AWP 2025: The Newbie Recap
Though I might have left a legend
All the literary luminaries have already published their missives on this year’s Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference (or AWP) in Los Angeles. But if you’re reading my newsletters, it’s probably because you’re just as unimpressive as I am when it comes to the literary establishment and want to know what the experience is like for rubes like us. I am happy to oblige!
If the Tin House Summer Workshop is summer camp for adults, AWP is spring break for rowdy writers and those who tolerate them.
To the surprise of many fellow writers who place me squarely in the first category, this is the first time I’ve ever gone to AWP. They cannot believe I’ve spent years and years passing up the chance to use a networking event to socialize. But I didn’t build my career through MFA programs, I built it on the backs of dingy bars where I read my live lit pieces to editors and writers in Chicago. I found out about AWP woefully late and the general recommendation I got was that the trip was only worth it if you were participating in the Writer to Agent program, were on submission, or had a soon-to-be-released book. Those never applied to me.
What did apply to me was the one other justifiable reason to go: I was on a panel. I had absolutely nothing to do with that stroke of luck. The angel Maggie Andersen did all the hard work of getting me in. But I have long been an advocate for saying “yes” to opportunities and figuring it out later. I wasn’t about to pass this one up, even if it meant an 8-hour flight to a city I don’t like all that much.
Here are some other warnings/helpful tips I received once people found out I was about to pop my AWP cherry: It’s overwhelming, pace yourself. The offsite events are where the real magic happens, skip the panels. Hit the book fair the last day for deals. When in doubt, head to the hotel bar. These all served me very well, though that last one might have also been my complete undoing.
First, let’s talk about the professional experience so I don’t come off as a complete agent of chaos. Our panel was scheduled at the same time as about five other panels that had all the best writers in American letters at once. Our audience was small, but dedicated, engaged and so enthusiastic. In short, the best audience. We—panelists Lindsey Trout Hughes, Sam Bailey, and Jennifer Rumberger—started off by reading personal essays on our theatrical experience. Every single essay was a banger. In the Q&A we got to talk about how live lit gave us a space to find our voice, explore topics we wanted to try out before committing to print, and gave us an immediate relationship to the audience that is so lacking in other mediums. It reminded me how much I loved that format and how fortunate I was to land in the city that does it best: Chicago.
I gave myself a maximum of two panels per day, to avoid the much feared burnout. I’ve spent too many hours in sessions about getting published throughout my life, so much so that I think I did a real detriment to myself by skipping that even more important part of writing: craft. You know, the shit that actually makes you a better writer. My favorites and the ones I found most useful were on using humor as a literary and political device (my brand, lol) and writing fiction with multiple POVs. On the last day, I did score a ton of books at a discount and some free issues of literary journals. Thank God I had the foresight to pack an extra duffel bag in my carry-on so I could stuff all my goodies for my return trip.
I hit at least one offsite every night, starting with the delightful and brisk Baffler & McSweeney’s event, to the absolutely packed and scenestery Empty Trash on Thursday, and finishing off my Friday at the Kenyon Review and Adroit Journal’s semi dance party and taco truck shindig. After going to Echo Park on Thursday for Empty Trash, I swore off any event outside of Downtown even though talking to the Latino Angeleno drivers that have a monopoly on Uber was one of the most delightful and therapeutic experiences of my whole trip. Shout out to the guy who drove me and my friend Alexis back to the JW Marriot hotel for loudly and firmly declaring, “YO, THAT GUY WAS TOXIC AS FUCK” when talking about my ex lol. Yes he was, sir, thank you for being the kind of man that recognizes it. Still, the distance, the traffic, the cost, and the fact that so many of these readings had a capacity limit, turned me off from anything that wasn’t within walking distance.
Do I wish I had pushed myself to go to more panels? I do. The amount of talent swarming in the sterile LA Convention Center was ridiculous. Do I wish I had just been a normal person and asked literary journals what they were looking for instead of asking them if all they did was publish non-fiction trauma? Also, correct! Sometimes even my exquisite social graces fail.
For the most part, though, I wasn’t expecting any big breakthroughs at the conference (though I did have more of internal, creative, existential ones that I’ll write about at a later day). I’m going to be blunt: I was there to freaking party. Moving to Lima was the absolutely best decision I made last year and I don’t regret it. It’s what my wallet needs right now, and my wallet and mental stability have an intimate bond that I can no longer ignore. But I’m bored. I just am. Lima is a bustling metropolis of 10 million people with every sort of cultural scene you could want. AND YET. My lack of strong social ties, the idiosyncracies of Lima society itself, and the fact that bars water down their drinks and cover it up with an abundance of sugar make it for a very ho-hum social experience. (I too will also write more about this one day lol).
I missed my friends. I missed readings. I missed mess.
It’s rare for friends from Chicago, New York, and in other cities I’ve connected with along the way to be vibing in one same hotel lobby bar. I don’t even think I had these many mutual friends at my own wedding, damnit. It’s also rare for all those friends to understand the irrational hunger for putting your silly words out there, when there is no guarantee that you will ever see any fame, money, or recognition for your efforts. It’s even more rare to have all that going on, without needing to cut it short to tend to things at home or at work, now that we’re all in our 30s and 40s, maybe even 50s, and are shackled to our adulthood. If there’s anything, I take away by attending conferences like this is the following: If I fail at everything else in my writing career, at least I got to live my life hanging out with very cool people. And that is a life well-lived.
So AWP 2025 for me will be defined by taco platters with Priya, mocking robots with Alexis and Karthik, the whole Airbnb spare key odyssey with Mohammad, talking birds with Susan, that brief but revitalizing hug Soni gave me, Bea showing up to my panel, Mike and I walking back from the Kenyon event, catching up with Annie in the corridor, Rebecca and I talking about “oh no, the straights”, meeting Tara who is a delight, and so many other memories that shall remain unnamed to protect the innocent.
Homework
Research conferences or festivals you might want to attend. It doesn’t have to be a Burning Man-style thing like AWP. Plenty of conferences are local, one-day, and free or low-cost. Where to find them? Regional chapter of writing association usually host them. Ask bookstores if they know of any or check out the creative writing departments of your local colleges. This advice also probably applies to other countries besides the US. I found several literary festivals in Peru simply by following indie bookstores, cultural centers, and professional associations in Lima on Instagram.
Money Lesson
For most of my life, roundtrip tickets were the way to go when it came to flights. They were always cheaper and came with the added boost that you had the same carrier to deal with throughout the whole experience. Seamless! Lately, though????? I’ve been getting more and more deals by booking the cheapest one-ways I can find to my destinations. I still compared prices to make sure I was getting a deal, but I usually was. I did NOT do this for LA, but wished I had when I had to rebook my flight back 3 times and Delta made it impossible for me to do that through its website or app and their agents are useless until you talk to a supervisor. There were many times when I wish I could have just canceled the ticket and bought another one, but I was perfectly happy with my flight from Lima to LAX.
Conclusion: Do your due diligence and play around to see if one-ways are the way to go.
Progress Report
My nose was nosing about on that grindstone HARD before I went to AWP. I applied to a summer workshop, sent four pitches, and submitted my essay to one journal. I received two rejections and one ghosting. I loved having an excuse to write a new essay for AWP and am very pleased with the results. I’m going to expand it and polish it for submission. I’m still making notes on this new novel idea.
On the content marketing/translation front, work has been slow but I’ve had a couple of old clients pop back while I was away in Los Angeles. I’m doing ok with my part-time gig and this other project I secured last month, but I wouldn’t mind making more money. I hope this means the freelance feast cycle is just around the corner.
I got to cross off another square on my bingo card!
Subscriber Benefits
Our next mini-salon is on Thursday, May 8 at 12pm CT/1pm ET. The topic? “Why Even Make This: Finding spiritual and practical meaning in the creative process.” Paid subscribers can submit questions ahead of time and will have access to the recording. If you are a free subscriber, the mini-salon is offered as a pay-what-you-can event with a $15 suggested fee (but we welcome all amounts). You can sign up here.
Join me every Monday in April at 6:30 pm ET/5:30 pm CT for the Cranky Guide Writing “Hour”, a forty-minute virtual write-in. I’m sending this month’s link to subscribers by the end of this week, so keep an eye out for it.
A paid subscription also includes:
Samples of my pitches & rates, applications, and spreadsheets & templates
Access to the full archive (free posts go behind a paywall after a year)
Shameless Self-Promotion
I had so much fun talking with Alicia Kennedy about how I eat now that I’m back home and living with the parents. Pampered Latin American adults kids who live in intergenerational homes representation!
I am both the kind of person who cannot stop bragging about the dumbest accomplishments and never mention the big ones lol. So here is a reminder that I am co-author of the book LGSNQ: Gentrification & Preservation in a Chicago Neighborhood and co-translator of the English edition of Desolación by Gabriela Mistral.
My most recent writing:
If you’re struggling with the artist statement, I can help! My On-Demand class, Navigating the Artist Statement, is available for purchase at StoryStudio. Watch at your own time, at your own pace, and send those babies out!
Every week, I look at Five Calls, pick the issue that is most making me scream into the void, and use their app to call my reps. This week, I’m going to tell my reps if they are literally doing anything to stop students from being kidnapped by ICE or nah.
If you ever want to peruse all the books I recommend in the newsletter, head over to my Bookshop bookstore!
I made the Substack!