by Patricia Bradley, @PTBradley1

I just returned from the KenTen writer’s retreat at Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickson, Tennessee. While I was there, I was struck anew by why it’s so important for writers to attend events like retreats and conferences.

When I first started writing during the Dark Ages, I didn’t even know there were such things, and if I had, I don’t think I would have known how important they were. Instead, I was busy learning the craft on my own and writing away. I even had a major magazine buy my short stories, and after I won a contest, I had an opportunity to submit my first fifty pages to a big-name editor for a critique. She also requested the full manuscript. Whoo-hoo! I had it made!

Not. That manuscript came back by return mail with a form letter that said my story did not meet their needs. I don’t think the editor ever saw the complete manuscript—I figure it went to a first reader, and after the first page, she knew it wasn’t anywhere near ready for publication. I was devastated.

I was even more devastated when I received the critique. If the paper had been any redder, it would have dripped blood. My blood. Not fresh. Clichéd. Telling instead of showing. Same old same old. Each note in the margin ripped out a piece of my heart. And embarrassed me.

Looking back, I can see how that could have been avoided if I had just attended a few workshops. Here are a few pointers to not only beginning writers but to those who are old hands at writing—we need to keep going to the well, too.

• An advantage to attending writing conferences or retreats—it gives you an opportunity to be around people who don’t think you’re crazy when you talk about your characters like they are real people.
• At least once a year, attend a writer’s conference you can afford. It doesn’t have to be a big conference but look for one with workshops taught by successful writers on developing the craft of writing. At the time I first started writing I couldn’t attend conferences or workshops so I kept making the same mistakes over and over because no one taught me that I was doing it wrong. When I sat in a classroom listening to someone explain about showing instead of telling, a light bulb went off in my head. And it happened again in other workshops. There’s just something about a workshop that is conducive to learning!

• A writer’s conference or retreat will give you an opportunity to meet potential critique partners. When you spend a couple of days with someone, you can see if that person is a good fit for you. You want someone who is a little ahead of you in the writing game, but also someone who won’t try to change your voice. I digress—critique partners are a whole ‘nother topic.
• Conferences and retreats will refresh you. Yes, you will come home bone-tired, but you will come home fired up and ready to tackle that first page, or first draft, or edits.

If you are serious about your writing, invest in it—it’s worth the money.

And Happy Fourth of July!

Justice Buried

In an effort to get her security consulting business off the ground, Kelsey Allen has been spending a lot of time up in the air, rappelling down buildings and climbing through windows to show business owners their vulnerabilities to thieves. When she is hired to pose as a conservator at the Pink Palace Museum in order to test their security weaknesses after some artifacts go missing, she’s ecstatic. But when her investigative focus turns from theft to murder, Kelsey knows she’s out of her league–and possibly in the cross hairs. When blast-from-the-past Detective Brad Hollister is called in to investigate, Kelsey may find that he’s the biggest security threat yet . . . to her heart.

Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty Suzy and loves to write suspense with a twist of romance. Her books include the Logan Point series and two Harlequin Heartwarming romances. Justice Delayed, a Memphis Cold Case Novel, is the first book in her next series and it releases January 31, 2017. When she has time, she likes to throw mud on a wheel and see what happens.