AWP 2019 - Portland, Oregon
This past weekend, I attended AWP for the first time. AWP (Association of Writers & Writers Programs) is an annual conference that takes place in the US, changing cities each year. It's a place for writers to converge and talk about the characters in their head without anyone questioning their mental status. Moreover, there are hundreds of panels, readings, discussions, and exhibition booths to attend and learn new things.
With 12,000 attendees, it was overwhelming at times. I don't like big crowds and I like having time to process my thoughts, but I would absolutely go again.
Since getting back to Seattle, there are two piles that I've sorted my thoughts into--how to get the most out of AWP and how to navigate being a writer.
How to get the most out of AWP
Give each day a theme - It happened to be unintentional, but each day my schedule had a theme. Day one was all about teaching and pedagogy. Day two focused on paths to publication. Day three was technical writing skills. Having each day organized like this helped me stay focus on a particular topic rather than feeling like my mind was bouncing all over the place.
Go with a goal in mind - When I selected which sessions I wanted to attend, it was because I have a few big projects I'm trying to tackle right now and I wanted to use AWP as a tool to push those projects along. The majority of the sessions were extremely useful in helping guide my thinking and ultimately changed how I plan to approach things like teaching in the future.
Know your limit - Conferences are tiring. It's a lot to navigate through crowds of people and sit through hour-long sessions and absorb all this new information. I had way too many sessions I planned to go to, but when I got there, I realized that three sessions was my limit before it felt like I was watching YouTube videos on the topic but actually spacing out instead. Pick your top three sessions each day, and spend the rest of your time writing and/or networking. If you feel up for more, go for it.
How to navigate being a writer
I don't actually have the answer to this. It probably looks different for everyone, but here are some things that were useful for me to hear.
Build a community and be genuine - This is mostly about enjoying your craft, learning as much as you can, and being a good literary citizen. Attend writing workshops, create a writing group, buy literary magazines, support your local book stores, go to readings, support your writer friends, make writer friends. Find other writers who you trust reading your work and providing feedback. Always reciprocate. Send thank you notes when people give you their time and expertise. Respect people's time--they have their own projects to work on.
Have boundaries for your creative work and space - It can be easy for people to see writing as a hobby, just something we do in our spare time. But if you want to be a writer you have to write. Make time for it. Stop accommodating everyone.
Take your time - This goes for many aspects of this whole journey, but take time and care with your writing. Sometimes it takes a while to understand what we're actually writing about. Wait to submit until you know what you want to say.
Consider where you realistically fit in the literary world - Think about where your work might sit in a bookstore and submit it to the appropriate places. On the flip-side, if you want to see your work published in a certain place, challenge yourself to write work that those publications (and their readers) might be interested in reading. In listening to several published authors speak, all of them stressed the importance in finding the right place to be published, not just getting published. Agents, editors, publishers, and writers should all share a vision of the work and establishing a common vision takes time. Be persistent and thoughtful.
Be honest about your priorities and goals - Almost every writer the spoke talked about juggling writing their passion projects with teaching and/or ghost writing and/or writing freelance articles and/or other side hustles. Consider what you want in life and in your career and be honest what that looks like. For me, it was heartening, specifically, to hear women talk about balancing writing and teaching with family life, in whatever way they defined family life. Most of them mentioned how they hadn't realized how much time they spent writing and teaching when they decided to have children. None of them advocated for or against having children, or getting married, or whatever else people want out of life, just simply that we understand the order of those priorities.
It doesn't require an MFA - This comes with a (big) caveat. If you want to work as a tenured creative writing professor at a four-year institution, you need an MFA. If that's not necessarily your goal, you have so many options. MFAs are great for creating a focused period of time, dedicated to your creative whims and providing students with a writers community. But in one of the panels I attended, Rebecca Makkai aptly pointed out that while that's a lovely bubble to live in for a period of time, life rarely lets you write uninterrupted. She said learning to dedicate time to writing while juggling a job or prior obligations as part of a low-residency MFA or MA gives a more realistic experience to what writing will be like after graduation. If community is what you're looking for, applying to writing workshops, fellowships, and residencies are likely to provide similar structures to learn as well as meet and interact with fellow writers and industry professionals.
Read - know the classics but engage with contemporary works. This is what you're up against.
Follow the instructions - Many literary magazine editors have said that 70-90% of submissions are unpublishable. And a lot of this is due to the fact that people don't follow instructions listed on websites or in magazines. The word count is too high, the submission is a different genre than the magazine, the submission is in the wrong format, there are too many typos, too many structural issues, etc. Do the basics--12 pt., Times New Roman, double-spaced font that's been spell checked. Then keep putting one foot in front of the other.
If you attended AWP this year or in the past, what things did you learn? Share in the comments!
