Northern Colorado Writers Conference

Next Friday and Saturday, March 25-26, 2010, I’ll be attending the Northern Colorado Writers Conference at the Hilton Fort Collins. One of the things I like about writers conferences is that they offer three types of workshops: 1. Improving your craft, 2. Selling your manuscript, and 3. Promoting your book. When I attended my first writers conference in 2002, I was solely focused on developing my writing skills. Then over time I gravitated to learning how to pitch to agents and editors. Once I sold my first novel, then promotion became the highest priority for me. Still, I always attend sessions on honing writing skills. No matter where we are in the writing/selling/promoting cycle, we can all benefit from learning more on how to write. At the upcoming conference I’ll be teaching two workshops titled, “Establishing a Marketing Platform” and “Mixing Humor, Mystery and Older Characters.” This looks to be an excellent conference with a keynote given by Stephen Cannell. I heard him speak at the Left Coast Crime Conference last weekend, and the audience is in for a treat. Also, for anyone attending who wants to learn more about Mystery Writers of America, I’ll be buying coffee at the Starbucks in the Hilton lobby at 2 P.M. on Friday, so stop by.