If you want to be published, one of the best things you can do to move toward your goals is to attend a writers’ conference.

But for most of us, budget and time constraints prevent our being able to attend as often as we’d like. So, what’s the next best thing to going? Reading conference reports from those who attended! YEA!

This month’s Spirit-Led Writer includes two conference reports that kept me hanging on every word.

In her article, Writing for the Soul: The Sweet Agony, Beth Vogt reports on what it was like to attend her fourth Writing for the Soul conference in Colorado. Beth will have her first book published by Revell this August, entitled Baby Changes Everything: Embracing and Preparing for Motherhood after 35.

Beth wrote:

The list of this year’s conference speakers read like a Who’s Who of Christian writers: Liz Curtis Higgs, Dr. Tim LaHaye, Dr. Dennis Hensley, and James Scott Bell, just to name a few. Editors representing Discipleship Journal, Focus on the Family, MOPS International, as well as Tyndale House Publishers, Guideposts, and Bethany House and others were available for appointments.

She included notes and quotes from attending the different workshops. What an inspiration for those of us armchair traveling attendees!

And Linda Boe wrote a fantastic first-timer’s account of her trip to the Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference in northern California. She was graciously given a scholarship by Cecil Murphey, which allowed her to attend. As a mother of three and grandmother of six, Linda relished every minute of this conference — and her enthusiasm is contagious.

I love reading articles like these! They remind me of all the wonderful reasons to attend Christian writers’ conferences; mainly, the people you meet will encourage you to keep on writing for God’s glory.

And one more thing:
If you’re seeking paying markets for your work, a great place to do some research is to read through the conference website and see what the faculty are looking for. For example, there is a detailed list on the Writing for the Soul website.

A tip from one of these sites might make your query letter stand out — it shows the editor you’re serious when you send them exactly what they’re looking for. Plus, you KNOW this information is current if the conference took place recently.