The Seventh Annual Naples Writers Conference

I have only been to two writers conferences, so I am still not totally adjusted to them yet. My first writers con was in San Diego which was a blast. They had tons of panels to pick from and a wonderfully relaxed environment. Actually, this was a huge monet for me as I met some people that are actually behind me and very encouraging. My thought with the Naples Writers Con was to go, learn, and pick up as many tips and connections as I could.

The Venue
The Naples Writers Con was held in a small art museum called the Von Liebig Art Center which was hosting an Andy Warhol exhibit at the time. There was only one room where most of the panels took place, but the walls were colored with a variety of colorful Warhol animal prints. Not being the biggest Warhol fan in the world, I was surprised that I enjoyed listening to authors and publishers speak in such an environment. It really added something to the feeling of the entire con. This is the only picture I took with my marvelous 2 Mega Pixel phone camera. Yeah, I know... I'm such the photographer!


Authors
I got the chance to speak with (Rita Award winning author) Linnea Sinclair, who was a wonderful woman. She gave me some really good advice and made herself available throughout most of the conference. To be honest, I thought her panel on character preparation was the best of the entire con. I also ate lunch with best selling author Robin Cook, which was fun to hear his stories of being in the military and how he wrote his first book in a decompresion chamber.

The Rundown
While this con was a good one, It was much less frantic and free as San Diego. Honestly for the dollar, San Diego is better, but this was a quaint and relaxed place with lots of access to authors. I am really big on writers cons and I suggest you attend as many as you can. Not only as a writer, but as a reader as well. The amount of books available and author access is wonderful. At the vary least, who doesn't like a book fair anyway?