo awesome to meet you at a conference ;)

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    2. YESSS. It totally would!


      Alexa
      thessalexa.blogspot.com
      verbosityreviews.com

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  8. Eeep you recap was awesome, Keturah! It was so wonderful to meet you at Realm Makers! :D

    You had time to write?!?! That's so amazing! I think I was drowning in my notes too much, but I'll have to try and rally next year ;)

    <3
    audrey caylin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was amazing to meet you, too!!

      And actually I only wrote on the first day (Thursday morning). Besides that's I only had a little time to journal each night 🤗

      Delete
  9. The food looks so nice!

    I also put people in my novels HAHAHAHAHA but sometimes it's just better to make your own characters. But it's funny to put people in your novels xD

    I'm so glad you met so many people!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol - it's a rare thing I do - I normally make people up 😂😂

      Me too! People are awesome, mostly 😜

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