Tonight I am asking myself, Why oh why did I wait until 10:00 at night to write this post?” I could have pre-written it, put up it on the scheduler, and had it automatically post today. But did I do that? No. So, here I am, 10:00 at night (yes I know, that’s not late to most people) writing my ‘Y’ post for the A to Z blog Challenge.

Why did I wait? I blame it all on the Pikes Peak Writer’s 2018 Conference – #PPWC2018. What an awesome event. Pikes Peak Writers hosts an annual conference where they bring a few hundred writers together, throw them in a hotel for three days with authors, publishers, editors, and agents who teach all these writers an amazing amount of writerly things.

I have come to PPWC for the past four years and love it. I have not only gained a wealth of knowledge from the facilitators, but I have made some lasting friendship as well. Each year I leave PPWC with my mouth hanging open and my brain bursting from all of the amazing things I have learned. WOW.

This year, I was not disappointed. Just to list a few classes I attended:

• Perfect Placement – Debbie Maxwell talked about where to put the power words. When power words are at the end of a sentence, scene, or paragraph this compels your reader to keep reading.
• Busting the Block – MB Partlow guided us through ways to overcome writers block. My favorite ideas were to have one of your characters pull out a gun. Even if that action isn’t relative to the story that’s ok. It is an excersises to get the creative juices going again.
• WordPress for Writers – Kristy Ferrin took us, step by step, through the process of setting up WP. Even though I have been on WP for several years, I finally found out how to use some of those “things” (like what the heck is a plug-in?).

Over the course of three days there are over 60 workshops to choose from, panels, queries, critiques. Then there is always Write Drunk, Edit Sober. This prompt driven writing session is very popular too.

So, here I am, sitting on my bed in a hotel room, computer in my lap, and I’m no longer wondering Y-O-Y did I wait to write this post? I’m glad I did. I’m glad I could share just a little bit of this wonderful weekend with you. Next year, you all will be here too!

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This post inspired by – Y

Z is for Zoo