Learning and networking with other emerging authors at the Wisconsin Writers Association Conference
A fun time was had by all
Caption: Terry posing by the moose statue in front of the entrance to Stoney Creek Hotel.
Hello friends and family, I recently returned from the Wisconsin Writers Association Conference at the Stoney Creek Hotel, Onalaska, next to La Crosse.
My husband, Terry, drove and stayed with me, although he didn’t attend the conference. Since I don’t drive much anymore, I depend on Terry to be my chauffeur. The hotel and conference center had an outdoor Northwoods theme.
Caption: Terry practicing his guitar on Sunday morning.
To be frank, I didn’t feel like I learned as much as I did at the WWA conference the previous year, which was held near Milwaukee. But I did feel like I knew so many other published writers I could genuinely call my friends and colleagues.
Caption: Three of my writer friends for Northwest WI. We meet once a week in Solon Springs. The name of our group is St. Croix Writers. Solon Springs is about 35 miles south of Duluth and my husband has a friend who he takes grocery shopping and to the laundromat while I’m with the writers group.
While many of my colleagues were oohing and awwing at the new information, I felt that much of it was a refresher and a confirmation of what I had previously learned.
Duluth is directly across the bay and mouth of the St. Louis River of Superior, WI. Three years ago, I signed up to attend the WWA conference because it was held in Superior. However, I caught COVID and couldn’t participate in it. I kept my membership up in WWA because they had critique groups and other classes over Zoom, which I have participated in and found very helpful. If you meet with someone over Zoom every week for 6 weeks or more, and you read their work and they are reading yours, you feel like you have gotten to know them. But meeting them in person is so much better. Getting together with old friends is what the WWA conferences are like for me.
As you can see from the map above, Wisconsin is a large state. Two years ago, the conference in Milwaukee was a very long drive, and on the drive down, Terry and I stayed overnight in the Wisconsin Dells courtesy of my brother, who had Hilton Honors points that needed to be used. It’s a good reflection on the members and organizers of the WWA that I wanted to keep my membership up once I figured out how long the drives were to the conference.
Caption: Front row: Me (Naomi Yaeger), in the orange scarf and Rose Bingham. Both Rose and I are holding books Rose has published.
Second row Jim Landwehr and Deb Farris. We were all in a Zoom Critique group facilitated by Laurie Sheer. I am holding two of Rose’s books, and Deb is holding a book by Steve Fox (another author we met, but who wasn’t in our critique group) and another book by Jim Landwehr)
I now know and can contact any of the people in this photo. All the people holding books were members of Laurie Scheer’s critique class. Two missing from the picture were also in my critique classes AND at this conference.
Small publishers, agents, and manuscript critics were also at this conference.
I paid extra to have Lisa Lickel critique my manuscript. She thought what I had was good, but because I asked, she suggested what to do if I wanted to “spice” it up, which she didn’t think was necessary and I’m not going to do.
In the manuscript, I had written that Winifred likes to tune the radio to WNAX out of Yankton to listen to news from home. She said to double-check if WNAX out of Yankton was WNAX or KNAX. She is a history buff and knew that all the radio stations west of the Mississippi now started with a K and not a W.
The general public might think that publishing a book means the author will make a lot of money and become rich. This is false.
It is tough to get your manuscript published by the Big Five: Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan. And even if you do, you will not necessarily make money.
Nowadays, many authors are turning to small publishing companies; some are called hybrids. You pay them to edit, proofread and publish, and you must do most of the marketing to get the book actually sold. It’s possible to lose money publishing.
Authors who make a lot of money are Stephen King, Nora Roberts and James Patterson. Or they were famous before writing. But most of today’s authors know that isn’t realistic.
We had small publishers at this conference, including Orange Hat/Ten 16, Cornerstone, and Wisconsin Writers Association Press. WWAPress publishes only four books per year and prefers them to be about Wisconsin. Students run Cornerstone Press out of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Orange Hat/Ten16 publishes fiction, nonfiction, YA, and poetry. They are located in a little town outside of Milwaukee.
Some of you may know that I do not enjoy editing or proofreading, and while writing my manuscript, I learned that Aunt Phyllis Minehart enjoys it. At the conference, I attended a breakout session on editing and proofreading. Another course I attended was about freelance writing for more newsy publications.
The Keynote speakers were Lan Samantha Chang and Ann Garvin. Chang wrote The Family Chao and was born and raised in Appleton, WI. Ann Garvis was the other keynote speaker. Ann Garvin is a USA Today and Amazon best-selling author whose books are heartfelt and humorous.
Caption: Lan Samatha Chang spoke to us on Friday night.
Caption: Ann Garvis spoke to us on Saturday.
Terry and I enjoyed the swimming pool and someone’s birthday party in the hotel bar on Saturday night.
On Sunday, we slept in and enjoyed our continental breakfast. Terry practiced his guitar. I looked over the information from the LaCross Visitors Center and decided we couldn’t leave without a visit to Granddad’s Bluff.
Caption: This photo was taken from the top of Granddad’s Bluff. It is the bridge across the Mississippi into Minnesota.
Caption: This is a view from Granddad’s Bluff. You can see across the Mississippi River into Minnesota.
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