Lessons learned at WisCon this year.

[alexandraerin]

1. It is normal for authors to struggle, financially and creatively.
2. Past successes are built on by subsequent successes, not eroded by slow or fallow periods.
3. Every career is different. Every path is different.
4. Taking the path I’ve taken means I have avoided certain entanglements and compromises that might otherwise have seemed necessary.
5. The ability to recognize other people as a big deal does not mean that I am not also a big deal; big deals are big in different ways.
6. Drink more water.
7. People are far more likely to be touched that they are known/remembered/acknowledged than they are to be wounded that you would claim association with them.
8. The Prayer of St. Francis provides a good structure for navigating complex social spaces as an awkward person with relative privilege. If you want to feel welcome, welcome others. If you want to feel included, be the one who includes others. It is in making space for others that we find the space for ourselves.

Originally published at Blue Author Is About To Write.