I discovered The Muse Online Writers Conference in 2006 and have participated first as a member and then as a presenter ever since. This purely online conference is a mix of forum and chat presentations that include writing workshops, publisher discussions, and even live pitches to editors and agents. You can read my history with the convention or go directly to The Muse Online Writers Conference site to see what’s going on this year. The conference runs for a full week from October 7th through the 13th, though you can attend whichever days work with your schedule and still find something to do.

Because of the need for some system changes, registration for the 2013 Conference was interrupted. It’s now once again available in the right sidebar of the main site and will be open until October 1st, so don’t delay. There is no fee for participation or pitch sign up, you can attend in your pajamas, and you can choose to go to as many–or as few–workshops, presentations, and chats as you want. No one gives you odd looks if you come to a presentation, realize it’s not for you, and head off into another “room.” Even more, as long as you’re signed up, if you can only attend one session, you’ll still get something useful. So if you’re at all interested in a multi-genre writers conference that speaks to both the tradition and indie routes for publishing, marketing your work, and managing other aspects of the writing life, go ahead and register.

This year, I’m trying something I’ve never done before.

I tend to teach in-depth workshops that are hands-on with homework and critiquing. In the conference environment where so much is going on at once, this can cause a conflict of interest, with people missing out on other things or feeling as though they failed to participate fully in my workshop.

To address this problem, I’m borrowing from some of my existing classes and writing a couple brand new ones to present six mini writing workshops that stand alone. They’ll still be hands on, and you will get more from the workshop if you both do the assignment and critique the work of others who have attempted it, but the days won’t build on each other. This means you can choose to participate only in the topics you’re interested in playing with, or you can pop in and complete the already posted ones in random order when you have a moment to try something.

My official description will be posted on the schedule shortly (if it’s not already up), but you can also read it here:

Six Mini Writing Workshops with Margaret McGaffey Fisk

Drop in any day of the conference to learn a new writing technique or polish your skills in a particular area. These are six standalone mini workshops that can be tackled on the day they go live or whenever you have a spare moment. Through hands-on technique explorations you will learn skills that can strengthen your work as a whole or enhance your writing processes. The mini workshops will explore body language, non-verbal communication, description, outlining, editing, and showing/telling. Whether you hang out and complete all six, or find time to attempt only one, take advantage of this opportunity to focus and learn both from doing and from critiquing others participating in that workshop.

So, are you planning to come to the 2013 Conference? It’s in a new forum this year, so pop by and check it out. I hope to bump into you in the virtual halls.