I Created My Own Weekend Writing Conference
Here’s how I fared
After months of being deprived of events I had enough. Copenhell: canceled. Game Developers Conference: canceled. Writers Digest Conference (WDC): pushed to November and made virtual. It’s not just leisure that’s been postponed, but personal and professional development, networking, and expanding our human horizons. Large-scale events like these are healthy. They provide us with escapes from routine, lifelong memories, and lessons we can wear like badges on our chests.
The virtual WDC remains tempting, but it’s expensive and I’m itching for something now. I can only tolerate so many shattered summer shenanigans before I need to take matters into my own hands. And so this past weekend I held the first (monthly, annual?) Sephone Con, featuring my 2-room apartment, with couch seating, and bottomless espressos.
Allotted budget: $65.
Number of attendees: 1.
Conference coolness level: over 9000.
With technology enabling me to make something rather than having nothing, I’m not going to just sit here and mope for another 6 months to a year.
The prep
Even the simple act of drafting a list of events has its benefit. An article in Psychology Today outlines how creating lists can help quell anxiety. Sweet deal, yeah? SSo I started jotting down writing-related tasks and research areas that have been lingering at the back of my mind for months. I included 1-hour writing sprints, a webinar from Writing the Other, Trope Talks YouTube videos exploring tropes present in my current WIP (I’ll discuss the Trope Talks series in an upcoming article), and short documentaries. I also dedicated blocks of time to compiling a spreadsheet packed with magazines to submit my short stories to.
The Writing the Other webinar cost me $55. The other $10 of my allocated budget went to tasty pastries to fend off the afternoon slump. If you create your own conference like this, I recommend putting down some money. It doesn’t have to be much, but it raises the stakes and motivates you to actually attend. Consider this the conference’s ticket price. Buying a webinar is also a fantastic way to support fellow creatives who are also grounded for the foreseeable future. Free or by-donation options are also plentiful, so don’t think that you need to spend over $40. Drop $5 and call it a day.
Day 1
Getting dressed right as soon as I crawled out of bed put me in the mental space I needed to make Day 1 of Sephone Con a success. I wore a collared blouse under a formal dress, striking that casual–comfy zone while maintaining that ‘I mean business’ air. I even put on some earrings and braided my hair.
Then I took a trip down memory lane with a breakfast sandwich of smoked salmon, cream cheese, and capers. Flashback to WDC 2017, my first writer’s conference and first time in New York City. The morning of the conference, I swung by a bagel shop and ordered the (to me) ever-elusive New York bagel with — yes, you guessed it, lox and cream cheese. A plus to Sephone Con is that I didn’t have to take the subway, which meant no repeat of that subway breaking down, forcing me to hunt down another subway line in a city completely foreign to me, and making me half an hour late to the first panels…
Anyway, before diving into Sephone Con, I went for a walk while the weather held. I wore dress shoes instead of my street shoes to instill the sense of heading somewhere important. Fresh air and nature kickstarts the body and boosts vitality, and the walk made for the perfect opportunity to snag some pretty pastries from the bakery.
Back at my apartment, the conference finally got underway with an espresso and a Trope Talks video. I chose something light and fun to start things off, to get the juices flowing. Over the rest of the day I alternated between sitting at my desk (like for the writing sprints) and lounging on the couch watching videos. I took notes, updated my Goodreads with any recommended works, and did standing exercises every so often because my physiotherapist would be displeased if I didn’t.
Day 2
The second day of Sephone Con was as intensive but started later because I didn’t realize my stupid alarm was set wrong. Again, I made an effort to construct that conference atmosphere. I dressed business casual, reviewed my schedule of events, and reminded myself of all I had accomplished the day before. Breakfast was a special highlight, and catered by my ever-supportive partner: buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup butter, and bacon.
Day 2 focused on writing and drafting exercises, but I also listened to some virtual panels featuring authors published through Penguin Random House. This was a nice way to wrap up the conference, as the discussions among industry insiders is inspiring. Seeing authors in a casual setting also reminds me that they’re humans, not gods, and that they worked their butts off to get to where they are.
The verdict
In a single weekend I struck more off my do-to list than I had in… an eon. This filled me with determination and a sense that while the road ahead of me is long, there are taverns and other landmarks scattered all about to feed me, mark my growth, and guide me. An artisan must hone their craft, and sometimes that means getting extra creative and faking it.
Sephone Con doesn’t have its own website, swag, or printed event schedule (not that I have a printer to do that anyway). I got the idea on Thursday night, threw it together Friday, and jumped head first into it the next morning. Did I feel silly doing this? Hell yeah. But I also felt awesome for re-inventing me-time.
Next time I would do a couple things differently. For one, I would create a more concrete schedule, and add breaks as if to consider the time it takes to move from one room to another or dash to the bathroom. Recruiting a fellow writer to join me would be awesome, too: we could follow the same schedule but then video call during free times to digest and speculate about what we’ll learn in the next panel. Is it the same as a ‘proper’ in-person writing conference? No, but that’s not the point. With technology enabling me to make something rather than having nothing, I’m not going to just sit here and mope for another 6 months to a year.
Sephone Con is going to be a monthly event. If you want in and think you can handle this much fun, let me know.
Seph is a digital nomad, unabashed foodie, and avid gamer. As a language and copy editor of academic manuscripts, she oversees the frontiers of research, and channels this inspiration into her fiction. Read more by Seph here.
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