This is the last post detailing my time at the Realm Makers writer’s conference. If you’re just learning about this now, you can find the recap for Thursday here and for Friday here. Now, onto Saturday. I apologize in advance for the lack of photos.
Saturday started off with announcements and then lead into a Q&A with Brent Weeks, the keynote speaker, and Terry Brooks, the guest of honor. During the Q&A, I left for another one-on-one mentoring appointment with Phyllis Wheeler. Since she had run a small publishing house at one point, I asked her about the differences between a small publishing house and a large publishing house, as well as doing a small publishing house verse independent publishing.
After that, I went to the last class of the continuing session with Bryan Davis. The class ended around an hour early, so I then met up with Mom. We chilled for a little bit and then got lunch from the snack bar by the pool. It took longer to get lunch then we had anticipated, so I ate a little bit and then hurried off to my next class, taking the rest of my lunch with me.
The next class was on world building by Jill Williamson. Jill Williamson, along with being a great author, is one of the three ladies who runs the Go Teen Writers website, which I really like. You should check it out.
I finished my lunch in between taking notes during the session. The session was great, and Jill Williamson was another fun teacher. After that, I went to my last class, which was by Ronie Kendig and was about simple mental tricks you can do to keep your readers engaged.
I had to leave during the middle of the session to head off to the airport. As my mom and I were going through security, we got a notice that our flight out of St. Louis was delayed by an hour. Further delays happened, and the flight ended up leaving an hour and a half later than it was supposed to and was the last flight out of the airport for the day.
During this time, I decided that I don’t want to work at an airport. Weather can cause way too many problems.
On the plane, I read The Story Peddler by Lindsay A. Franklin, one of my new books!
So, we made it to the next airport. When we first booked our plane tickets, we had a three hour layover at this airport before flying home. Back in St. Louis when we learned about the delay in St. Louis, we learned that we were going to have another an extra hour added to our layover at the next airport.
Because of the delay in St. Louis, we still ended up with only around a three hour layover. Mom and I spent lots of time just walking around the airport during the layover, during which I found my buddies!
I am a fan of the Peanuts comics by Charles Schulz. Snoopy and Woodstock are my favorite characters. Needless to say, it was fun to see them. Also, the comic strips about Snoopy writing are amazing. My fellow writers, go look them up. Seriously. They are great.
After that, we flew back home, arriving in the wee hours of Sunday morning. And that was the end of my Realm Makers adventure.
Now it is time for a small bonus recap about the hotel. Then I’ll give my closing thoughts about Realm Makers.
The hotel that Realm Makers was held at was beautiful. I loved the old style architecture of it! Here are some pictures for your enjoyment and to make up for my lack of pictures.
Now for my closing thoughts on Realm Makers.
I had a great time at Realm Makers. Everyone there was so kind and friendly. And it was super fun to be around people who always understood the writer terms being used in conversation. It was a great place to introduce myself to what writing conferences are like.
The sessions were great. While I wouldn’t say that I was totally blown away and everything that I learned was completely new to me, it was still good to rehear things and also learn that I have done a good job of educating myself about writing so far.
I had a great time at Realm Makers and it was fun getaway to a writer’s conference. But now I am ready to get back into writing!
Tell me, what part of Realm Makers do think you would have enjoyed the most?
Hailey Huntington 