My First Writing Conference

I am heading to my first writing conference next month and I'm so excited. And nervous. I've posted some of my writing online and been ripped apart over the relative anonymity of the Internet. Dealing with nastiness in private wasn't too hard. But memories of my one awful experience getting ripped in person is giving me the jitters. I HATE crying in public, and as I listened to the first person outside my circle of family and friends to read The Devil's Key (actually, she didn't read it, she told me she skimmed it because it didn't seem worth her time to read) tell me that I didn't know how to write, my characters were flat, and I should just concentrate on writing magazine articles, I bawled. So now I've voluntarily signed up for a personal critique session at this conference and I'm terrified of a reprise. But I know I need it, so I'll bring lots of tissues just in case. I'm hoping I'll learn a lot, make some new friends, and gain valuable feedback that I can work with as I revise and continue writing. My friend Kim is attending too, so it should be a lot of fun, even if I do have to take time out for a crying jag.