Context 24: Why Conventions are so Important

Denise Wyant, Me, Lesley Conner and Nora Azzi

Anyone who is serious about writing should be serious about attending conventions, especially writing conventions. I've gone to several and plan on expanding to more. This time around I went with three other writing friends of mine to Columbus, Ohio to attend Context 24, which is a convention for horror, science fiction, and fantasy writers. The best part is you don't even have to be into the horror, science fiction or fantasy genres to get something out of this convention, because it's main goal is to appeal to the writer.

I took several workshops one exploring the importance of details in a story and the other talking about the business side of writing. The rest of the time I spent going to panels with titles like Blogging for Beginners, Anthologies for Beginners, Balance in Writing and in Life, Writing for Different Mediums/Venues,  and Horror: Books and Movies.

Michael Knost and the Knosty girls!

When I wasn't learning, I had a great meeting great writers including: Linnea Sinclair, Michael Knost, Lawrence Connolly, Tim Waggoner, Michael West, Shelby Rhodes, and many more! And even editors such as David Hartwell, and Jason Sizemore!

Conventions are fun, but they are also important for learning more about the craft of writing as well as meeting writers, editors and publishers. I enjoyed every second of my time in Columbus and look forward to doing even more in the future! The only downside was that it didn't last longer.

Denise Wyant, Maurice Broaddus, Michael Knost, Jerry Gordon, Me, Nora Azzi, Lesley Conner, Shelby Rhodes