I had a LOT of people tell me that this was a life-changing seminar, and boy, they weren’t joking.

Superstars isn’t like other girls writing seminars. This is a business-oriented, expert-level seminar for people who are serious about making money in the writing business in any capacity. I was totally clueless about the business of writing when I landed in Denver, but when I left, I felt like I might be able to get a handle on how to market myself and my writing.

So what’s the magic sauce? Well, first of all, all the people I talked to there, panelists, speakers, and attendees alike, were extremely approachable. I ended up talking to multiple terrifyingly successful people completely by accident, and I never would have known if I hadn’t seen them all teaching on panels. All of them were more than happy to talk to attendees before, during, and after their panels, and all were extremely knowledgeable. Someone walked me up to Kevin J. Anderson, who I had only met once, and he remembered me, gave me a hug, and proceeded to engage me in conversation. Eric Flint asked me about my Writers of the Future win when we passed each other in the hall and gave me some encouraging words.

The point is, you’ve got all these crazy talented people who are ridiculously successful in the writing field all gathered in one place to teach you how to navigate the business, and they’re all super nice.

Through people like this, Superstars fosters this environment where it’s easy to feel included and cared for, even when you’re totally overwhelmed by the massive amount of information you’re trying to absorb. And it is truly a massive amount, and there is so much socialization that you feel like you’re ready to explode, and then you go to bed at midnight and realize it’s only day one and you’ve got to be back at announcements at 8:15am. And so many writers are introverted! It seems like it would be easy to get overloaded and not want to participate in barcon, or big group dinners, or just chatting with people you don’t know in the lobby. But everyone else is a writer, too, and many have been attending Superstars for years and are more than happy to take a first timer under their wing. The weirdest part about this was how many people, even by day two, started recognizing me as “that person who won Writers of the Future this year, right?!” Everyone there was just genuinely excited to hear of each other’s successes, and genuinely wanted to listen to each other’s problems.

This seminar was just pure insanity from start to finish, in the best way possible. Craft Day consisted of six hours of classes from two teachers of your choosing, and each following day had 6-8 slots of 45-60 minutes each of pure information blast. Each slot usually had 3-4 different talks to choose from. Couldn’t choose just one? Don’t worry! In all likelihood, they were recording all but one of the sessions you wanted to attend, and you could buy the recordings and attend the sessions that weren’t recorded. Questions after the session ended? There’s a 15-minute break between each session during which no one will be upset at you for walking up to the front to talk to the speaker(s). Want to have a good cry? Go listen to James Artimus Owen’s “Drawing Out the Dragons” presentation. Not much of a crier? You will be when you watch him draw detailed dragons in minutes with a permanent marker while also speaking coherently. I’m convinced it’s a superpower. Want to self-publish? There’s talks for that. Want to trad publish? There’s talks for that too.

There are just too many aspects of Superstars to be able to put down into one blog post without it turning into a novel. But the truth of that seminar for me was that I had decided to go back before Craft Day sessions even started. Superstars is a big hotel full of people who, at the end of the day, are all rooting for you to succeed. Many of them have been where you are and are uniquely poised to understand and help you get to where they are. Is it expensive? Yes. But it was some of the best money I’ve ever spent. If you’re thinking of going and can’t afford it, apply for a scholarship. This is where you need to be if you’re serious about making it as a writer. Go check them out at https://superstarswriting.com/. You won’t regret it.