Packing Up for the Conference

Packing up for a conference is a little like writing, I think.

In packing, you may make a list so that you don't forget anything. You may choose to pack those things that wrinkle less, you may even pack less (coordinating your outfits) so that you can take a small suitcase.

Photo by: Malias, courtesy of Flickr

Especially if you're flying by plane, you'll want to pack light or pay the extra service fee for baggage. And I can't help but relate this to writing, too.

Writing is a skill, but it doesn't come to any of us (other than J.K. Rowling) all at once. We may pack heavy at first, making our sentences long and winded, not really understanding our voice, rewriting more times than we'd like to count.

We pack heavy.

Photo by: emmamccleary, courtesy of Flickr

We may also forget certain things we've learned. We go to this great writing conference and come home overwhelmed. We just can't seem to remember everything we've been taught. We may be excited to write, or we may take a breather for a few days to get back on track.

Tricks of the trade? Sure, there are tricks in writing--ways to cut time in outlining a book, for example. But in the long run, writing takes work and lots of it. In time, skills are learned and applied and more skills are added to what we have. We learn how to pack the right things in our day, and coordinate our various writing projects so as not to get overwhelmed.

And this takes time to master.