For me, it’s time to look at 2025 conferences and decide which one or ones I’d like to attend. I’ve been attending at least one conference a year since 1997.

Yeah, I’m that old.

But conferences are super important, either in person (which I prefer) or online (Write2Ignite has fabulous online Master Classes!)

What is a Writer's Conference?

If you’ve never attended a conference you may not know anything about them. A writer’s conference can be one or more days. You can commute or stay there. It’s filled with workshops, speakers, and appointments where you can meet one-on-one with an author, editor, or agent.

That’s it in a cookie jar.

Why Should You Attend One?

My #1 reason for attending a writer’s conference is networking. I don’t only want to meet editors and agents, but I love connecting with other authors. We writers tend to think we’re the only ones who feel like we do about writing.

We’re not alone.

And a writer’s conference will introduce you to writers who may become your tribe. I’ve been in the same writer’s group since 2003, and we all met at a conference. We didn’t know each other before then! And they’re now my family.

I’m also part of an online group, but that’s a whole other subject.

You’ll also learn a TON about the craft, the process, and publication. We don’t write or publish in a vacuum, so things change often. A writer’s conference helps you keep up on things.

A writer’s conference can validate you or help you know if you should be writing. Sometimes, we aren’t sure we’re doing the right thing. Learning more about the process can tell you if you really want to do this.

It can also help you learn if you’re a novel writer, a magazine article writer, a blogger, or a screenwriter, or more. It can help you know if you should pursue traditional publishing or self-publishing.

How Do I Find a Conference?

A few ways:

1. You can ask other writers
2. You can sign up for email newsletters
3. And my favorite: The Christian Writers Market Guide

The Christian Market Guide is an invaluable tool. It not only lists conferences, but publishing houses, agencies, and support for writers.

You can get it in paperback or online. I prefer paperback so I can dog-ear pages (it’s totally okay to do that with the market guide) and make notes in the margins.

Go to the conference chapter. You’ll see it shows conferences by state. Look to see which one you think is best for you, then go to the website. The most current information is on the website.

I always feel a delicious anticipation when I make plans to attend a conference.  For next year, I’m seriously considering attending a conference I never have before. I’m praying about it now as it’s a bit more than I wanted to spend, but the faculty looks amazing!

Hope to see you at a writer’s conference!

Pam Halter is a former home-schooling mom, has been a children’s book author since 1995, a freelance children’s book editor since 2006, and was the children’s book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023. She’s the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy, and the Willoughby and Friends picture book series (available on her website.) Pam has also published short stories in Ye Olde Dragon Books , the Whitstead Anthologies and Renewed Christmas Blessings. Her first short story won Readers Choice in Realmscapes.  

Pam lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband, Daryl, special needs adult daughter, Anna, and four cats. When she’s not writing, Pam enjoys spending time with her grands, reading, quilting, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, Bible study, and walking long country roads where she discovers fairy homes, emerging dragons, and trees eating wood gnomes.