Coming Out of Your Shell

 

             If I had to pick five words to describe myself, none of them would be along the lines of ‘Outgoing.’ I’ve just never been one of those people that can walk up to a stranger and start a conversation. I get nervous, I don’t know what to say. Or I just ramble on until the other person can politely excuse herself and wander over to the punch bowl.

            So when I went to my first writing conference almost two years ago, I found a nice chair in the corner of the room, by myself. I had my water bottle and my notebook and my pen. I was ready for the day.

            Except the conference was more popular than I had anticipated. Soon all of the chairs were full. I ended up sitting next to a lovely woman who immediately smiled and introduced herself as Mary. She asked what I was writing.

            I had never spoken about my story out loud. Besides my husband, no one even knew I was writing at the time. But I couldn’t tell her “nothing” or “none of your business.”

            “It’s an urban fantasy.” Saying those words out loud was scary. But at the same time, it made my writing feel real. I wrote an urban fantasy novel.

            Mary’s eyes lit up. “I love urban fantasy! Tell me about it.”

            So we talked.

            I told her about my story. She told me about her paranormal romance. We sat next to some other women at lunch and exchanged more stories. That day, I talked to six different people about not just our plots, but the life of a writer, our struggles, our victories, our dreamsfor our novels. Seeing their passion made me excited about their stories, and excited to talk about my story as well. I found that I could hold my own in a conversation if the topic was something I was passionate about.

 

 

            If you ever find yourself at a writers’ conference, don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation! You already know you have something in common, and you could be making a life-long friend.