For most of us, writing is a solitary existence.

If a writer chooses to step outside of his or her cocoon, there is the critique or writers group. Since I belong to two groups, I am a big proponent of them. They support you, stretch you, and challenge you. It’s a small group format and much like a family.

So a Writers’ Conference is like a huge family reunion where you know you all have the same tag, you know how you’re all related, but you’ve never met most or all of them.

It’s also about learning the craft. Workshops with topics that make you wish you could clone yourself, and then you realize you’re here with your writers group, you can split up, and share the info later. If you’re also lucky, the handout from the workshop you’re missing is an awesome outline with references you can look up later.

But it’s the pitching to an agent that can get the palms clammy or have you chewing the last of you fingernails. Is your manuscript going to be good enough? Are you pitching it with the right spin?

For the ladies who went with me to the University of Wisconsin – Madison The Writers’ Institute, it was not only fun and informative, but we also pitched our finish manuscripts to agents. All were successful pitches – the agents requested excerpts of our works. Hopefully that will lead to representation!

One of the challenges of the weekend was to attend a workshop we normally wouldn’t. I did most of the weekend. It gave me food for thought (a cliché, I know, but true). Now, I’d like to pay this challenge forward.

My brother, a writer and publish author is a cocooned writer. Before he gets all caps on me, I’ll remind him I love him very much. I feel that as his older sister, I should encourage him to spread his wings and try something new – leave your cocoon and comfort zone. I know you won’t seek out a writers group, but how about coming to The Writers Institute next year?