The Conference

Hey guys!

I'm psyched. I just discovered that UWI St. Augustine has an MFA (although I may have known before and forgotten- I'm weird like that.) St. A is the Trinidad campus of the university I went to. And since it's Trinidad who's dollar is 3 to 1 of ours, everything is cheap. (I'm sorry it's not Jamaica- 30 to 1!). So doing my MFA in Trinidad will cost about $13,000 USD per year - for tuition, accomodation, food, books, groceries, and 2 flights home! And that's less than tuition for any Masters' program in Barbados or the UK, and all but one in the US. :)

But the fact that I don't know what to do with my life is not the focus of today's post.

E.J. asked a little while ago about the conference I'm going to. It's called the Festival of Writing.

What I like:
It's in the UK. You know I've gone back and forth on where to set my novel: Barbados, the US, Japan. And whether or not to publish in the US or the UK. So I decided to investigate the industry on the other side of the pond. BUT it seems that the UK industry is a bit like New York in the '90's. If an agency doesn't have a website in America, you'd probably cross that agency off your list. About half my UK list doesn't have a website. You have to be on the ground.

The centralisation.The US industry is based in NYC, and you think it's really centralised. BUT there's conferences all over the country all year long. Not so in England. It seems the Festival of Writing is pretty much where it's at. Every agency of consequence sends representatives. There really is nothing comparable for the US.

One on ones.The Festival of Writing offers each attendee one face-to-face with an agent and one with a book doctor.

The informality.The publishing professionals will be staying in the same facilities, eating in the same facilities, showering in the same facilities... There'll be lots of opportunities for interaction.

Time.This is actually how I found the conference. As a teacher, you're pretty limited on when you can just wonder off. I'd love to be at the Writer's Digest conference this weekend, but it's mid-January, i.e. not going to happen. So, this one being in late March, just wins and wins.

Location Dude, it's York, England. And we're going to the hometown of the Bronte sisters!

Hope I'll have lots to report. And I'm keeping my passport well-guarded this time. lol.

PS. Don't forget to enter to win a copy of Before I Die before 11.59 pm Eastern. Tomorrow a new giveaway will be up.