By A.C. Williams by @acw_author

You did it. 

You attended a writing conference (or a series of writing conferences) and you came out on the other side. You have all your notes. You have a stack of business cards. You have more emails than you can reply to in a month. 

Maybe you pitched your manuscript. Maybe you even got a request from your dream agent or publisher! 

You took notes. You built relationships. You learned more in a few days than you thought possible.

Now what?

Have you ever had a mountaintop experience? 

Most conferences I attend classify as mountaintops. I get to talk to people I respect and admire. I learn amazing things about the industry, and I get fantastic feedback on my manuscripts. I usually finish a writing conference feeling like I’m on top of the world, like God can accomplish anything through me, and that I am on the precipice of something extraordinary. 

Then, I get home. I go back to work. I resume my daily grind, and before I know what is happening, I have traded my mountaintop for a valley. 

Depression sets in. Discouragement comes at me from every angle. It seems impossible to have fallen so far in such a short amount of time, but it’s not my imagination. The week before I felt like I could take on the world. The week after, I feel like the world has trampled me underfoot. 

Everything goes wrong too. The week I’m back to my real life should be a time when I start to implement all the things I learned at my conference, right? Ha. If I’m lucky, the first week back from the conference is barely enough time to answer all my emails that have stacked up, let alone actually apply anything I learned.

I know it isn’t just me. Conference letdown is a thing. There’s something stifling about leaving behind the wondrous God-moments of fellowship and creativity and inspiration that we find when we’re in the company of our fellow writers. Going back to real life just isn’t any fun.

Well, nobody ever said walking through any valley is fun. 

As long as we’re here on earth, we can’t live on mountaintops. No one is immune to the fallout after a mountaintop experience. If the prophet Elijah fell victim to the same issue, we shouldn’t be surprised when we feel dreary and dull after a week of God-moments. 

But what do you do? How do you handle it? 

There are a couple of schools of thought about next steps after you finish a writing conference, but for a moment, I’d just like to sit back and get really honest. Is that okay?

We live in a culture of busyness. Not business. That little y makes all the difference in the world in those two words. 

We are always busy, and if we aren’t, our culture tells us we’re doing something wrong. To be very honest, my friends, that’s not the case at all. We don’t always need to be busy. 

Writing conferences are exhausting. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first one or your fiftieth one. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or an extrovert. Once you get finished with a conference, the best thing you can do for your mental and emotional health is to take a nap!

So here are three steps to writing conference recovery:

The first step is to be aware.

Every time you experience an awesome God-moment, know that the valley is close behind it. Prepare yourself for the darkness before it reaches you, and when you find yourself there it won’t take you by surprise. You’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to manage when you know it’s coming. 

Second, make sure you are resting.

Rest more than you think you need to. Do the things that refresh and restore you. You won’t recover if you don’t give yourself intentional time and space to make it happen. 

Rest is so important, and taking intentional time to refresh our minds and hearts and souls can make such a positive difference in how we apply what we have learned. 

The third step?

For me, it’s the most important. Worship your way through it. Take time to remember how awesome God was during your conference. Thank Him for what He did and how He helped you keep your divine appointments. Be intentional in your gratitude and in your praise. Prioritize your quiet time and your prayer time.

Before you know it, the darkness won’t feel so dark anymore. That cave you feel like you’re stuck in will disappear, and you’ll have the energy you need to get back to work. 

Award-winning author A.C. Williams is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. She’d rather be barefoot, and if she isn’t, her socks won’t match. She has authored eight novels, three novellas, three devotional books, and more flash fiction than you can shake a stick at. A senior partner at Uncommon Universes Press, she is passionate about stories and the authors who write them. Learn more about her book coaching and follow her adventures online at www.amycwilliams.com.