Minneapolis Young Writer's Conference Wrap-Up

Saturday, June 18, 2016
This week, you guys. *screams*


This conference was such an awesome opportunity -- to meet awesome internet friends, NYT bestselling authors, and talk with a Harper Collins editor.

The week was filled with very serious, late night Marvel discussions, giggles, so much writing information, inspiration everywhere, and lots of happy singing.

I'm going to plop a bunch of pictures in this post and make it more of a wrap-up sort of thing. Next Saturday I'll do a post on what I learned at the conference. There's so much -- I'll probably have to do several posts about this experience. :D 

I went to the conference with Aimee, Caroline, Hannah, Olivia, and Laura. I'm so blessed to have gotten the chance to know them better, since they're all such lovely writers and people.

So many awesome things happened. Hannah and her cousin Laura both won a writing award. All the authors said Aimee's writing was awesome and how her characters were lovely. (I totally agree with this, by the way. Because it is mah favorite. <3) Caroline's self published book is getting considered and talked about among the authors and editors.

One of the things I loved most about this Minneapolis Young Writer's Conference, was the intimate setting. Because there were only 66 writers there, our group was able to eat lunch with all the authors. Basically become buddies with them. Have Jonathon Friesen smack you over the head with a book.

There are so many memories, and the pictures tell them better than I could. Here are some of mah favorites:

meetin' new writer friends. the girl to my right is Olivia -- you should all follow her lovely new blog she just created.
aggressively critiquing each other's things
caroline's face is mah favorite, here xD
HANNAH. <3 (isn't her fangirl shirt awesome?)
guys guys guys guys we had pizza. In my peter parker/pizza shirt. Aw yes.
first time meetings at the airport. <3 
low-key cosplaying as wanda, comic book clint barton, and peter parker.
 


I promise I didn't kill her, no matter how much it looks like it. :P
    
   

The lovely Jacqueline West. <3 Also Aimee and her hawkeye cosplay.

 

a lot of lying on the floor happened. typical writer position.

- - -

// katie grace

This was more of a journal-ish post that I normally write, but I don't mind one every once in awhile.
How was your week? What's your typical writer position?* xD

* Ally Condie said she often does "the starfish," which includes her lying flat on the floor, limbs spread wide, often in a state of freak out or "what even are words."

(also here's aimee's wrap-up post if you're interested in reading about that.)

71 comments :

  1. Oh if I could get the chance to go to a writing conference! *sobs* I've wanted to for YEARS but just nope. Only in America. Sorry. I miss out. But if I ever go to America I will make sure it is in the conference season and I'll spend the whole time going from one to the next, just to make up for my entire life of missing them. :)

    My week was insane, and I wasn't at any conferences. I had three 11 o'clock nights, two 10s and one lonely 9:30 *dies* it was so crazy. (That's what happens when there's a family of 11 staying with our family of 8. Complete Chaos.) But it was still good fun. (And we got to watch Spiderman 3 (the old version, but I haven't watched the new ones either) for the first time last night which was so cool.)

    Love seeing all the photos! Looks like you had SO much fun. *is jealous*

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    1. Awwhhh. That's so sad! :/
      Yes! That would be super awesome. Have you ever been to America?

      Ack, that is chaos! Do you normally go to bed earlier than that? (I had a 4am night this week so I completely understand xD)

      Ooh, did you like that movie? I actually haven't seen that one -- I've only seen the first two of the old movies and then the Amazing Spiderman ones.

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    2. No, I've never actually been out of the country (and only out of my state twice or so...). Crazy right? But I'd like to some day. (I'll tell all my American blogger friends if/when I do just in case our paths cross :D)

      Oh yes, so much chaos. I generally try get to bed by 9:00 but nowdays it's more often 9:30 or later. Annoying since I can NEVER sleep in, even if I'm allowed to my brain just doesn't let me.

      Spiderman 3 wasn't as good as the other two, mostly just because Peter went a bit evil (because of some random black blob-y stuff) and that was a little depressing to watch one's hero go bad. And he and MJ were SO frustrating. But it ended up pretty cool. :)
      How similar are the Amazing Spiderman movies to the old ones?

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    3. Yaaas, make sure to tell me if you ever do go to America so we can meet up. (I mean, America is big... but... hopefully you'll be somewhere near me. :P)

      AH, you're so good. 9:00 is very responsible I am proud. xD

      Yeah, that's what I've heard. I personally like the "Amazing Spiderman" ones a lot better. They're very well done.
      They're not too similar? There is a green goblin in both, but I personally think the Amazing Spiderman one is better. :D

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    4. Definitely! :P

      Yus, I am the very figure of goodness...or not. I do my best but it doesn't work out half the time. :D

      I do want to watch the "Amazing Spiderman"s as well, not to mention all those Marvel things that everyone rants about but I have never watched. They sound interesting, and I've seen tons of funny pins on Pintrest that I'm dying to finally understand. xD But with three little siblings, life and everything I have no idea when (hopefully 'when' not 'if') that's going to happen.

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  2. AH WOW I WAS WAITING FOR THIS POST FOR SOOOO LONG! I'm really glad you guys had such a great time :)

    As for me school started and everything is so awkward. Old school but new classmates and subjects especially since I'm pulled out for a different math and science class. I did 0% writing this week with the School-Just-Started excuse card :P But I'm hoping to start writing this weekend!

    YES I LOVE THE STARFISH. I PERFORM THIS ON MY BED ONCE I GET TO THE POINT OF NOT EVEN WANTING TO THINK ABOUT WORDS ANYMORE.

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    1. blahhh I'm so sorry. :/ I'm hoping that you'll be able to make some friends -- I can only assume that school is a lot more bearable that way with people you enjoy.

      YES THE STARFISH. I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN I HEARD THAT EVEN NYT BESTSELLING AUTHORS DO WEIRD WRITING FORMS AS WELL. XD

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  3. Looks like you had a great time! I wish I could've been there, but oh well. And I'm not sure whether the amount of food in these photos is impressively low or impressively high.

    . . . I don't actually spend that much time lying on the floor, though, typical writer position or no. I prefer to procrastinate aggressively on what I should be writing.

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    1. er, impressively low? there was a LOT of food that wasn't eaten. Big plates of nachos and ice cream was TOTALLY NOT our lunch one day. *cough*

      GASP. You don't? You should start doing that, then. xD Lying on the floor is one of my greatest passions in life. I've become quite the expert at it.

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  4. AHHHH!! I love this post so much, I can't even!!! It's so cool you ladies all got to meet up & then turn around and hang out with amazing authors together. (*cough-cough* Not jealous about any of this in the LEAST. XD) Glad you all had a good time! <3

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    1. EEEK it was so much fun. *happy flailing*

      Awh, I'm sad that I haven't been able to meet you yet. *sniff* You seem like such a lovely person! You're an INFJ, right? ENFPs always get along well with those. ;)

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    2. *flails happily for you*

      Same here... *wipes tear* BUT ONE OF THESE DAYS, KATIE!! :D Awww, thank you! Hehe! Yes, ma'am, I am a living, breathing paradox. I've noticed that ENFPs & I always do get on well. You guys are always so much fun!! XD

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  5. Wow!! It looks like you had so much fun, Katie. Love this post!!

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  6. AAHHH THIS WEEK SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS AWESOME! *flailing* Must've been so surreal to meet your internet friends, huh? :D

    And I love Ally Condie's "starfish." xD

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    1. IT WAS AWESOME. And surreal. Dude. Like, they were sitting in FRONT of me and I could hug them and interact with them. It was very odd. xD

      Sameeee. xD

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  7. Oh my gosh, I can hardly handle all the cuteness from you guys xD I love it! I'm so glad you had fun. The conference sounds amazing!! :D I'm going to be going to a teeny little conference in north Texas soon. It will be my first, so we'll see how that goes. Also, you and Aimee kind of look alike. What's up with that?

    My week included not doing anything with my book and babysitting a freaking ton! And I bought books. Lots and lots of books ^.^ And I even read?!

    My typical writing pose? Yeah, flopping in despair on my bed or staring blankly at my blinking cursor. Not fun ;)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I HAD SO MUCH FUN. *flailing* Ooh, waaahtt? A writer's conference? I expect to see a post about that. ;)
      Hm. Maybe I see the similarities? Kind of? xD Why do you think we look similar? :P

      YOU READ? YESSS. Buying books is actually the greatest. xD My bookshelf MAY be overflowing with books which is only kind of a problem.

      Not fun at all. .-. that has been me with editing these last couple days. ... weeks...

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    2. Okay, okay, maybe I'll post ;)

      Uuuuummmmm, I guess it's the eyes when you smile, and your smiles, and your adorableness, and your natural hair colors, and your complexions :) I guess it just kind of struck me :P

      Yeah, I just got 4 new books. It's getting insane. ThriftBooks was a sinful discovery because that's where all my money's going now ^.^ Still not reading as much as I want to, but I've actually read entire books this month! :D

      Ugh, editing. Don't get me started. Why is editing other people's work so much more fun? Oh yeah, because I can say "fix it" (nicely) and then walk away. I don't have to do all the research and replotting :P

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  8. This looks so cool! I've never been to any kind of conference--but I did spend a good bit of my week writing, so that was good. My typical writter's posotion would probably be hunched over my desk, googling something on my laptop in order to avoid writing.

    It's great that you all got to meet up. The conference sounds amazing. :)

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    1. Yaas I'm proud of the writing you got done. *nod* Is this a first draft?

      The google is very nice for writing research, but also very distracting. Like, I could look up pizza pictures and penguin gifs and marvel theories all day. Very very distracting.

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    2. Yep--more of a draft 0, since aliens could touch down at this point (my story isn't about aliens) and I honestly don't think I'd be surprised. I'm having a great time with it, though!

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    3. omg. xD Those are sometimes the best stories, though. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. :P

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  9. Looks like you guys had fun!!!
    And ohmygoodness pizzzzzaaaaa. It makes it even better if you're eating it with your buddies! =)
    -Ariel

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    1. PIZZAAAA. It was basically a dream eating it with my writing buddies. SO much happiness. :D

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  10. Oh my gosh it was so nice to meet you guys this week!

    As for my writer's position, the floor is my home. I am there so often. Unless I'm plotting, then I'm sprawled out on a sofa or sitting upside down in a chair.

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    1. yyeeeeesssssssss
      wait
      *now wants to see how you sit upside down in a chair*

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    2. IT WAS I'M SO HAPPY THAT WE COULD. <3

      ... *blink* i ditto Caroline's comment. I want to see you sitting upside down now. xD

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  11. SOUNDS REALLY FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  12. AAAAAAHHH OMG THAT MUST'VE BEEN THE BOMB. It would be so cool to meet your internet friends and have an epic conference with them too! And I agree with Abigayle, you and Aimmee do sorta look alike. ^_^ I love this post so much :) It's so full of happiness and fun times.

    ALSO THE STARFISH POSE YES THAT IS SO ME. Wow. I'm not the only one.
    THANK YOU ALLY.

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    1. IT WAS THE BOMB DUDE. ajdkflas;jf so much happy flailing and giggles.
      Eheh, I find it so amusing that you think we look alike. But I love her face, so I'll take that as a compliment. xD

      YES. THANK YOU ALLY.

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  13. Ughhh when will I ever attend anything fun??? *cries*

    Also, I couldn't find Hannah. Is my eyesight that bad or was she not in the picture? o.O

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    1. noooo you will someday. *hugs*

      SHE'S IN THE PICTURE. Or one of them -- not sure how many I got of her. She's in the selfie picture with me in her fangirl shirt.

      Delete
  14. Ahhhhhhhh it sounds like you had an amazing time!!! I'd seriously love to go to a conference sometime.

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    1. Yaaas it was super amazing. o.o I still have a hard time believing that it actually happened. xD

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    2. OH! Btw I nominated you for the music tag over at my blog!

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  15. It was so amazing. 6/6 would and will be doing it again. xD

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    1. OH YEAH THERE'S NO WAY I'M NOT GOING NEXT YEAR.

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  16. I went to the OYAN one with Nadine, yours sounds fun!

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  17. That's so fun! :)

    Allie D.
    www.alliesblogdesigns.blogspot.com
    www.friendlovesatalltimes.blogspot.com
    www.sincerelyallied.blogspot.com
    www.spreadingmyjoy.blogspot.com

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  18. Omg! :D What a fun time that looks like!! LOL at the "typical writer's position." So glad you got to do this, Katie! Wow, bet you met some great fellow writers!

    Also, tagged ya for "The Rising Authors Tag"! :) Here's the post.

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    1. It was so amazingggg. I totally laughed out loud when she said that, too. xD

      Ooh, thank you! I must check it out. *nodnod*

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  19. UGH KATIE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THIS WAS GLORIOUS. I MISS YOU.

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    1. UGH MAH AIMEE FREN I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND MISS YOU TOO. BEST WEEK EVER. <3

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  20. It looks like you had a lot of fun! Lucky you. ;D

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    1. I am very blessed. *hides mah happy face* I hope you'll be able to have an opportunity like this sometime in the future. :D

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  21. Looks like so much fun, love the low key cosplaying.

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    1. The low key cosplaying was one of the best parts. So much fun xD

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  22. OH MY GOODNESS I am so jealous XD. The conference looks like so much FUN! I'm glad y'all had such a good time! All the pictures are epic, I love all your cosplaying :D.
    *gasps* You ate pizza with your writerly friends. I am going to do that someday *scribbles it onto bucket list*
    I SO loved this post! All the awesomeness and epicness and fun pictures and I AM SO GOING TO A WRITER'S CONFERENCE SOMEDAY. You can't stop me *nods*.
    My writer's position is slouched in my chair staring at the computer waiting for words to come and wondering WHY EVEN did I decide to be writer.
    (and this is off topic, but I was wondering how many pages your books had (the ones you printed from Lulu)?)

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    1. Eeek, thank you! *happy flailing*

      YES GO TO A WRITER'S CONFERENCE SOMEDAY I 10 THOUSAND PERCENT RECOMMEND IT.

      Ooh. Good question. It... really depends? Is there a specific one you were wondering about? Because my books range from 60k-105k, so that's quite a big difference of pages. xD

      ALSO, did you see my email about the Camp NaNo cabin? We have one spot left and not much time, so would you like to be in it? You just need to create a project and send me your username. We're a very active and chatty cabin. It's quite fun. (Jaye L. Knight and Nadine Brandes are in it. ;)

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    2. A Twisted Star, really. I'm going to be printing my novella (I just finished the first draft) BUT it's the teeny weeny thing since I left out some MAJOR stuff and promptly forgot about it XD. So I wanted something to compare it to just a bit.

      YES I saw it! I apologize for being so late in replying to you about it :(. I just created an account last night and I'm waiting for the verification link. Then I'll create a project and go ahead and email you. But back to the point, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be in your cabin, thank you so much for inviting me!

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    3. Oops, I almost forgot: how long should I wait for the verification link? It's been over 12 hours, and I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take? (I'm totally new to all things NaNoWriMo XD)

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    4. Errr, I was a bit stupid and forgot to put page numbers in, so. :P You have Resistance, right? It's about a third of a size of that. Roughly. Ish. Maybe a big larger.

      IT'S OKAY. Hm, I feel like it shouldn't take that long. Check your junk mail and then try singing in or making it send again. It usually comes in after only a few seconds.

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    5. Okay, thanks!

      Well, my mom checked junk mail, deleted emails, and her inbox and couldn't find it, so I tried re-creating my account exactly the same way. BUT it said that the username and email were already in use, so I tried signing in, and it said I needed to check for a verification link. *sigh* I don't know, I'll figure something out and get back to you when I do :).

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  23. I love Writer's Conferences. The next best thing to going is reading about one. Love it!

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    1. Thank you so much! It was fun to relive the memories while writing this up. (though, it was a little sad, too... :P)

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  24. I LOVED seeing your social media posts about the conference!! It looks fab! My sister actually went to a writers conference somewhere else last week. Weird!! But I love the pics, and I'm super glad you had a good time!

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    1. Oooh, really? Was it the OYAN conference?

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    2. It was the OYAN conference. We both did the OYAN curriculum in high school.

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  25. Was your hair different?!?!

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    1. My... hair different? It's wavy in some of the pictures here since I curled it up into a pony the night before.

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  26. This looks like so much fun! Thanks for the comment on my blog, it allows me to find other blogs like yours. I really like it!

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    1. Awhh, well thank you! Finding new blogs is the best. :D

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  27. low key jealous and high key (is that even a thing it totally isn't but whatever) unbelievably happy and squealish that this actually happened XD I MIGHT HAVE TO COPY YOU GUYS THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME TO DO WITH FELLOW BLOGGERS. the laying on the floor pictures = me 98.7% of the time. YALLS LOW KEY COSPLAYS SLAY ME. SO GOOD. i loved this post X)

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  28. *much screaming and jealously* AND SO MANY LOVELY FACES. I will meet you one day and give you a huge long hug and never let ago unless you offer me pizza and a Marvel movie marathon.

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  29. I legit started crying at the picture of you and Jacqueline. I've been DYING to at least see her for at LEAST a minute at one of her events since November of 2014 (which is when I met her on her blog), but something always comes up so I can't make it to her events. I AM SO JELLY. Did you tell Jacqui I said hi?!?! Or was that at her release party for DREAMERS... Anyway, you are SO LUCKY. I hate you in the best way possible. XD

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