Bring Your Career into Sharper Focus with wik2020: On Beginnings, Resolutions, and VOLUNTEERING

It was a dark and stormy night...No. Strike that.

Once upon a time, there was a writer, a conference, and a volunteer coordinator. I'm the volunteer coordinator, desperately seeking, well, volunteers; WIK 20 is the totally awesome conference; and you, my sweet one, are the writer that I and the conference are after.

All of you who have attended a Southern Breeze conference know it takes a village of volunteers to pull the conference together. And we all know that writers are sometimes solitary people. It takes solitude to write, and it takes loving that solitude to make the magic happen. But then comes conference time -- and that is when we kiss our solitude goodbye for two precious days.

"BUT WAIT!" you say. "I may have to kiss my solitude goodbye for a day or two, but no one said I actually had to, um, talk to people." Here is where I must lovingly disagree. In fact, I not only want you to talk to people, I want you to put yourself into a position where you have to help them in some way! Think of this as one of your new year's resolutions: You volunteer for the conference, which makes you talk to people, and that means you meet new people, which then leads to new critique partners, and that, of course, makes you write more, and we all made a resolution to write more, right? Right! (See what I did there?)

So. Volunteering. You can do this! There are all types of things to do, from manning the registration desk, helping with book sales, helping with food, assisting with book signing, and more.

Email me, Valerie Nelan, at vmnelan@gmail.com with your interest. In addition to my undying love and affection, you'll also get a snazzy bio in the conference hand-outs (infamy!), and you're guaranteed to meet new people.

(Register for wik'20 today so you can get just the intensives, sessions, and volunteering jobs you want! See the Southern Breeze website here and sign up now!)

Big thanks to our Southern Breeze Conference Volunteer Coordinator, Valerie Nelan! You'll find her in Birmingham, where she writes very funny Middle Grade (when she's not running around, relentlessly pursuing volunteers).