Yesterday was the last day of the Women Writing the West Conference.

This was a great little conference — lots to do and plenty of classes for every type of writer. Thursday’s “extra” day offered Self Publishing, a Query Letter Boot Camp, and a critique you had to sign up for in advance (I went to the boot camp). Then we had “social hour” and a welcome from the current president along with readings from the finalists for the WILLA awards.

On Friday, we started out with social hour for breakfast, then dug into the curriculum with Visual Plotting, Soft Marketing Tips, Pitch Perfect, and Realistic Wilderness Characters & Settings. The next course included a Virtual Tour of Colorado Springs, Social Media, Submission Netiquette, and Advanced Writing Tips. After that, Publishing Trends in a Post-COVID World, Contracts Demystified, Historical Research & Craft, and Writing Emotion.

After lunch, we had a lovely talk by Bob Bose Bell, publisher of True West magazine, and Radio Interview Tips from Ryan Warner of Colorado Public Radio. Both of those were really fun and got us warmed up for the afternoon sessions.

These included Getting the Most from WWW, Author Marketing Collectives, a journal & magazine panel, and Mosaic. Then we had dinner hour and the awards ceremony for the Laura (short story) and Downing (journalism) Awards. Most inspiring, as was the short musical film afterwards: Here’s To The Women, by Linda Allen.

Saturday morning we settled in after breakfast hour to talk about Braiding the Essay, Peak Your Publicity, First Page Perfect, and Poetic Techniques for Your Fiction & Nonfiction. The next session included a talk on Helen Hunt Jackson, Goodreads for Authors, Set the Scene, and an Agent Acquisition Panel. Then it was time for Planning Your Book, Getting Book Reviews That Count, and Editors Acquisition Panel, and Secondary Characters.

After lunch, we had the WILLA finalists ceremony and a member’s meeting. Then it was time for Climbing Past the Fear, Homesteading the Wild Web, The Transcendent Memoir, and Turning Premise Into Plot. After that it was social hour with Open Mic and Guided Writings, then dinner.

After dinner, we had the WILLA Awards ceremony with keynote speaker Margaret Coel. Our after-awards entertainment was folk-music from Wes and Victoria Hamil from their CD White Man, Red Road. We really ended the conference with a bang!

They gave us the option to purchase recordings of the classes we had to skip, too, which is going to be occupying my days for the next little while. Thanks for a fantastic conference, guys!

HERE’S a fun page all about the Wild West – cowboys, Indians, and even some puzzles and games