Several of my writing friends are heading out to a big, annual professional conference. A few just returned from a fabulous workshop. Their energy buzzes against my skin. Hot and dazzling.
I remember this feeling. It’s Conference-Workshop Fever.
Talking jag or tongue tied, sweaty palms and dry mouth, the symptoms vary but victims agree there is one constant. It makes writing even harder than usual.
No matter how I’ve tried to inoculate myself, I’ve come down with a case once or twice. For me, it starts with a burst of energy. My brain is jazzed. Comparisons get the upper hand. “That woman tweats everyday and still finds time to write books AND wear nail polish?” I start sounding like a beatnik, “Feel that? Communication is life!” and can imagine total career collapse before the end of the month. I’m a wreck.
Take it from me, Conference-Workshop Fever is a serious condition. Complications can go on for weeks. I’ve known writers who were paralyzed by a severe case.
If you’ve recently returned from a conference or plan to head out soon, here’s my tried-and-true medicine:
Start with Decompression. You need to get back into your body. Take off the heels, the suitcoat, the badge. Get into your comfy clothes and flipflops. Outer transformation signals inner transformation. (Which is why Cinderella needed a dress to go to the ball, people.)
Core Dump. Call a friend, your spouse, a dog…tell them everything. The horror of the cab ride. The funky smell in the hall. The man who tried to pick you up in the elevator. The woman who tried to pick you up at lunch. (Writers are a randy bunch.) The only rule about the core dump is—do not write it down. No emails. No blogs. No loop posts. Seriously. You are not in your right mind and can’t be trusted with public speech.
Slow down. Sit down. Too fast on the reentry to real life causes heart aches and pains like a diver ascending too quickly from the pressurized depths of the sea. You need a few days in a conference -free hyperbolic chamber of space. The bathtub? Couch in front of the TV? The gym? You know where you best decompress. Plan to spend some time there.
What do you do in a hyperbolic chamber? Nothing.
Conference and workshops are about doing, absorbing, reaching out. Believe it or not, similar all the other life forms on this planet, you too are affected by the rule that growth is followed by stasis. The rest period. Don’t fight it. It’s part of the process.
Next comes….
Sleep. You thought changing back into your usual clothes and going to the gym were enough to fuel you back to normal? You’re funny.
Get a good night’s sleep. Or a weekend full of naps. Your subconscious needs to work on all you’ve seen and done. You need a couple of REM cycles to process that avalanche of new information. Sleep helps your instincts read the new people you met, filter ideas, focus on the next important step.
Send a Thank You. Someone at the conference taught you something. Someone’s workshop lit the lamp of inspiration. Someone was a pleasure at the dinner table. Tell them. It helps burn off the fever when you focus on someone else for a few minutes.
Download. Now it’s time to write everything down. Journal. Make a To Do list. Whatever works for you. Flush everything out onto that empty sheet. Random images, odd thoughts. People to contact. Dates to remember. A phrase you heard. A new drink you tried. The strange, striking intimacy of being in an elevator with someone whose work you know, whose words moved you. The way that time shifts, elongating then snapping back…over before you know it.
Make some notes in your calendar. Stuff everything else (receipts, hotel key, notes) into a folder. Close the top. Push it to the back of the desk. Don’t look at it for a while.
The fever’s past. You’ll live.
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