In preparing for our first writing conference, Evanston Writers Workshop 2010 “In the Trenches With the Writer,” May 15 and 16, 2010, I have learned a few things. Some of them are useful, some obvious, and some… well, it is ME, after all, so what do you expect?

1. Debbie did a great job designing our website.

2. I didn’t learn this, but the others doing the conference with me are newer at running events, and it was new to them: the last week ALWAYS has flux. We’ve had lots and lots of swapping and changes. This is normal and is no cause for alarm.

3. When you’re not working for a major corporation, you don’t have as much money as you do when you plan an event for one. This means, you can’t just schedule a car service to pick up your keynote speaker at the airport.

4. Which means, I get to pick up our keynote speaker at the airport.

5. Which means, she’ll be trapped in a car with me for an hour between Midway and the hotel.

6. I sure hope we still have a keynote speaker Saturday. o.O…

7. I designed the program in Microsoft Word. This is much, much easier than other people think it is. I should remember, just because something is easy for me, doesn’t mean it’s “easy.” I’ve had lots of classes and stuff and lots of years of training to make it look easy.

8. I had fun designing the program. (This is an important epiphany.) It’s 11×17, which gives me four full letter-sized pages to play with.

9. I could have used twice that, even three times, with all the content I wanted to put in it.

10. I REALLY love to write. And create. And make programs, newsletters, print stuff, online stuff.

11. You can register at the door, either with a check made payable to “Evanston Writers Workshop” or online (we will have a laptop available since there’s wifi). We will take cash, but may not have any change, so exact change is preferable. Prices:

Member Full Conference Price: $90.00
Member One Day Price: $54.00
Non-Member Full Conference Price: $100.00
Non-Member One Day Price: $60.00
Student Full Conference Price (proof required at the door): $60.00

12. The support of our members and friends means the world to us. We’ve even had members join who were crunched for cash, simply because they believe in what we’re doing. We really, REALLY appreciate their support. Thank you.

13. I’m getting really excited about the conference. Registration starts at 8:00 in Winnetka; hope to see you there! The conference website has more information.