Lakefly Writers Conference

It’s been a couple of weeks since I attended the Lakefly Writers Conference, a small but mighty writers conference held in Oshkosh, WI. It’s a day and a half conference with several panels each hour, lunch on Saturday included, and an open-to-the-public book fair on Saturday.

The last time I attended, Lori Rader-Day was the keynote speaker and I ate lunch with one of the defense lawyers for Netflix’s Making a Murderer. He warned me about the judges in the county I live in (in a negative way) and told me to always lock my doors.

This year, I got to have lunch with Annelise Ryan who writes mysteries based on the mythological beasts of Wisconsin. I was first introduced to her when I was looking up mysteries set in Door County and “Up North”. I somehow ended up sitting next to her during lunch and she was very kind and patient while I peppered her with questions about her writing career.

I definitely recommend this conference! If you’re further along in your writing journey, they do usually have an agent that you can pitch to as well.

Some of the panels I attended:

• How to Set a Writing Routine – Sarah Read
• The Heroine’s Journey: A Story Structure for Connection and Growth – Meadoe Hora (I also bought her books! Greek mythology!)
• The Art of Lyrical Writing – Keenan Jones (
• Keynote: The Universal Truth of Shaping Your Writing Life – G. Anthony (This was a really powerful keynote. One major thing I got out of it was the need to take off all the internal armor I have built up in order to survive so that I can write the words that are buried under all our defenses. Sounds cheesy but I really struggle with being perceived which colors the way I right.)
• ABCs of Character Development – Beth Amos aka Annelise Ryan
• Injecting Humor into Your Writing – Melissa Westemeier
• How to Make It as an Independent Author – James Hamilton
• DIY Book Covers in Canvas: A Designer’s Step-by-Step Guide for Authors – Katie Klockow