My Favorite Contest and Conference

If you’re a writer and you haven’t been to the Oklahoma Writers Federation Conference in Oklahoma City, OK during the first week in May, start saving your pennies and pack a bag. This will be the fourteenth year I’ve attended. (May 3-May 6, 2018)

Here’s a list of reasons you should attend.

1. This is the best bang for your buck that you will find. Two full days of presentations, as well as a famous authors banquet, an awards banquet, special lunchbox presentations, a costume competition, and the always enjoyable Buzz sessions afterwards. All of this for around $200. I don’t know of another great contest that can beat that price.

2. You can sign up in advance, and sometimes at the conference, for a chance to pitch your book to a choice of editors and publishers. Sign up early if you can, as the spots fill quickly. And practice, practice before you arrive, so that you don’t get tongue-tied.

3. There are a whopping 34 categories for you to enter, all for an unbelievably low cost of $25. You may enter one manuscript in each one of the first 30, if you like. The last four are for published books. There’s also the coveted Crème de la Crème Award, for the best manuscript in the contest.

4. An amazing, hardworking group of volunteers. If you attend, please stop at least one and thank them. I’ve been part of that group many times and, believe me, a pat on the back is always appreciated.

5. This group contains some of the friendliest writers around. It must be the Oklahoma City air. If you attend by yourself, you’ll still go home with a new circle of friends.

Their website is OWFI.org. If you do decide to attend, find me and say hi.