Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta presented information on how to behave as a professional. I covered some of what they said on appearance elsewhere. Here’s what they have to say about how to behave to be accepted as a professional.

• Be happy for other people even when they get a job you wanted. Others are not your enemy, they are your secret weapon. You can learn from them. You can pass around information. You can help them get jobs. We are all part of tribe.
• Don’t make any enemies. Don’t start any feuds. Don’t ever try to correct a critic. Why?

1. 1. Life is too short;
   2. If you publicly call someone out, you do not look better them;
   3. If you don’t criticize the critic in public, perhaps if you leave them alone and let them do their job, perhaps they will write something good about you in public.

• Be on social media but don’t get into political flame wars.
• If you get invited to do something or are just doing a story on your own always do your best work. Never do sloppy work. Respect the reader of whatever you are writing and do the best job you can for them.
• Do not whine. If you sign a contract for a book or a short story, don’t later whine about the terms. It’s your career, you decide whether you want to sign that contract.
• Be friendly with everyone, not just the big editors and writers you meet. Be friendly with the assistants and mail room staff. They will remember that you remember who they are. There are no little people.
• Learn to accept rejections. This particular job can just kick you in the gut over and over again because part of the job is rejections. There are a lot of times you will get rejected.
• Keep track of your career and keep track of everything that is interesting about you. Keep track of great quotes and reviews. Keep track of your successful challenges. Keep track of these cool bullet points in a bio. Whenever you put a bio in a short story, make it interesting. When a reader is going through the bios, you want them to be interested in you as a person.

As I go through my notes from the conference I’ll be sharing the highlights. But nothing compares with going there and learning from these amazing writers and publishing professionals.

Be well, friends.

All photos from Superstars Writers Seminar 2020 were taken by Katie Curtis and are official SSWS2020 photos.