Highly informative, great camaraderie, the Aurora Awards show—I really can’t say enough good things about Randy McCharles and the team, who pivoted on a dime and brought When Words Collide into an online format. This year—the 10th Anniversary of WWC—will be no less epic (probably more).

As the photo at the top shows, I’m already paging through 30 pages of workshops as I pick, choose, and agonize over which workshops to attend. Perhaps not surprisingly, I’m drawn to an entirely different set of priorities for learning this year.

Learning Curve Smorgasbord

The beauty of writing conferences is that no matter where you’re at in your writing journey, you’ll always find new topics and challenges. And a writers conference is a great place, among your friends and peers, to learn from others who are further along the path.

For example, I don’t need to attend any workshops about what genre(s) I’m writing in—I’ve worked that through. The workshop on the “Plotter vs. Pantser” controversy would be fun to attend (and I might, for old time’s sake), but it’s another question I’ve already settled for myself.

This year looks to be divided between going deeper into genre and cross-genre writing, coupled with a healthy collection of branding and business-related workshops. Added to my ongoing studies at Ryerson University, 2021 looks to be a banner year for learning.

I’ll be even happier when we’re able to gather in one location for When Words Collide 2022, but I’m looking forward to this year’s version just as much.

A Final Word from Collette

“Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.”

And writing conferences are an excellent place to learn how to do just that.

Can’t wait.