A couple weeks ago I road tripped to Franklin, Tennessee, for our friend Jeff Goins's most recent Tribe Conference.
The Tribe Conference is an annual gathering of writers who want to grow in their craft and business in the midst of community. It was an incredible experience with unforgettable people.
7 Lessons From the Tribe Conference
Here are the seven lessons I learned that weekend:
1. Start Before You Feel Ready
You'll never wake up one day and feel like you're ready to be a writer. Trust me, I've tried it.
You just have to start.
And if you start, you will find that you wake up one day and realize you are a writer.
It's as simple as that, really. You must begin.
2. Be Brave
Jeff Goins began his conference in a Robin costume. For a grown man to welcome an audience of 200+ in a leotard and tights is a brave thing to do. And that was Jeff's first point. Being a writer requires bravery.
I wish I could also tell you that in writing, you only need to be brave once, but bravery is required in each step of the process.
You have to be brave to start. You have to be brave in what you write. And most of all, you have to be brave to share what you've written.
3. Connect Through Honesty
This is something I've been learning a lot of lately, and something Jeff and his team shared so eloquently. Your readers will connect to you and your writing when you are honest with them.
You see, I used to think that being a professional writer meant I needed to be know everything about writing. Why else would I write on a blog dedicated to teaching writing principles? The truth is, I really know nothing. I mean, I do know a few things, but honestly, each day I realize I know less than I thought I did yesterday.
It's not about knowing everything. It's about being able to be honest with where you really are and to invite the reader to figure out the rest with you. That's when true connection happens.
True connection with your reader is found there: at the intersection of honesty and invitation.
4. Good Stories Are Told Through Small Details
Marion Roach shared this piece of advice at this year's conference:
Too often we focus on the dramatic moments in our stories, like, “He broke my heart” and “She's gone.” And while these can be huge moments that shift the entire story, they do not teach the reader anything.
The most effective stories focus on the small details that tell the bigger story. Narrow in on the significance of a keychain or the moment you first suspected something was wrong. Use details like these to write moments that connect with and transform your reader.
5. Use the Right Tools
Another thing I love about the Tribe Conference is the dedication to not simply teaching principles but showing how to implement them. This year they did that by showing us a lot of new tools that are changing the way we write, share our writing, and create an audience.
We no longer live in the days of finishing a manuscript on a typewriter. If you want to be a writer, there are countless tools that can help you be more creative and productive.
Take advantage of the tools you have at your disposal.
6. It's Not About You
The actual theme of this year's conference was, “Be the Sidekick.” Another reason Jeff came on stage dressed as Robin, not Batman.
The idea he shared was so simple, but completely revolutionized the way I saw my writing. He asked these simple questions:
What if your writing isn't about you?
What if you wrote the story that others needed you to tell?
What if your sole focus was to help someone else be the hero in their own story?
What writers like Jeff and I have found is that when you focus on being the sidekick, not only do you actually help change the lives of your readers, but you become more successful in the process.
7. Community Is Everything
I learned a lot from the sessions at the Tribe Conference, but where I learned the most was sitting at a table surrounded by other writers who shared their struggles. We poured into one another as we sipped our coffee and reminded each other that we are not alone.
We shared ideas for books and dreams for future projects. The more we talked, the more obvious it was how we could help and support one another with whatever we brought to the table.
We too often think that other writers are our competition, but the truth is, when we come together, we're unstoppable.
Seek Out Your Community
Going to Tribe Conference this year was an incredible experience. I got to hear from some excellent speakers and came back fired up to write more.
I find that the best part of conferences like these, though, isn't the sessions, but the people. I loved spending time with other writers and sharing our stories.
Community creates better together. Find your people, your tribe, and you will be better for it. I promise.
Have you ever been to a writer's conference? What lessons have you learned? Let me know in the comments.
PRACTICE
Today, you get choices. I've created three prompts based on different lessons above. Pick one and write for fifteen minutes.
Lesson 3: Connect through honesty. Write honestly about something you don't know and invite your reader into the solution.
Lesson 4: Good stories are told through small detail. Tell a story using small detail.
Lesson 6: It's not about you. Brainstorm and answer the questions from lesson 6.
Don't forget to post your practice in the comments below and leave feedback for your fellow writers!
Oh yes, I’ve attended Writers Conferences. They are always EXTREME bootcamps. Each time I attend I come home and stare at the wall and nap for a couple of days. Honestly, it is truly life enhancing to attend. I feel that the Book Passage (in Marin, in N.Calif). Mystery Writers weekend and then, Lord help us, the Book Passage Travel Writers weekend are both amazing. They are a perfect opportunity to hang not only with the best but with newbies and oldies. The atmosphere is one of “let’s all get together on this”. The mystery gig attracts awesome folks with eery plot lines that sneak around with fabulous stories. The travel writers gig are like an odd collection of peacocks who hang by the thread from adventures. BOTH of these gigs are totally designed to support new and older writers who are in process. Faculty and attendees mix freely and there is one heck of a lot of fun in the process as well.
The other bootcamp I have attended for 3 years is IWWG, International Womens’ Writers’ Guild, which meets on the east coast. It has it’s own cadence. Reading aloud to a packed room of women, critiques by professional editors, free lance writing by the hour, and lots of gatherings after hours makes this a growth period that is truly sacred.
So, all I can say is I’m not a junky for writers’ gigs but I certainly find them stimulating and as I said life enhancing if not altogether life changing. Putting it out there to peers is a giant step for man and womankind who have pens in their hot little hands.
I have been going to the La Jolla Writer’s Conference for about 7 years. It is small (about 200 attendees) & we have access to best selling authors. Sometimes there are only 2 or 3 of us with the author or editor or agent. It is an amazing experience.
I have one really good friend who lets me stay in her hotel room with her now. Which means I get a couple hours more of attention to my writing. There are many acquaintances that I made there. Some really great people!
I am very fortunate to have this event so close to home!
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc
Sounds like a good conference Kellie, I hope you enjoyed it. When I go to a writing conference I believe I get value from it if I learn one thing, or get reminded of one thing that I had forgotten, from each session. This harks back to my days as a teacher when I always believed that a good lesson is one where every pupil in the class learns at least one thing before they leave the room. I think too many presenters (and teachers) try to do too much in each session. Pick one thing and make that your central message, don’t just throw a smorgasbord at the audience and hope something sticks.
I’ve never been to a writer’s conference. It never works out. Either because of family or jobs or finances. I am interested in attending one if only for meeting writers in person. I’m sure it will be a thrilling experience.
On to the exercise at hand. I’ll take Question 3. To write honestly about something I don’t know.
There are a lot of things about the writing process I don’t know. I guess the most obvious is getting published and what route to take. I’ve read pros and cons about traditional publishing, indie publishing, self-publishing. I think regardless of what route I decide to take, I do know that it’s going to require a whole lot of editing, and an insane amount of time and energy to market myself and get an audience.
So true, George. i feel the way you do.
I went to my first writing conference this past summer on a scholarship; the IWWG summer conference in PA. Was truly honored and jumped head first into the workshops and readings. The camaraderie and stories that abound was something I had never experienced before with all women. I would absolutely attend other conferences now for the relationships and connections that form. Let’s face it–writing requires being alone–and I am a people person! But, therein lies the balance, without people there is no stories or observations to record. We need both in the writing process, reflection and the actual pen to paper.
Hi there. Great article. I may have said this before. I was afraid that I wasn’t good enough to write. But, I don’t care what others think now. It is simply not true. These websites, conventions such as the ones mentioned here, helps us to reach inside of us, and claim our courage.
The only way to get good enough is to write. I’ve been writing my entire life. Sometimes, I was criticized; sometimes I was praised.
Well, to be honest, as a child, the criticism stopped me in my path. It was years before I wrote again.
That’s why I became a teacher: to let students know they ALL could write. Some of the students with the most profound stories had the most problems with mechanics. I always gave a Content/Mechanics grade. They always saw that “Content” grade first. 😉
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc
Hey, thank you! That was powerful.
Great stuff here! Is it ok if I post this on my WordPress blog?
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc
Dear /thewritepractice.com,
I wish I can write every day and show you what I have written. But it is imposible because my weakness in English and writing. I just like and was lazy to practice it. From now, I write some lines in your page and this is my try best. I hope I can win myself and I will write every day beginning tomorrow. Thank you so much for your kindness and your sharing from the site. (Ti)
I’m writing about something i don’t know.
I’ve never been to a writer’s conference and I don’t know how it begins, how you connect to other writers, and how the conference ends.
I live in a small Italian town and the folks here study English but they certainly won’t be bothered to know what I’m writing or converse on the subject. I don’t expect them to because their interests in life are different to mine.
I’d love to sit around a table with fellow writers to chat.
Practice: Lesson 3- being honest about something you don’t know
I have been drumming my fingers in a weird rhythm over my computer’s keyboard for last few minutes. Well, let me be honest. I have no idea what to write today. But as a determined struggling writer, well not writer yet, a beginner would be the right word, I have vowed to myself that I must write something. It doesn’t matter if it is outright gibberish or some incoherent blabbering, I have to write.
My honest confession is : I don’t know how to write, yet. And I am hell bent to know it.
Though creativity is something which can not be achieved by just practicing or taking good coaching, I am not day dreaming of becoming a best seller celebrity writer. No, I just love writing. I am not even a student of literature. I have no theoretical ideas. But since early childhood days my story books have been my escapade and now my head is filled with so much clattered pieces of imaginations that I feel my head would explode if I do not release them
But the problem is, imagining a few non-related pieces of interesting scenes or emotions is one thing. Joining them together in a single thread and craft a complete story is altogether different. That is where the art of writing comes. I have been taught this lesson the hard way.
For last few months I have been searching Google for writing lessons and all of them have one point in common —- the old saying, you know, “Practice makes a man perfect.”
It doesn’t matter what you write, just keep writing until you find your ‘voice’ deep down,echoing through all those gibberish you wrote.
So, here I am, with my lousy practice and hoping to find my ‘voice’ one day.
Thanks for your help, Kellie! We loved having you on the team and hope to see you next year!
Hi Kellie,
Thanks so much for sharing what you learned during the Tribe Conference this year. I especially appreciate points 3 and 7 in your post. We’re all continually learning new things and we all need the support and inspiration we get from others. “No person is an island.” Have a super week!