Being an author can be very isolating at times. You sit and stare at your keyboard and talk to imaginary friends. You laugh and cry and vent via email and Facebook chat with other authors at their own home computers doing the same, but yet, you’re still in pajamas. Probably with your hair in a bun and cans of Diet Mountain Dew scattered around you…

Or is that just me?

Either way, it can get lonely, and that’s why I LOVE attending conferences. For me, 2014 has been a year of ALL THE EVENTS, and I’ve been blessed to meet so many incredible readers, authors, and friends. I’ve taken pictures, consumed a tad too much wine, laughed until my sides hurt, and even had a Tarot reading. But even though I’ve walked away from each event with an iPhone full of smiling faces and a heart stuffed with wonderful memories, there’s one conference that truly stood out for me.

Expand Your Clump, Baby!

I’m talking, of course, about UtopYA 🙂

If you haven’t attended this conference before, I strongly encourage you to do so. I was a newbie this year and the entire weekend, one thought kept going through my mind: What took me so long??

Publisher’s Weekly contacted me for an interview about UtopYA right after I got back, and I want to share with you what I told them.

UtopYA  has heart. Janet Wallace has built an incredibly tight-knit community, and the best part is they eagerly embrace all newcomers. The panels on craft are fantastic, the awards program is uniquely beautiful, and the genuine spirit of love and support is unmatched. As a full-time homeschool mom slash author, it’s vital that I be selective about my commitments away from home, and UtopYA–more so than any other conference I’ve attended in my career–is well worth the investment. 

This conference has it all. It inspired me, it encouraged me, it fueled me. The craft classes are some of the best I’ve attended anywhere, the spirit of cooperation and love is phenomenal, and it’s just so dang FUN!

I loved UtopYA so much that I booked my stay and got a ticket for 2015 immediately upon returning home. I’m cutting way back on travel next year for a few reasons, but this is one I COULD NOT MISS.

If you’d like to join me, head HERE to get your ticket!

Rachel’s Advice for UtopYA Newbies:

1. Leave Your Stress Behind – Seriously, I know what it’s like. You show up at the hotel for a conference you’ve never attended before. You either don’t have roommates, haven’t met them before, or you’re good friends with them, but they’ve all attended in the past and you don’t get the inside jokes. The awesome thing about UtopYA? From the moment you walk through the doors, everyone is your new best friend. Don’t understand something or don’t know where to go? Ask someone and not only will they tell you, but you’ll probably end up having a ten minute conversation about book boyfriends. In fact, one of my FAVORITE panels that I’m blessed to speak on is EXPAND YOUR CLUMP (see the picture above). It’s all about how to make connections and make the most out of this fabulous event.
2. Take LOTS of Pictures – Keep your phone on you at all times, and don’t forget your charger. You will be meeting so many people, having so much fun, and you will want to remember it all. Bonus with this is that when you return home and find yourself missing all your friends, new and old, you can giggle at all the fun.
3. Take lots of NOTES – I’m not lying when I say that the panels are some of the best I’ve ever been to, and I’ve attended some pretty major conferences. I think it’s the spirit of love and truly wanting to lift each other up that takes these panels to another dimension. You get real tips here that you can begin implementing immediately, and there will be so much information coming at you that it’ll be impossible to process it all. Hence the fabulous notes you will be taking.
4. Bring Comfortable Shoes – So, it’s possible that this naturally barefooted chica went touring Nashville until the late late hours. It’s also possible she danced the night away the next night. What did this same girl bring with her in the way of shoes? Cute, strappy heels that looked adorable but made her toes quite annoyed lol. My solution at the dance party was simply to kick them off–see, I told you I was a barefooted chica–but walking the streets of Nashville sans footwear wasn’t quite so appealing. Next year, I’m bringing sneakers 😉

** GIVEAWAYS **

The incredibly talented and utterly gorgeous author of The Broken Trilogy, Carlyle Labuschagne, organized this blog hop and y’all, there are some AWESOME giveaways! Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom so you don’t miss any of the goods!

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