Debrief - 2011 Pennwriters Conference

I figured the easiest way to blog about this year's Pennwriters Conference was to simply provide a list of moments/thoughts/remembrances:
1. As always, the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott treated us very well. I had a snaffoo with my hotel room (They had it in the books for me to arrive on Friday and leave on Monday). The hotel immediately found me a room in a completely booked hotel, and they even gave me a room on the Elite floor. I must admit, I don't know made it an Elite room but the view was cool.
2. Amazement at the dynamic duo we call Meredith and Julie. Along with their fantastic Conference Chairs, they orchestrated the biggest conference in Pittsburgh to date. I believe there was a 30% or 40% increase in attendees at the Pittsburgh conference this year compared to the 2009 conference.
3. My plane landing on the tarmac in Pittsburgh right before they closed the tarmac due to lightening storms.
4. Had lots of quality time with Jackie Mitchard and Pam English. I love Pam. I want her to adopt me so I can hang out with Jackie's kids. (There's an inside joke here. Don't worry if you don't get it.)
5. I didn't know what to do with myself. This was the first conference in several years in which I wasn't on point to do a variety of activities. I definitely ran around but I found myself sitting still more times than I can remember. Someone commented to me that she was surprised how low profile I was this year. I just thought I was resting.
6. Discovering that my Ethiopian daughter would help me revise my novel (Again, inside joke here. Don't worry if you don't understand.)
7. Jackie and Pam decided they would to stay an additional day and attend workshops.
8. When the workshop leader found out that Jackie Mitchard had attended her workshop on researching the police. 8B. When Jackie told the workshop leader how much she loved it.
9. The inspiring keynote by Jonathan Maberry.
10. The agent and editor panel facilitated by Nancy Martin. What could have been a boring discussion, she made fun.
11. Victoria Skurnick's candid workshop on how to work with an agent.
12. Dinner with Victoria Skurnick and Mercedes (one of our amazing Conference Leads) as well as many others. Thoroughly enjoyed the anecdotes. I would share them with you, but I promised I wouldn't. And I'm afraid of Mercedes.
13. The ride back to the hotel in the trunk of Julie Long's SUV. Dang, I wish we got a picture.
14. The look on multiple Pennwriters faces when they were asked for full or partials from agents. Yes folks, our writers are THAT GOOD.
15. My chats with agents and editors who shared that the members pitches were excellent and that they were impressed with the quality of the work. See comment on item 14 and replace the word good with the word GREAT.
16. D.L. Wilson's announcement that his second book SIROCCO is now available.
17. D. L. Wilson stopping me in the airport as I boarding and he gave me a copy of this action packed novel which was the perfect read for my flight home.

Many more moments but I'll sum the weekend up with this - if you are a writer and you've never been to a Pennwriters Conference, you need to. During Jonathan Maberry's Saturday afternoon keynote, he said that Pennwriters is a true writers community - a positive, supporting environment to help all writers at all stages of the writing journey. He repeated several times over the weekend that the Pennwriters Conference is what a writers community should be. It is the gold star, the shining example (fill in glowing remark here) for all writers conferences, all writing communities. And I concur.