AWP Ain't "My Culture"

For most genre writers, AWP (Association of Writing Programs) is a total non-starter. The conference and book fair bring up images of people asking one another if they are poets, and where they got their MFA. And... that isn't totally incorrect.

Last year, the noir panel was scheduled as the absolute dead last panel, at a time where most attendees had left the conference center. They shoved the crime writers deep in the basement level, on the other side of the conference center, telling us (not subtly at all) that we were the outsiders.

It's no surprise that genre writers and presses look at AWP and think "not for us." Or, like some, they get the hotel room and skip the conference, using the long weekend as an excuse to hang out with friends they only see once a year. This isn't "our culture."

Nah, fuck that.

We make the culture.

L-R: Rios de la Luz, Constance Fitzgerald, Gabino Iglesias, and myself.

I go with LitReactor, where I am on the staff. We're running a course on bizarro fiction right now, which is the furthest thing from the capital-L Literary style of fiction I can imagine. The booths at the book fair that stacked up on crime fiction, bizarro, and other kickass genre fiction sold so many books some of them had to close up shop early.

LitReactor, Booked Podcast, and Broken River Books got together Friday night to eat, drink, and get weird with it. It was a great repeat of the year before - the genre folks find each other, find the good parties, and have a fucking good time. It's one time you can guarantee that the city you're in is filled with book related events and book people. 

What's my point?

If AWP ain't your culture, why the fuck aren't you out there MAKING it your culture? They can't shove us in the basement every year. They can't keep us from showing up with smiles on our faces and having a good time in the sea of booths full of people who seem like they sort of want to be somewhere else. They can't stop us from selling more books than the other guys.

If you have to choose between Boucher and AWP, by all means, pick Boucher. But don't shrug off AWP all together - you'll miss too many great parties.

The First Rule of Writing Conferences Is...

DON'T COMMUTE.

A couple years ago, Bouchercon was in Long Beach, which is about an hour's drive from my home. I couldn't attend the entire conference, so I commuted. Given that I wouldn't have been able to attend at all if I didn't drive, the big pains in the ass that driving brought with it seemed minimal.

This lead me to a fairly disastrous decision.

AWP 2016 is my second AWP with the LitReactor crew and I've been looking forward to it since I said goodbye to my awesome teammates last year. Things have been a little crazy, so I thought, why not make them crazier? I committed to commuting each way to and from Los Angeles this year.

It's day one and I am fucking done.

Luckily for me, the LitReactor crew is full of awesome people and I don't have to repeat today's mistake over the next two days, but damn was that a hard lesson. I left my house at six am and didn't get home until after nine - and that was with missing the reading I wanted to attend. I was so wiped out from the drive that the normally slow and relaxed first day of the conference went by me in a coffee fueled blur - I didn't even think to take photos.

I also didn't drink enough water, eat enough food, or follow any of the common sense rules of surviving a conference, but that's okay. I get Friday and Saturday to make up for it - and Friday night at the LitReactor/Broken River Books/ Booked Podcast party (Check out the info HERE if you're local) I can have a few drinks and try to forget this, the day I thought commuting two hours to and from Los Angeles was anything but a disaster of an idea!

Come see us at booth 322 if you're at AWP, and if you're in the area, be sure to check out our party!