Only a couple days after getting back and crashing after Realm Makers, I set out for Taylor University’s Professional Writers Conference.

While Realm Makers was a brand new experience, I’ve attended the Taylor conference since the very first 2016 one. (My one bragging right.) So yes, I took another trip and attended another conference, but I knew the drill and already felt pretty comfortable.

Thursday

Rather than get a hotel like past years, this year I stayed with my friend, Laurel (because she hadn't had enough of me on that Realm Makers carpool).

This year started out with an advanced track with two sessions. Thursday centered around deep point of view (writing like you’re in the character’s head, which leads to a more immersive story). When I read the schedule, while I knew I could still learn, I thought I had a good handle on deep POV. But I learned SO much. I love that Linda Glaz (our instructor) used hands-on examples and let us practice all the skills she taught us.

The conference provides meals on campus, and it’s always a great time to meet new people. I connected with writers I’ve met at the conference before, writers I know online, and writers new to me.
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I headed back to Laurel’s, but she was making an airport run, so I befriended her cat, unpacked my bags, and settled in with a book. When she did get back, we chatted, messed around with various curiosities (including but not limited to a giant ceramic frog), and generally harassed her cat. 
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Friday                 
                                           
I had breakfast on campus for the first time this year, and I loved the extra time to connect with other writers and attendees before we headed off to our second session.

Saturday’s advanced session was on proposals, and it might be the best class I’ve ever attended on proposals. Linda Glaz laid everything out so clearly. We practiced again, this time with our one sentence pitches. I worked up the courage to share mine, and her response and encouragement made me feel so confident. (That’s when I knew I was going to write this book.)

Her two sessions—where I practiced a pitch and developed my main character’s voice—inspired so much. I came home and immediately began planning and drafting a novel. Because by golly, if Linda Glaz thinks my pitch is good, then I’ll write the book to go with it. (If you give a Rachel a pitch, she will want a novel to go with it.)

That ended the advanced track and we moved on to the general conference. Zena Dell Lowe did all our keynotes, and they centered around why we need more traditional fictional heroes today. I’m not sure I agreed with everything she said—while I DID agree that we need more traditional heroes to balance things out, I’ve got some different opinions particularly on to antiheroes. (I’ll write a blog post, don’t worry.) Still, she made some excellent points and gave me SO MUCH food for thought, and you know me, I love anything that makes me think.

The breakout sessions I attended on the first day centered around platform and marketing. Becca Schriner’s session stood out—in the crazy world of the internet, I always need that reminder that I DO have cool things to post and blog about just because I’m myself. I also loved the evening group where we could ask any platform/marketing question and get it answered.

At the last moment, Taylor announced that Jori Hanna would hold one on one appointments, so I got one with her. I’ve met with her for the past two years at least. She’s the main reason my Instagram looks the way it does now after I attended her class on short form video and discovered it was my jam. It’s like a little platform checkup each year—she looks at my website and Instagram and such, shows me where I’ve grown, and helps me see where I can improve. (She’s the reason you get two blog posts this month, so if you don’t like it, take it up with her.) I loved that she also attended the conference alongside us and that we got a chance to just hang out.

I was brave and signed up for the open mic session, where I shared a few pages of a short story that I hope to share with my newsletter soon (whenever I sit down and edit the darn thing).

Then I headed back to Laurel’s house to hang out with her and Naomi, who joined us for the evening. 

Saturday
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I had an interesting mix of breakout sessions on Saturday—everything from getting an agent to self-publishing to comics!

I had an appointment with Becky Antkowiak discussing how to set good goals. All the resources I’ve found immediately jump to five or ten year goals, which stresses me out. (If you are clutching your five-year planner as we speak, bravo. I’m not that girl.)

While I need to know my “destination,” I struggled to break it into small pieces that I could start now. Becky helped me do that. (Current goal? Draft my latest novel by December 31. And now I’ve got the steps so I can get there.)

I’ve also been considering whether I still want to traditionally publish. Self-publishing has changed a LOT since I started writing. It’s no longer the publishing industry black sheep. You can self-publish at a very high level of quality. After several authors I know self-published and succeeded, I wondered whether I should alter my course and pursue self-publishing instead.

Enter Cindy Lynn Sawyer’s self-publishing session. Based on how I reacted to all the nitty-gritty details I’d have to handle myself (*picture me pointing at the checklist and screaming “what the HECK is that”), self-publishing isn’t my place right now—but I would have never have known that if she hadn’t laid it all out.
And then I attended a comics session. What was I doing there? I don’t know. I can’t even draw. But I have read exactly two graphic novels and wondered how the comic writing process differs from writing a typical novel. I did learn a lot, and even though comics may never be my thing, I think I have acquired good knowledge. 

I finished out with another session on fiction proposals, which complimented the advanced track session nicely. We attended our closing keynote and then it was over. But I hung around and had dinner with Laurel and her friends before making the drive back home.

The Taylor writing conference has always been a safe and happy place. Each year, I spot familiar faces, and each year, I meet someone new. It’s a smaller group and a smaller setting than Realm Makers, and unlike Realm Makers, YA fantasy authors are sometimes the minority. But I always come away inspired. I love that I can meet people who write very different things than I do and we still learn from and encourage each other. 

We’ve made it to another August, and here I am, piecing everything together and restarting normal habits after two writers’ conferences. As I write this, I’m staring down “back to school and work” on my weekly calendar, which unfortunately requires me to come back to “normal.” So I’m processing all I learned and all I experienced, because I know I’ll need that fuel, especially these next couple weeks. And since it turned out to be such a long update, I decided I’d post it here, instead of only on my newsletter.
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So let’s get started with my very first Realm Makers!

Thursday

I carpooled with my friend Laurel to Grand Rapids (thank goodness, because city driving terrified me). We chatted about anything and everything, which included but was not limited to poking fun at Michigan billboards. (Seriously, why did Michigan have so many horribly designed billboards on that particular highway?)

This was the first time I can remember that I went to a CITY city. Driving into Grand Rapids, seeing all the tall buildings, and navigating the city streets blew my Indiana country mind.
Laurel was running a booth at the first ever Realm Makers Expo, so I helped her set up, which meant I also got a sneak peek at the convention center and all the expo booths. I’m so glad I arrived a day early. Orienting myself helped fight off that overwhelm.

Until I got to my hotel room. I don’t know if the day’s excitement caught up with me or if it just hit me that I was really here and really doing this. But by the time I found my room, unpacked, and met all my fantastic roommates, I was exhausted and wondering just a bit what I was doing here. A quiet hour in the room and a frozen yogurt trip with my friends Hope and Seth reset my perspective. (Always believe in the power of frozen yogurt and friendship, guys.)
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Friday

Random Discovery: Hotel fountain and fountain time! If I got around in the morning and had a few minutes left, I’d hang out beside the fountain. It helped me take some quiet and start the day well.

I successfully navigated from the hotel to the convention center. As it turns out, hanging around the convention center lobby is a great way to meet people! The Realm Makers staff even trusted me enough to put me on the appointments desk, which made me feel very special.

The conference kicked off with S. D. Smith’s keynote. I’d heard him speak via the Young Writer’s Workshop before, so I enjoyed hearing him teach in person. He has a unique presenting style that I’ve never heard anywhere else. (And skipping forward a bit—I got to meet him and he is just such a genuinely nice person.)

After the keynote, I made a mad dash back to the hotel for my Mabel Pines cosplay. Considering I procrastinated on my costume until the week before, I’m pretty dang proud of that costume. When I ventured back downstairs, the hotel lobby was filled with the usual fancy businesspeople in suits—and a growing crowd of cosplayers. I even worked up enough courage to join the costume parade. (I also may or may not have given directions to Wayne Thomas Batson.)

The awards banquet was like a FANCY fancy dinner. Luckily, we had exactly one person at our table who knew which fork to use. Also, can I just say, the dessert was the best cheesecake ever.

But way better than the cheesecake was the awards ceremony. I’ve read the Realm Awards results online for years now, but hyping up the books I love and celebrating every win in person was very special.

After the banquet, no one hurried to leave. We took pictures with friends, with tablemates, with the awards finalists, and with other cosplayers.

I got a picture with two other Gravity Falls cosplayers—who turned out to be Realm Awards finalist Lindsey Lewellen and her daughter Ann. I also met an epic Kaz Brekker cosplayer whom I very much regret not getting a picture with.

But to be fair, the event staff were telling everyone left that we needed to leave so they could close up the building. Since it was dark out, I took the skywalk back to the hotel. 

Saturday

Random Discovery: the river behind the convention center. I arranged to eat lunch with my friend Suzie next to the river, which was so calming and relaxing. I’m always here for natural moving water.
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We kicked off with Sarah Arthur’s keynote, which was secretly my favorite. I then headed to Lindsay Franklin’s breakout sessions on emotional and spiritual health in writing. And boy, did I need that. She spoke about exactly where I’ve been the past year (if you follow my newsletter, then you know it’s been a struggle lately). I was constantly caught between laughing at her fantastic sense of humor and crying because I just felt so seen and relieved.

I did guiltily sneak out of her session though—because I went to Sara Ella’s book signing! I even arrived early enough to get a physical ARC for her upcoming book. She is such a sweet and kind person.

I crossed off a Realm Makers bucket list item and attended a session by the legendary Carla Hoch—so I now know enough about fight scenes to make me potentially dangerous. Although she’d say I’m not actually the most dangerous person, because I’m not willing to start a fight. Not right now, anyway.  

Then it was off to the expo! Be proud of me, I was self-controlled and only bought four books (I think?), two stickers, and a candle.

The faculty book signing was that evening, so I wandered around taking pictures, meeting authors I love, and getting books signed. I met Kara Swanson, who has been one of the biggest influences on my writing, both through her own books and through her teaching. I then retreated to the bookstore and helped Suzie out. 

Sunday

Sunday morning opened with a beautiful worship service. I loved the mix of traditional hymns and more modern worship songs. The message (given by Bradley Caffee) spoke into all those places of hurt and suffering, both when it comes to our lives and when it comes to writing, in an especially touching way.

Off to the expo again! This time, I met Katie Leigh, which was absolutely insane because I was a hardcore Adventures in Odyssey kid. It felt like a full circle moment.

I also went to Mariposa Aristeo’s ARC drop and book signing. (I actually skipped my lunch break so I could be there.) I’ve followed Mariposa since long before she announced her book, and when I arrived twenty minutes early to find a dozen people already waiting (to the point the staff relocated the line because we were blocking the path), I couldn’t have been happier. I had so much fun meeting her.

I went to Nadine Brandes’ book signing after that, which was such a huge moment, since Nadine’s books were the first Christian fantasies I read that made me go “I want to write like THAT.”

I quickly ate a sandwich by the river and then ducked back inside to help check badges for a panel discussion on genre hopping. I can see genre hopping in my future, so I felt very reassured to hear that yes, it can be done and it can be done successfully.

The conference closed with N. D. Wilson’s keynote. I’d heard a lot of YWW students who swore by his teaching sessions, so I enjoyed getting to hear him speak for the first time. Then I squeezed in one last hour at the expo—during which I met Mike Nawrocki. WHAT. My childhood self would never believe any of this.

And then the closing announcement came over the speakers. Just like that, it was all over. I stayed to help Laurel take down her booth, and it was surreal watching everyone take down the booths that I watched them put together just a few days earlier.

I returned to the hotel for a late dinner and a few hours chatting with my roommates before we all went our separate ways the next morning. 

Monday

And for those wondering, Laurel and I had just as much fun on the way back, which may or may not have involved exploring a used book store and getting ice cream.

Takeaways

It’s so hard to condense that weekend down to even a blog post like this. I met so many wonderful people—authors who have inspired me for years, friends I’ve only ever met online, and friends that I do know in person but got to share this experience with.

It’s also impossible to sort out my biggest takeaways, but let me try.

I’ve been able to implement what I learned in Lindsay’s classes already in the few weeks I’ve been back, as that conference high fades and it’s back to the real world. I know I’ll carry those tools with me to deal with burnout, fear of failure, perfectionism, and more. But beyond that, I know I’ll remember the relief I felt as I heard her take the big scary struggles I’d been battling for months and calmly say “I have slides about that.” The way she approached these topics made me realize they’re not as big and dark as they feel, that they can be overcome.

I’ll also be taking Bradley Caffee’s Sunday message with me. All of us have things in our past that we didn’t choose and we wish we hadn’t had to deal with. All of us have things in our present that we don’t want. But that message has shaped how I look at all those things.

But—and my introvert self can’t believe I’m saying this—the best part was meeting people. Being somewhere I could use the word “dieselpunk” and everyone automatically knew what I meant. Being somewhere people were hyped over my book that I hadn’t even written yet—and I was hyped over theirs. Being somewhere where I could help people out and just listen to them for awhile. Where we wear costumes and ask people for pictures and don’t feel bad about it.

I’d heard that the big draw of Realm Makers is being somewhere with hundreds of people who just “get” it. And based on my experience at my first Realm Makers, I definitely believe that. I’m already scheming and saving with hopes to go next year, planning out potential costumes, and plotting what books I’ll bring with me. 

Hi, I’m Rachel! I write young adult/new adult fantasy novels that walk the line between the darker elements of fantasy and the weirder elements of cartoons. But more importantly, I write the novels I needed growing up—the novels I still need. Novels for the weird little girls and the women they’re becoming.

Maybe you need those stories, too? You can get one for free by signing up for my email newsletter via the “HOME” page of my website. It might involve a girl and the magical violin she didn’t want, plus maybe a metaphor about grief? Plus, you’ll also get email-exclusive updates about what I’m reading, watching, and writing. Sound good? I hope I’ll see you there! ​