Before the Conference
In my wildest dreams, I never expected to attend the 2024 Mendocino Writers’ Conference. The price was out of my budget, and I knew Mendocino lodging was expensive. But, as it were, the cards fell into place and told the story. I received a great deal because the conference price had been discounted, and the first inn I called in Mendocino had a private two-story vacation rental that was part of a bigger historic 1800’s home in town. As it turns out, the venue for the conference was a five-minute drive across the freeway from where I would be living for the next three days. It all seemed too good to be true, and I waited for the other shoe to drop.
When I signed up for the conference, I had to choose a workshop that was to take place every morning from 9 a.m. to noon. Because I had signed up just three weeks before the conference, most of the workshops were filled so I chose Speculative Fiction.
Easy breezy, lemon squeezy, I was ready to go!
Wait, not so fast!
I quickly learned that being a part of a workshop at this conference meant I had to submit a piece of speculative fiction, with a word limit of 6,000 words. I also learned that I had to read nine other speculative fiction stories at least twice and submit a one-page paper outlining the plot, what I like about the story, and any questions or confusing parts.
Now, anybody who knows me knows that I often take things literally and that I am exact when it comes rules, guidelines, and the like. Well, in order to follow the rules I needed to know what I was dealing with.
I researched the definition of speculative fiction and Google provided a general definition of “a genre of fiction that encompasses work in which in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements.” This definition was not exact enough, so I dug deeper and discovered from Wikipedia that speculative fiction is an umbrella for subgenres such as science fiction, horror, fantasy, and the supernatural.
Well, I was around 40,000 words into my supernatural novel, so I decided to submit the first two chapters of my novel. Up until a few days before the deadline to submit, I reworked the first two chapters until I thought the premise was clear, the characters were fleshed out, and there were plenty of visuals to keep my audience engaged.
The afternoon before the conference, I maneuvered my little white Toyota through the majestic redwoods until the misty fog and the ocean air met me with open arms. As soon as I reached the village of Mendocino, I checked into my private vacation rental and immediately fell in love with its charm: the clawfoot bathtub, the wood floors painted yellow, the old electric stove, the all too steep stairs that led up to a loft with the bed and a writing desk overlooking the pond in the yard.
That night, with the fresh ocean air whispering through the open windows, I worked on my novel at the writer’s desk in the bedroom loft. As I typed away on my laptop, Jack London and Wolf House and John Steinbeck and his waterfront writing studio came to mind. While a writer can create masterpieces anywhere, there is something magical about having a special place to write without too many disturbances.
The night before the conference, I went to sleep early so, the next morning, I could take my time getting ready. At 8 a.m. as I walked through the conference doors, I felt much like I did on my first day of high school; a little scared but glad to be embarking on a new experience, with both shoes still on my feet.
Be on the lookout for Part 2, which will be all about the conference.
Stroking the Pen 