Time to Breathe Yet?

Nope, not quite. I participated in an on-line conference this year: MuseOnline and am still catching up, even though the conference officially ended yesterday. Was it only yesterday? Geez, my mind is still spinning. I don't remember who told me about the conference to begin with. It happened last year, but I did not sign up. Too many things to do--besides, it was an on-line thing, and free. How many things have you ever gotten for free that were worth the price you paid? Exactly. FREE was not something I was willing to pay for last year. And I had my doubts about it this year, too. But another friend told me she would be giving a workshop on non-verbal communications, so I decided that I'd give it a shot. Besides, free means I can back out any time I want. FREE means free. No obligations, right?


HA! Let me tell you, this conference was the best thing I've done for my writing in ages--besides actually writing, that is. And there is NaNo, too. NaNo's free, and it's fun. Maybe the Muse Conference would be, at least, fun. I didn't end up wanting to back out of anything I'd signed up for, though I was disappointed that two of the workshops didn't actually happen. However, there were more than enough to choose from to keep me up to my literarily-aspiring eyeballs in busy. I signed up for [cough cough] way too many workshops, since I was probably thinking free also equals easy. Well, I was wrong. The workshops I took and the ones I didn't have time to take are chock-full of....work. Handouts, assignments, exchanges and sharing. It was a very full week. Oh, did I forget to mention the Conference  is a week long? Sorry. It was a week packed with much reading and writing and information gathering. I learned so much and felt empowered by some of the things I learned: how to brand myself as an author, how to set up a good website, how to use social networking sites to get my books marketed, etc. Not to mention: how to write power sentences, how to keep my 'viewpoint' from wandering as I write, how to 'write tight' and keep it that way, plotting, planning, organizing, OH, MY! All this for free.


I've gone to one other conference that I paid for and physically attended, to the tune of a couple hundred dollars. That's why I wasn't sold on this free on-line thing. I remember my experience at the paid event I attended. Disappointment. Didn't feel like I had gotten much out of it besides the privilege of sitting and listening to published writers toot their horns. Not that it wasn't fun, but why pay to hear hour long advertising segments? Really? These folks that put on the Muse Conference are pros--they write, and yeah, they told me where I could buy their books. But that was more along the lines of "Hi, my name is I. Writebooks, and here's my info. Check it out."  Then they got down to business and gave away a lot of deep information--including .pdf handout books on how to do what they were getting ready to teach you how to do. They interacted with the participants, giving helpful advice and suggestions.  They encouraged and cajoled and cheered us on. It was fun! It was a richly rewarding experience. And it was free. So, here's to sometimes getting WAY MORE than you pay for! Thanks to you all at the Muse Conference. You've restored my faith that sometimes there are people who believe in paying it forward and helping others out in a craft that isn't always kind. Here's to many more wonderful years!