I tend to invest time in my writing all year 'round, but March through May offers added bonuses. Yes, it's the conference and workshop season! Boston has a premier writing conference called Muse and the Marketplace which takes place over the weekend of April 5-7 and is sponsored by the Grub Street writer's group. In recent years, I've focused on the Friday sessions. I particularly like the late Friday event known as Shoptalk, since it's a chance to pitch one's latest projects and chat informally with agents and editors. After an intense day of networking, craft and marketing sessions, sipping a glass of wine and talking about trends in the industry with like-minded folks is most welcome.
From time to time at the Muse, I also participate in Manuscript Mart, where the writer can submit the first 20 pages of a project to a literary agent or editor of their choice, along with a query letter and synopsis. This year I am participating again and look forward to a constructive critique of my near future climate change novel, Tempest. The chance to meet and hobnob with influential people from the publishing industry grabs the headlines for an event like this, but it's at least as much fun to devote a full day to the world of writing and meet with so many others who share this passion.
Did I mention workshops? In addition to attending Muse and the Marketplace, which includes embedded writing workshops, this is also the time of year when the Norfolk Quill writers workshop spins up for several weeks. It's a chance for writers from the town of Norfolk, Massachusetts and surrounding areas to meet, do some informal writing off of prompts, talk about the writing craft and share excerpts from our latest works. It's a fun group and it's always been interesting to see what other writers from the area are doing. I've also used these sessions as a way to get feedback on excerpts from my recent novel length projects. As the workshop draws to a close, we're invited to submit work to the Norfolk Quill, a literary magazine which has been published annually since 2010. This past year, I had written a very short love story called "Thoughts of Spring" during one of the Quill workshops and was pleased when an edited version was accepted and given the lead spot in the 2018 version of the Quill.
So, it's the writing conference and workshop season and I'm feeling energized as I look forward to the first Quill workshop in a couple of weeks and Muse19 shortly after that. If you like to do creative work, is there a particular time of year that pulls you in and gets your creative juices flowing?