Last year I went to my first AWP Conference in Seattle. Half hour to the airport, hour of security, three and a half hour flight, forty-five minute tram ride to Seattle, and a twenty minute walk to my hotel. Just over six hours from point A to B.

This year, AWP is in Kansas CIty. From Minneapolis, that’s a six and a half hour drive. About the same as last year, and cheaper too. 🙂 Bring on the Mtn. Dew and licorice (road trip staples for as long as I can remember).

Luckily, I won’t have to do the drive alone. Traveling and splitting a hotel room with writing friends makes AWP much more affordable. Plus, you all know how writers are. When they meet someone new, they either won’t say more than two words, or they won’t stop talking even as you’re walking away. Rarely any middle ground. This way I know I have reliable conversationalists.

As exciting as road trips are, the main event here is AWP. Last year I filled up my schedule, planned everything out, and realized once I was there I’d have zero time to experience the book fair. Luckily, sort of, some of my sessions filled up before I arrived, so I had a few session’s worth of time with which to visit the fair. And boy, did I need it.

If you haven’t been to the fair, it is massive. Like, two sessions might be enough time to take a cursory glance at everything. Might. If you want to make connections and actually look at what the booths have to offer, you need to devote at least three sessions. With that in mind, I kept a few sessions open this time, and if you’re going I suggest you do too.

As you’d expect for conferences, there are some sessions that are super cool, and some less so. Of course, those will depend on your preferences, and it’s a crap shoot as to how they’re allocated throughout the time blocks. Some blocks have nothing I want, others have four I really want to attend.

Barring capacity issues, the sessions I’m looking forward to the most are (and I’m only listing one per block):

• Beyond the Debut: Publisher One-Night Stands vs. Long Term Relationships
• Artificial Intelligence & Real Creativity: AI in the CW Classroom
• What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About (or To) Agents
• Pathways to Success: Practical and Personal Tips for Getting Published
• The Book Was Better… or Was It? Adapting Your Novel into a Screenplay or Play
• What Authors Need to Know about Generative AI and Copyright
• Crafting Unforgettable Characters—a Writer’s Guide to Storytelling
• Beating the Numbers Game: Submissions Strategies
• Becoming a Debut Novelist: The Journey From Book Submission to Book Launch
• Down to the Wire: The Nuts and Bolts of Editing a Manuscript to Publication
• From the First Idea to “It’s Finally Here!”: The Life Cycle of Publishing a Book

You can see a few themes here. I’ve a couple of manuscripts now nearing the end of their ready-to-query journey. These’ll be my first attempts, so it’s great that there are resources to lay out expectations and help me feel knowledgeable about the next phase.

I’ve also got a few AI sessions on there. Whereas I agree that AI shouldn’t be used to generate content, I don’t find it a wholly evil tool. It is just that: a tool. It’s the user that is in control of its use. I like it for research purposes. It can aggregate data and create lists far faster than I can google.

One of my favorite examples is that, for reasons, I needed a list of Shakespeare’s plays, but in order of how many people die in them. I remember trying to looked that up before AI and that I gave up because of how cumbersome it was, and set the project aside. I asked AI to do it and within seconds I had that list. Amazing.

There are a couple of one off sessions as well, but that’s the gist of my focus this year. Beyond the sessions, I’m hoping to make good contacts, perhaps future friends. I know a few writer friends going this year so hopefully between us we can find the right places and people to network.

I’ll do a post-AWP spiel this weekend, throw in a few tidbits that stood out. And I’ll probably be tweeting (is it still called tweeting if it’s not Twitter?) throughout.

As always, feel free to reach out with questions, comments, or just to say hello.