I asked novelist Tim Sandlin if he'd like to be subjected to question-and-answer sessions about the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, June 23-26, and other topics about the writing life in WYO. He agreed. This is the second in a series.

Mike: You were talking about the conference's origins...

Tim: History lesson: Warren Adler called four or five people to lunch. We discussed starting a writers conference. The first two years, Philip Berman ran the Jackson Hole Writers Conference. He wanted to make a for-profit business out of it. Now, having been in the conference business for fourteen years, I firmly believe Philip was nuts. You can't make a profit. You can't even make an income. It has to be done for love or not at all.

Anyway, Philip moved on and a committee of four, and later five, local writers took over. As the years passed, I gradually ended up point man. We didn't have titles until we formed a non-profit. Im Director. Deborah Bedford is President. We plant to swap every few years. The University of Wyoming conferences office does all the work no writer who is writing would
dream of doing. The grunt work.

My job is to figure out what writers I most want to meet and invite them to a week in Jackson Hole. We don't pay squat, compared to other conferences, but the agents, editors, and big-time
guys come for a fraction of their usual fees because they want to see the Tetons and Yellowstone, and we only invite nice people. Since I don't get paid, I don't deal with anyone who has a reputation of being high maintenence.

Look for more from Tim Sandlin in upcoming posts.
- posted by Michael Shay @ 8:20 AM