I went to my first Life the Universe and Everything (LTUE) writers conference in 2018. I didn’t realize then the richness it would add to my life. Not just because of the excellent classes, but because I made friends that changed me. I’ve attended every year since and my tribe continues to grow.
This year was particularly special. I submitted a presentation and was accepted to teach a class that I’ve wanted to do for a few years. The class was Understanding Redemption Arcs: An Analysis of Zuko (from Avatar the Last Airbender). I decided to NOT watch anything out there about his redemption arc and just come up with my own observations.
The experience of putting this class together was incredibly cool. Not only had I never made a Powerpoint presentation before (my kids teased me, so I had to remind them they didn’t teach this kind of thing when I was in school!), but I also had never made my own graphic before, both of which I needed to do.
I went in a little apprehensive, thinking there was gonna be this huge learning curve. Spoiler alert, there wasn’t. Maybe it’s because I have lived with my hunky tech nerd for over twenty years, or maybe it’s just really intuitive (maybe both!), but after one fifteen minute Youtube video I knew everything I needed to dive into my Powerpoint.
Add in the fact that my topic revolved around Zuko’s story, and I had plenty of pictures that I could pull to represent the various points of his redemption arc. It was also fun to be teaching where I had images to remind me of my next talking point. I love teaching without notes, it makes it flow better for my teaching style.
When all my slides, but one, was done, that is when I had to go into Paint.net and figure out how to make the graphic I needed. That was a wild experience, with all the layers and such. But it wasn’t as hard as I thought, either. Did I have to restart a few times? Yes. Did it take me longer than a more experienced person? Also, yes. But you know, I did it.
Lesson from this preparation: Maybe, just maybe, we should believe in ourselves just a little bit more. Maybe we can learn things and implement them better than we think we can.
Night before the con, my honey prepared me with extra cable connectors and a slide clicker (is there a proper name for this? shrug). I put my presentation on a USB just in case my computer did anything funny. All this made me walk in with a confidence that I had done everything possible on my end for things to run smooth. And to my delight, everything did.
Day of the con, I was very blessed with a number of my tribe coming to support me and to learn! Alanna, LaVonne, Stockton, Colby, Breanna, EmmaLee, Hazel, Sprout, Brenda, Jim, Chris . . . Needless to say I felt seen and loved.
Something extra fun, and unexpected, was that I had a FULL class. They had to turn a few people away. Now, that wasn’t because of me. That was because of the topic and because Avatar fans!
The class went so incredibly well. There were lots of comments and some questions, and everything went how I hoped it would! Can’t ask for better than that.
One of the best parts was when I opened the class by explaining the basic concept of the story of Avatar for those who had never seen the show (I knew there were at least two people who hadn’t). I started by saying, “Water, Earth, Fire, Air. Long ago the four nations lived in harmony . . .” Everyone started to react and soon the room was full of people who were quoting the opening of the show with me. It was so cool!
Afterward, the feedback was delightfully encouraging. Multiple people came up to me when it was finished. One of the Chairman of the conference told me they really wanted me to submit more classes for next year! I’ll absolutely be doing that! Especially since I met a new friend after the class and we have a neat idea for a class we want to co-teach! Fingers crossed we get chosen!
Another lesson from this experience, that I hope everyone takes with them, is to “Go for it!” Take a chance. I have held myself back from submitting classes and such for a number of years now because I didn’t think I had much to offer. But I have been writing and studying the craft since 2011, so maybe I have learned a thing or two. My friends encouraged me to submit in the midst of my imposter syndrome last year to three conferences, and you know what, I got chosen to teach in two of them. Take chances. Take risks. You never know when things will work out. You’ve got this!
Photo taken by my friend Colby Dunn!