Back from The Writers Workshop at Chautauqua! Yowsers, what a conference! If you ever have a chance to go, take it. You will not regret it.

No pictures right now—the dog ate the cord I need to upload from my camera.

But…I learned so much about beautiful language that I’m tempted to think, “Who needs pictures when a thousand words can build a world and populate it with wonders.”

So I hope to take a several days and go over my notes and post what I learned at Chautauqua.

I will kick things off today with some thoughts on the flavor of this conference as opposed to all the other conferences I’ve been to.

Chautauqua is about:

• making friends (not networking).
• learning to write great books and articles (not just learning to sell them).
• encouragement (not competition).
• talking to authors and editors (not pitching to them).

Chautauqua offers:

• food for the body. (I have never eaten so well in my life, except for when I went to the Founders Workshop last fall. If you attend any Highlights Foundation conference or workshop, you can rest assured that you will be fed well.)
• food for the soul. (The lovely lake, the opera, the art, the old houses, the flowers, the absence of cars—all these work together to invite you to slow down and breathe and connect with God.)
• food for the mind. (A trip to a museum, plenty of programs at the Chautauqua Institution, some great speeches by conference speakers.)

Chautauqua staff members:

• are interested in you (rather than talking endlessly about themselves).
• give you two half-hour, one-on-one sessions where they talk about your writing (rather than talking endlessly about their own writing ¹).
• love to talk about good literature (rather than talking endlessly about the latest blockbuster ²).
• act like normal people (rather than acting like rock stars).

OK, I’m laying it on a little thick. Other conferences are good, too. I love SCBWI conferences and I really love the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. At some conferences you’ll find good food, at others you’ll find refreshment for your soul, and at every conference you’re sure to find some people who don’t think they’re rock stars. Still Chautauqua is unique. Kent Brown must be the world’s best host. He seems bent on making sure everyone is having a good time. The Writers Workshop at Chautauqua is a wonderful way to spend a week and change your life.

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1. Not that I have a great need to talk about myself and my work to strangers. I mean, I do have a blog wherein I can blab about myself all day long. It’s just that sometimes when you pay authors, agents, or editors to critique your work, it’s a little disappointing when they talk more about their work than yours, is all. ↩
2. Though I did overhear several people wishing that Mockingjay would come early. ↩

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categories: Chautauqua, Conference Notes, Highlights Fdn., Retreats
tags: Chautauqua, children's writers, Highlights Fdn., the writers workshop at chautauqua, writing conference

1 comment

Oh yeah! I got a scholarship to Chautauqua!

I’m so excited. I’ve never been, but I have heard wonderful things about this conference. I went to a Founder’s Workshop last fall and loved every minute of it. After that I decided to make Chautauqua my conference this year. (I try to go to at least one a year—two or three usually. I’m a conference junkie. I just love hanging out with writers. They are so talented and funny and energetic—especially children’s authors.) But I did a little twelve-day visit to the hospital several months ago and that took a big bite out my plans to play a free bird, conference groupie, artiste-type person this year.  How can you go conference hopping when you’re broke? Those babies aren’t cheap.

So when the good folks at the Highlights Foundation sent out their email reminding writers that they were offering scholarships, I jumped.

And today I found out I’ll be going to Chautauqua this summer!

Those Highlights people are some of the nicest around!

So after I posted that last bit about Kent Brown, I moseyed on over to the Founders Workshops web page and drooled all over my keyboard for a bit. I came across this one with Stephen Roxburgh and couldn’t resist.

So I’m going. I’ll blog about it when I get back. I am so excited.

September in the Poconos. Six writers. One editor. Private cabin. Meals in the big house. Together time. One on one time. It all just sounds so flippin’ perfect!

I feel like the most spoiled person alive right now.