Tomorrow I will be attending the 2017 Minnesota Writing Workshop, which I talked about in a previous blog post.

While there, there are three things I want to focus on:

I am here to learn and have a hoot! #horriblepuns

How to pitch my work - I have sent out queries before and had some agents interested in reading partials and fulls, but so far nobody will to take the next step. What I hope to gain at the workshop is improving my pitch skills. At the event, I will be given the opportunity to pitch my novel to an agent and get some feedback. My dream is the agent will be blown away and be biting at the bit to sign me. In reality, it will be a learning experience on how to improve my pitch and potentially add the knowledge to my future query attempts. I prefer the dream, but reality ain't too bad either.
Meeting cool people - That is one huge benefit I hope to take advantage of: Being around other writers. I could learn a lot and make some new friends. You can never have enough writing buddies.
Some basic critiques - I will also be participating in a 10-page critique of my story. Now, I know that might sound weird, considering I'm querying to agents, but I see it as another way to sharpen my work and get an inside look at a professional author/editors idea. The better I can make my story, the more enjoyable it will be for all of you. Win-Win-Win. The third win is for my brother because he wants to win too.

Overall, I am super excited for tomorrow and I hope to learn so much that mind explodes. Obviously not literally or it may take another two or three years for Minnesota to hold another Writer's Digest Writing Workshop.

I am going on trip, far away from here...if far is about two hours away. On February 11th, I am attending my first writing workshop! I have never been to one before, so I am hoping this will be a great experience to meet fellow writers and learn more about the writing world.

The Minnesota state flag is pretty awesome!

The workshop is taking place in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront. I am just super excited so that's all I can think about right now. What I am most excited about is meeting the other writers, agents, and editors. Each of them are going to have a different experience in the writing world and there is going to be so much I can learn about.

Looks fancy...except for the construction equipment on the reflection.

If anyone is thinking about going to this workshop, you may want to signup soon as the workshop is filling up quick (about 140/150 as of today). For me, this is a great risk as well. I am not the most social of butterflies and anxiety really gets to me when I am put in an uncomfortable situation. Letting other people examine my work through offered critiques and pitches is tough. You put all this work in on a project and you have to build this tough skin to endure rejections of your work (even if it is only pieces of it). In the past, I have received great feedback from writing groups and teachers, but a part of me felt they weren't as critical as they needed to be. A great support group? For sure! But, I feel some could have really barreled into with some much needed real talk. I really want to take my writing to the next level and I feel this is an important way to do it. My goal is to keep an open mind and really take those critiques to my head, not my heart, and improve my writing for publication.

If all goes well, I will hopefully have a few new connections and some great critiques to improve my writing. At worst, I will have a great experience that will open the door to the writing world and what I will need to do to be successful.

The better stories I create, the more people I can hope to impact. Hopefully make them laugh, think, and have a genuinely good time!

Next week I will get back on the comic book blog path. So, I will leave you with this: (WARNING: There are cuss words...if you care)