I attended the Missouri Writers’ Guild Conference this weekend. To all you serious writers out there, I cannot stress this enough: attend conferences! The opportunities to network with other writers, agents, and editors are unprecedented. At most conferences you get to pitch your book idea to said agents and editors. And you may just make some fun friends amongst the other writers. I did.

The result of the weekend was three chances to pitch FLYNN, which I did with a minimal amount of word-stumbling and awkward silences. But I also learned a lot about organizations which my fellow writers might be interested to join:

Missouri Writers’ Guild This writers’ guild is open to anyone, of course, but locals of Missouri and especially St. Louis will find it most helpful. Their various chapters are home to many critique groups you can join.

Mystery Writers of America According to their web site, “MWA is the premier organization for mystery and crime writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and folks who just love to read crime fiction.” If you fall under any of these categories, check them out.

Sisters In Crime Women interested in writing mystery should definitely investigate this nation-wide group. They offer support and resources. And let’s face it, when you’re writing a mystery which is going to involve lots of things you have little experience with (police procedures, murder weapons, rare poisons, etc.) you need all the resources you can get!

So now I continue work on the sequel to FLYNN, and wait to hear back from those I pitched to.

RHDavis