I had no idea what to expect with this event. Firstly, I kept calling it When Worlds Collide instead of Words. Why? I honestly could not tell you! Secondly, I was so excited by the well-stacked program that I knew there would be a lot of game time decisions on which sessions I’d actually attend.
To start, I have to give credit to the ol’ day job for letting me use professional development time for this conference. Even though my business development job isn’t related to the writing and publishing industry, it was such an invigorating experience and I felt so refreshed (despite being attached to my computer all weekend).
As I was building out my website and thinking about adding a blog component, I thought this was a great chance to compile my thoughts on all that I got out of this amazing weekend.
Day 1:
- I splurged $20 on the master class by Edward Willett. I say splurge because for some reason I thought it was a 1-hour class. What a pleasant surprise when I realized it was a whole day! It was an incredible value. Not only did he describe his personal journey in a clear and relevant manner, but also he provided concrete examples (including screen shares) of a number of self publishing aspects. Ed also has a fantastic voice – no wonder he is an actor and opera singer too! I’m excited to add his Worldshapers podcast to my “to listen” list, and I’ve checked some of his fiction pieces out of my library. If you ever have the chance to listen to him speak or attend a class, I highly recommend it.
Day 2:
- There were several hours of amazing sessions and the hardest part was picking which of the half dozen each hour to attend (this would extend across the whole weekend). I focused my efforts on speculative fiction, sci-fi, and craft. I took a bunch of notes and mostly warmed myself up to the idea of being at an event like this.
- In the interest of space I’ll call out one session each day that I found particularly impactful. Today’s was by Diana Cranstoun on Short Stories. It was presented as romantic short stories but the concepts were broadly applicable and oh-so-informative, with a helpful handout too! This is definitely an area I’m going to explore.
- I admit I did not listen to the festival keynotes live, knowing I could catch them later. Big shout out to Mark Leslie Lefebvre for sharing them on his podcast so I could catch up while out on a walk! Each of the speakers (Terry Brooks, Ed Willett, Susanna Kearsley and Hank Phillipi Ryan) gave uniquely inspiring talks, available to replay on YouTube. If I ever have the pleasure of meeting Terry Brooks I hope I can share that I got my first introduction to the fantasy genre when I randomly found a beat-up copy of one of his Shannara novels on the shelf of a cottage we rented when I was a kid.
Day 3:
- I was on my computer from 11:00am to 9:30pm, which is much more than an average workday, but it absolutely flew by! I again focused on the speculative and sci-fi angle with a healthy dose of craft. I took oh so many notes and jotted down many ideas.
- My most memorable session of this day was hard to pick, but if I had to, I’m going to go with the first of the day that I attended, with Jonas Saul. It was called “Self-Editing” but it ended up being so much more than the title suggests and was one of the most practical, informative sessions of the whole event. There is a reason he’s a huge success and we can all learn so much from him!
- Aurora Awards! It was so exciting to learn we have these awards in Canada. The show was hosted by two amazing individuals who happen to live just down the road from me and was so inspiring to see the amazing Canadian talent across written and visual arts. I hope to attend in person one day!
Day 4:
- By this day I was starting to recognize many of the names at the festival: Valerie King, Susanna Kearsley, David Worsick, Nina Munteanu, Susan Forest, Ira Nayman, Stephen B. Pearl, Gary Girod and many, many more. My focus remained the same in terms of types of sessions. I continued to take copious notes and felt I was getting such value for my time.
- My favourite session of this last day goes without saying: the Paranormal Discussion with Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Sarah Kades Graham and Detective Dave Sweet. It was a fun session, but the real reason is that it reminded me how much fun it will be to get to work with Mark in the near future!
Key takeaways:
- The only way to become a writer is to write. I feel like a writer, but I also feel that I do not write nearly enough. This has changed as a direct result of my attending WWC 2022. I don’t have enough years in my life to possibly write all of the ideas I got just from this one weekend, but I’m going to get at it!
- I need to read and write more short stories in service of point #1.
- There seem to be many more “pantsers” (or discovery writers) than plotters like me – maybe I should try flying by the seat of my pants more often with my writing, but if one thing was consistent, it was a total lack of consistency in methods and even opinions. In the best way! It really is true that we need to do what works best for us.
- Several of us agreed that an entire session would be required next year to discuss the merits of one Tom Bombadil. ‘Nuff said.
- Randy McCharles and the whole team deserve an Andre the Giant-sized pat on the back for the incredible work putting on this festival.
- Though the event was free I should have budgeted for the sheer number of books I would be acquiring. And not just stories to read, but so many amazing craft and reference books were recommended! I gave equal workouts to my Kindle and my Libby app, as well as ordering several hard copies. If this keeps up I might need to reinforce my office floor and pick up a third job.
- Zoom bombing is alive and well! Huge kudos to all the session moderators for keeping that at bay.
I can’t wait to join in person next year! Oh and since this is one of my first entries, it may not be obvious yet, but I love exclamation marks! I’m going to have to find a ruthless editor when the time comes.
Thank you for reading,
Alyssa