You’re Missing Out on the Best Networking

I just finished Hold the Enlightenment by Tim Cahill, a collection of hilarious yet tender travel essays that left me obsessed (with a stack of annotations to prove it).

I only started reading Tim’s work after I met him at the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference in San Francisco last week.

Now? I’m a total fangirl.

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A truly successful conference is like a music festival in that way.

At a music festival, you hear for the first time much of the music that will be filling your ears for the rest of the year, or maybe even years to come.

At a conference, you meet the people who might be clients, collaborators, or those with whom you will be in various cahoots.

Don’t make the mistake of just networking with writers, though.

I call it crosshatch networking — networking across the grain of your industry, with the people who might work with, hire, or inspire writers.

If you connect with a graphic designer, for instance, they might work for a marketing agency that needs writers. Or hell, you might just like someone. Ooh, or like like. (*Fingertips touching smooching sound*…all right that’s enough.)

At the 2023 Creative Works Conference, I got the chance to present along with incredible filmmakers, graphic designers, and multimedia artists.

Let’s get started with a list of 10 great ones, joining me at the 2023 Creative Works Conference:

Artist and photographer Jeremy Cowart
Brian McDonald, award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer
Brian Collins, co-founder and chief Creative Officer at COLLINS
Dan Cassaro & Dan Christofferson, partners at Young Jerks, a brand and packaging studio
Gemma O’Brien, designer and artist
Brett Stenson, illustrator
Jesse Showalter, designer and educator
Ken Barber, lettering artist
Mary Kate McDevitt, illustrator and lettering artist
Mia Saine, illustrator and designer