Highlights Foundation Workshops

Highlights ( the magazine at dentist and doctor's offices) is good at a lot of stuff. One thing they've done in the past is have an annual conference where both publishing and unpublished writers come together for a week. I attended in 2010 and it was one of the best conferences I've ever been to. The ratio of staff to participant was excellent, but then they went overboard to make sure you got a chance to mingle.

Some conferences sort of have an unspoken hierarchy--you know--where the staff and real writers sit off by themselves and the people actually paying to attend the conference are treated like hobos, off to the corner or back of the diningroom with their tin plate.

Well at highlights events there is a rule. That staff and writers CANNOT sit with each other, they couldn't even stand next to each other in line. For every meal, outing, reading etc they had to sit next to participants. It was refreshing to meet Patricia Lee Gauch, a reknown writer of historical fiction for children as well as the Jerry and Eileen Spinelli--they acted like we were friends! I gave them MY autograph. (That last one is a lie), but you get my point.


So this summer Highlights is offering a slew of workshops at their new conference center "barn" in a beautiful rural setting in Pennsylvannia.


Here is a link:
http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/fw-sched-preview