The Coolest Event in the #RVA on October 17-19, 2014

Since 2005, I’ve belonged to James River Writers (JRW) and am fortunate to be a board member.

I had just moved to Richmond, VA and heard about their annual conference being advertised on the local community partners station. The conference was local, it was affordable, and it was the best experience of my life. I was hooked and surrounded by my writerly peeps – Nirvana!

This year, the conference will be held October 18-19, 2015 at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Richmond, VA.

Last year, Brad Parks opened the conference with the writer invocation:

JRW has partner with the Library of Virginia for the literary luncheon.  Barbara Kingsolver will be the recipient of the lifetime achievement award.

Why to I return to this conference year after year? Simple, JRW has some of the best conference programming around. Check out our schedule of events for this year’s conference.

Our goal is to educate our members and conference attendees about the craft of writing, the paths to publication, and facilitate connections that go beyond the organization. We have a stellar list of award-winning authors (all genres, local and national), literary agents, and publishers.

Hugh Howey, Sarah MacLean, Kwame Alexander, Brian Jay Jones, Bruce Holsinger, Lamar Giles, Jane Friedman, The Book Doctors are just a few of the guests that will be attending the James River Writers conference. Did you see this list? It’s amazing.

I’ve done a lot of name dropping. Here are the top three reasons you need to attend this conference:

1. The James River Writers Conference gives you connection with other writers.
2. The JRW programming is developed to be current with what is happening in the publishing universe.
3. You will come out inspired and rejuvenated.

If those aren’t reasons enough, on October 17th, we have 6 master classes that you can choose to attend. This year, we are offering these classes separate from the conference (we’d like you to attend the entire weekend, but…). If you can’t go to the conference, you can register for a master class or two or three. Here’s a quick look at the classes:

1. To Self (Publish) or NOT to Self? How to Decide! with Jody Rein
2. Point of View: Who’s Telling and Who’s Listening? with Kelly O’Connor McNees
3. Author Platform: What You Need to Know with Hugh Howey
4. How to Get Your Book Published with Jane Friedman
5.  Speed Up, Slow Down, Cast Forward, Flash Back: A Multi-genre Exploration of Pacing with Sheri Reynolds
6. How to Write a Query That Gets Manuscript Requests with Jane Friedman

To get a taste of the conference join us on September 15th at 7pm for a Twitter Chat with The Book Doctors or September 23rd at 7pm for a Twitter Chat with Hugh Howey.

I feel creatively replenished at the end of these weekends.