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My First Writers Conference! (my time at Realm Makers) + RM book haul

On July 19-21st I attended the Realm Makers writers conference. This was my very first writing conference, so I was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect.

But it really turned out to be a fun new experience! I have never been surrounded by so many writers. It. Was. Awesome. It was such a cool feeling to walk through the crowd of people roaming around the book tables and hear conversation of writers’ WIPs, writer jokes, and bookish talk.

But, without further ado, here’s some pics I took during the conference days. (my apologies for the super blurry photos. I was using a phone with a not-so-good camera, plus I had too much caffeine one day so my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. XD)

Day 1 (Thursday):

Sorry you’re twisting your neck trying to look at this. This was this year’s booklet-schedule-thingy.

An agent and editor Q&A session, which was really good.

This was a flash critique session with some editors. It was really fun to hear all the flash fiction stories read and critiqued.

Not too much happened the first day. Just pretty much the opening keynote and new attendee orientation and what I mentioned above.

Day 2 (Friday):

Ready for note-taking! ๐Ÿ˜‰

The first session was the first in three for the teen track with Daniel Schwabauer. Sadly, I couldn’t get any photos during it ’cause the phone was acting up.

Just before going to the next session, I got to meet Gabrielle, writer and Guildmaster at Story Embers. I actually got to meet most of the SE staff, which was awesome. Story Embers is a Christian writers site, and I would definitely recommend that you visit. I also met Hope Ann at some point (all the days are kinda blending together, I can’t remember when I met her exactly), who’s also one of the SE staff.

Second session was with Nadine Brandes (!!!), on pitching your book.

Ignore the blurriness…Anyway, I found this session super helpful, because the pitch you create will not only be great for editors and agents, but just talking to any random person about your book. She gave everyone some time to craft their pitch, and then she told us all to pitch it to the person sitting next to us. Fortunately for me, my mom was sitting next to me, so I didn’t have to try to pitch it to a total stranger. Crisis averted. ๐Ÿ™‚

This was supposed to be lunch break, but bookworms know that books come before sustenance. ๐Ÿ˜‰

(tilted picture again, sorry.) Gateway to an empty wallet happiness.

After lunch there were two more sessions before a break before the awards dinner. One of those sessions being the second teen track, where I got to meet Audrey Caylin, a writer blogger I follow. (Check out her website!). I also had a mentor appointment with author and family friend Robert Treskillard. I sent him the first chapter of one of my WIPs a couple days before the conference, so he read it and we talked about things I could fix during the appointment. That was awesome and nerve-racking at the same time, because I’m not used to sharing my writing with people outside my family. ๐Ÿ™‚

Okay, so the thing with this awards dinner, is that probably 98% of attendees dress up in costume as their favorite book, movie, show, etc. character. It was quite a site to behold. My mom and I were in the minority, dressed in simple folks’ garb.

(I’m telling you, I’m so good at taking photos). You can kinda see everyone’s costumes here, with a few normally-dressed people sprinkled here and there.

This guy was dressed as Darth Vader (if you hadn’t guessed already). I’m not sure how I feel about how close he’s holding the lightsaber to my neck…

(Ignore how tired I look in all of these). With Nadine! She is so sweet, y’all…

Cap came. ๐Ÿ˜‰

As you probably guessed, awards were given at the awards dinner. The Girl Who Could See won the award for best cover. That cover is…I don’t even know…it’s amazing.

Day 3 (Saturday):

Third and last teen track session. Mr. Schwabaeur talked a lot about why/how you can write with God and include Him on the imagination process. It was really good.

After another session…

It was lunch time! ๐Ÿ˜€

Then I had a mentor appointment with Kara Swanson. We talked all things self-publishing, which was great; she was so open and helpful.

Snuck my website business cards onto the freebie table. Clever me. ๐Ÿ˜›

After several ‘sponsor spotlight’ sessions and panel discussions, there was a dinner break and then THE REALM MAKERS BOOK FESTIVAL! 

This picture doesn’t nearly show all the people that were there. It was crowded! There were a lot of authors signing their books. You better know that I took advantage of that!

Sitting waiting for my mom (can’t remember where she was), and taking pictures of my newly acquired books.

Book signing with Gillian Bronte Adams…

Robert Treskillard…

Lindsay Franklin…

And Nadine Brandes! ๐Ÿ˜€

 

Realm Makers was such an awesome learning opportunity and I’m so glad I was able to go. If you haven’t before, I heartily recommend that you try attending a writers conference. Sure, you can learn lots with books, writing articles, and podcasts and the like, but nothing is like learning while being surrounded by authors and writers.

Now for the roundup of all the precious books I bought at Realm Makers! I literally have never bought so many books at one time…12 total! (guess how much money I have now.)

I had the first book in the Out of Time series, so I bought the second and third and Fawkes too. But like the hard-core fangirl I am, I bought the first book again (because I didn’t bring it to the conference with me) so that I could have all the Nadine books signed. ๐Ÿ˜› What? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

King’s Folly (by Jill Williamson) and The 49th Mystic (by Ted Dekker). I’m looking forward to trying these new authors.

Dare (by Tricia Mingerink) and Resistance (by Jaye L. Knight).

The Story Peddler (by Lindsay Franklin ) and Orphan’s Song (by Gillian Bronte Adams). I got to talk to Gillian a bit when she signed Orphan’s Song, and I found out she loves to ride horses too. ๐Ÿ˜€ I was able to get The Story Peddler signed too. ๐Ÿ™‚

The author of the Merlin’s Spiral series is a family friend, and we bought the first book years ago (signed), and I bought the other two at the conference.  I was able to get those signed too.

So to sum it all up, I went to the conference with a full wallet and left with pretty much an empty one (I had a few bucks left). Now the real problem is finding a place to put all of these…

 

Write on,

Have you read any of these books? If so, which is your favorite? Have you had (or will have) some writer conference adventure this year too?

 

 

 

 

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9 Comments

  • Reply Catwing

    Hey Jenna!
    Looks like you had a lot of fun. I may go next year who knows (my parents have decided to stop going to homeschool expos and go to writing conferences instead. Because I’ll graduate next year, then it’s only my brother, and my mom says she doesn’t need to go any more. Yay! ;P ). I’m going to Write2Ignite in September. Now I know what to look forward too!
    I’ve heard of several of those authors, nice you got to meet them. I’ve met Jenny L. Cote and Bryan Davis (his daughter was there too I think). ๐Ÿ˜‰

    July 28, 2018 at 9:07 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      Oh yes come next year! I’m not sure if I’m going to make it; next year will be a busy one. I’m graduating next year too! Yay for class of 2019! ๐Ÿ˜€
      Bryan Davis was at Realm Makers I think…
      I’ve never heard of Write2Ignite. Have fun! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      July 29, 2018 at 12:06 am
  • Reply Chelsea R.H.

    This looks like so much fun! I’m so glad you got the chance to go (and meet Nadine Brandes, oh my! And Robert Treskilliard!)
    I hope you enjoy Fawkes (I’m campaigning to get it as a birthday present).
    One day…one day I will smuggle myself to America and attend Realm Makers, just you wait… ๐Ÿ˜‰

    July 28, 2018 at 9:40 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      Yes, meeting authors in person was AMAZING! Nadine was super duper sweet. ๐Ÿ™‚
      Well, I’ll be expecting to see in the news one day; “Australian writer smuggles herself to the U.S. to attend a writers conference.” I’ll know it’s you. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      July 29, 2018 at 12:08 am
  • Reply Mariposa Aristeo

    Wow! 12 books!!! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ It sounds like you had a blast! I hope you can go next year, then maybe you and I could actually get a chance to talk. โค๏ธ I still feel sorry for the abrupt meeting, but I was a little overwhelmed from meeting so many people for the first time! I need to have a talk with my social anxiety. ๐Ÿ˜…

    July 29, 2018 at 10:31 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      Yeah it was a blast! I hope i’ll be able to make it again too. And don’t worry about it; I kinda have social anxiety too. ๐Ÿ˜‰ It was great seeing you in person, even if it was brief. <3

      July 30, 2018 at 5:47 am
  • Reply Jane Maree

    I’m determined that ONE DAY I will go to RM. It looks so amazing.

    July 29, 2018 at 10:39 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      YES COME I MUST MEET YOU! ๐Ÿ™‚

      July 30, 2018 at 5:46 am
  • Reply Jenna Terese - The Sage Advice Tag | Jenna Terese

    […] apologized once in myย Realm Makers recapย for some blurry photos. I had too much coffee, which causes my hands to shake. That must’ve […]

    June 26, 2019 at 5:16 am
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