Thursday, April 9, 2015

AWP in Minneapolis 2015 Day 1, Part 1

I've waited five years for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) to come to Minneapolis, my home metropolis, and it's finally here! Somewhere between twelve and fourteen thousand people are expected to explode upon this great city's convention center.

I may live in the suburbs, but I'm staying at the Millennium Hotel, just a block away from all the excitement. No getting up in the wee hours to get ready. No traffic to fight driving back and forth. No mad rush to figure out where everything is and where I should be going.

Registration opened yesterday. I'd never been to the convention center before so in a way I felt like Mary Tyler Moore. "I'm an experienced woman. I've been around... Well, all right, I might not've been around, but I've been... nearby."

I typed my special appointed code into the kiosk and wa la, my name tag printed out. I officially became a single part of the thousands. I grabbed my AWP bag and lanyard and joined the others trying to find the classrooms, auditoriums, and of course, the Bookfair. Although there wasn't much to see. The empty rooms and hallways belied what I expect to become a stampede today.

Twitter is AWP's best friend. Anything you want to know, just punch in @awpwriter and #AWP15. It's the gold mine of sourced material. I've been told everything from make a plan and stick to it. Make a plan, but be prepared to change it. And, make a plan and do the exact opposite of it!

My program book is so thick, I'll have back pain just from carrying it around in my tote bag. Classes, readings, caucuses, etc. What's a girl to do? So I'm at my hotel last night having a smoke with another attendee and we do the beginners dance. Where're you from? Have you done AWP before? And of course, are you cold? Chit chat out of the way and we get down to business.

What's your schedule look like?

Well, I was planning to go to all these panels today, hit the bookfair tomorrow, and back to panels on Saturday. Well, my smoker buddy has a publisher buddy with her, and her advice is: Hit the bookfair on the first day. Why? Free Swag! If you're into the swag, then the first day is for you because most of it will be gone before day two even begins.

Oh, my gosh! I put my smoke out and practically run back to my room to recheck my schedule. Can I miss this panel or that one? What about this one? Whew!

My buddy's publisher's second piece of advice is to pick one thing to do in the morning, one thing to do in the afternoon, and one thing to do in the evening. "Because you can't do it all!" But what if I want to? "You can't do it all!" Unfortunately, this is true.

So I bid you adieu and I'm off to get breakfast, a morning smoke, and then let the rat races begin!

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