What’s WANACON you say?

Perhaps you’re wondering: First ROW80, now WANACON; what’s with all the weird acronyms on this chick’s blog? What can I say? *shrug* I just keep bumping into interesting writing-related things that – like me – have quirky names! The latest one is WANACon, which is short for the WANA Worldwide Writing Conference.

Frankly, I don’t know too much about the WANA gang, except that it’s the brainchild of Kristen Lamb and stands for, “we are not alone.” Like so many other things that flash across my screen, I mentally dog-eared WANA as something to investigate… some day.

Over the months, I kept finding interesting writing-related articles via Twitter that would include hashtags like #wana and #mywana. I started to notice that these WANA tweeps were a friendly bunch who kept dishing up good information.

So, last month when I saw a tweet about an online writing conference offered by WANA International, I decided to check it out. At $125 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it seemed quite reasonable. Plus, I saw that Candace Havens was on the roster, and I adore her. Candace Havens’ Fast Draft/Revision Hell classes at last year’s DFW Writer’s Conference were a real highlight for me.

Even so, 125 bucks is 125 bucks, and I worried that the conference wouldn’t deliver, or that the classes wouldn’t be applicable to my writing needs. I hemmed and hawed and agonized over the expenditure, because my Scottish genes wouldn’t have it any other way. Finally, at the very last minute, I took the plunge.

WANACon Delivered

Much to my relief, the WANACon online writing conference was well worth it! Since I work on Fridays and Saturdays, I figured I wouldn’t be able to attend too many of the classes in person.

As luck would have it, I got a nasty kidney infection and was flat on my back for most of the conference. For a while there, I was too uncomfortable to even surf the net, so it was really nice to have the WANACon classroom audio playing to keep my mind occupied while I recuperated.

As for my concern that the classes wouldn’t apply to my writing projects? I needn’t have worried. I definitely got my money’s worth. Don’t believe me? Take a peek at this WANACon 2013 class schedule, and see for yourself. It was loaded with writerly goodies!

In short, I learned a lot. Now I just need to take the time to digest it all and incorporate it into my writing plans. Oh – I also need to look more deeply into the WANA community and see what else goes on over there!

My ROW80 Check-In

I’m making progress on my book about Texas, although I’ve yet to come up with a good title. I’ve decided to figure that out once I’ve got the first rough draft done. It’s a challenge not to get too caught up in the research process. Texas is a fascinating place and I keep digging up more and more interesting tidbits. (You should see my bookshelf!)

Due to my illness, I missed a couple days of writing, but learned so much from WANACon during that time that I feel those days were well-spent.

Music-wise, I haven’t done a thing! Will have to work on that…

I’ve started doing a weekly check-in by phone with Morgan Dragonwillow. The two of us both have a tendency to run off in too many directions with our creative energy. These weekly calls are meant to keep up both on track.

ROW80 Linky:

That’s how my writing goals are going. How are yours coming along? Here are links to all the other Row80 participants. Check them out: