This last weekend, Ooligan put on our yearly conference, Write to Publish. And let me tell you, if you weren’t there, you were most definitely missing out.

The conference spanned two days. Saturday we offered a host of workshops, all of which focused on the ins and outs of publishing, directed to writers.

I was lucky enough to attend the Young Adult workshop, with Sara Ryan, the author of Empress of the World and The Rules for Hearts; the Graphic Novel workshop, with Top Shelf Productions‘ Brett Warnock and Dark Horse Comics‘ Aaron Colter; a  workshop on Marketing through Conventions and the Web, with Bowler Hat Comics‘ Bo Johnson; and a workshop on Marketing through Social Media with Wordstock Festival of the Books‘ Greg Netzer and Dark Horse Comics‘ Aaron Colter again.

All the panels were a great amount of fun, and very informative. Being somewhat on the inside of the industry, there was a lot I already knew, but it was interesting to see things presented with the writer perspective in mind, not the editor. I was able to step back, and be a writer again for a few hours. Came home inspired to write. And, inspired to get a-blogging, a-twittering, and a-facebooking.

Sunday was the Industry Mingle. We took over the PSU’s Ballroom, and filled up half the room with venders (mostly small presses), and the other half for our distinguished author speakers. I got to see Ursula K. Le Guin, Lilith Saintcrow, Virginia Euwer Wolff, and Chuck Palahniuk speak. I wish I could have made it to see the other authors (Deborah Hopkins and Shannnon Wheeler), but a girl’s gonna eat.

The authors were all fantastic, and I came away with more books in my bag than I had planned for (and a very sore shoulder). It was great fun, and I hope everyone there enjoyed it as much as I did!