PART III: POST-CONFERENCE REFLECTIONS
The final part of the YWC 2014 posts.
Post-conference ennui exists. It is real. For days or weeks you live, breathe, eat and sleep in an environment designed to facilitate your writing; you engage with writers and teachers of your craft; you suspend your normal, everyday life in order to engage deeply and productively with your writing. It’s only expected that when its over and you head back to your regular schedule and life, you will require a period of adjustment. I definitely needed time to recover and process all I had learned.
I came back with a head full of ideas, a future focus for my writing and new friends. Oh, and an unforgettable experience.
For me, it was inspiring to be in the company of such talented and brilliant writers in a place associated with strong academic traditions. When not workshopping, I exercised my access with the Free Stack Pass to Sterling Memorial Library – the second largest university library in North America. I visited the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library with a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. I worked out at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium which is the largest indoor gym facility on the planet, housed in a cathedral and home to an ancient, flaking wooden polo practice pony which, of course, I had to try. I also had a great time being conspiratorial about Yale secret societies (it’s the mystery lover in me), sampling a range of restaurants and socializing.
That was the fun part. I also came back with post-conference work. For any writer returning from a conference, residency or retreat, it is useful to:
1 – Compile your notes, observations, lessons and experiences.
2 – Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges for your writing.
3 – Evaluate and review current writing goals and strategy (see post: http://scribesmadness.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/226/)
4 – Update or make changes to your writing strategy as necessary.
5 – Save networking contacts.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience of the Yale Writers’ Conference 2014 as much as I enjoyed sharing it. Thank you for your wonderful comments, messages and emails. To wrap up, here’s a video of me at the conference reading my work for the first time in public.
Until next week! 🙂
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