I recently returned from the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference in Kansas City, Missouri with a backpack full of flyers and a head full of the sights and sounds of thousands of creative writing educators, publishers, and literati in one place. The Kansas City Convention Center is huge, and it’s spread over a couple of downtown city blocks (literally over streets). I only attended two days of the three-day conference, and it was still impossible to digest such diverse topics in so short a time. Each day’s program consisted of five workshop or presentation sessions, with more than twenty options in each. I kept skipping out halfway through one presentation and jogging down the hall or to an adjacent building or floor to attend the second half of another session.
Most of the presentations I chose were panel discussions, primarily related to nonfiction writing or independent publishing. Panelists described their publication experiences with small presses or promoted the benefits of indie publishing. Other favorites described memoir-writing processes or researching hybrid memoir. Flash or micro nonfiction writing, and braided essay are short forms that appeal to me; those sessions were perhaps the best.
The Conference Book Fair that accompanied the conference was mind-blowing. I kept circling back to the tables and booths in between sessions to be sure I’d made every single aisle among the hundreds of exhibitors. I’m an introvert, and all the commotion wore me down, but the conference was well worth my time and attention.
I’m in the process of submitting my second memoir, Subject to Change, for publication and saw the conference as an opportunity to research publishers. The Community for Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) folks at AWP were extremely helpful in pointing me toward presses that publish memoir. I know well the adage that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but I purposefully did just that. My goal was to assess cover design, interior formatting, and paper feel of the books each publisher showcased. I hope my memoir will be among the choices next year.
This was the second AWP Conference I’ve attended. Last year, in Seattle, my first memoir had just been released, and I needed resources to help promote the book. I was also invited to sign books at my publisher’s table. Next year’s conference is in Los Angeles, but I’m not sure if I’ll go. Our daughter and her family live just south of LA, but it might as well be in another state, considering the torturous drive I’d expect between her home and the conference. Depending on the resources I’m in the market for next year, I might skip it and wait till the conference is held in a more interesting city, maybe someplace less intimidating.
While we were in KC, my husband and I visited Union Station and enjoyed checking out the array of Kansas City Chiefs paraphernalia and glitzy photo op displays. Even a pudgy Elvis in a spangly white suit was there! Our visit came two days before the Super Bowl, and KC locals of every age turned out that evening in red Chiefs gear for a communal show of support for their team. The party atmosphere was infectious. I don’t often watch an entire Super Bowl, as I did this year, but the game was exciting and the result satisfying. I’m saddened, as is everyone, by the deadly violence that ruined the team’s homecoming parade at the same site we’d visited a few days earlier.
Soon after I returned to Texas, I signed up for three extended online writing or publishing courses: one free, one cheap, and one reasonably priced. I’ll turn my attention to shorter pieces for a while, like personal essays and short or flash creative nonfiction, putting to use some of the tips I got from AWP panelists. The virtual courses I’ve enrolled in may be a bit much, but I’m addicted to learning opportunities and I learn a little something from each one. An almost endless assortment of webinars or online class options is now available and conveniently presented in digestible segments, often posted for later viewing. Much more manageable for introverts like me.
A huge gathering of writers like the AWP Conference is almost irresistible, though. There are too few occasions where I’m surrounded by so many literary enthusiasts. While the hubbub can be overwhelming, there’s something intoxicating about the overload.
Maybe I’ll make it to LA next year after all.
Janice Airhart 