Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Listen to advice. You don't know how many writer's conferences I've taught at where at least half the audience fights all the conventions of the field.
Being a writer can be isolating. It's good to be among readers and booksellers.
Writing is about culture and should be about everything. That's what makes it what it is.
My teacher Tom Spanbauer, the man who got me started writing in his workshop, used to say: 'Writers write because they weren't invited to a party.' That always struck so true, and people always nod their heads when they hear that. Especially writers.
The writing workshops and programs that are everywhere have encouraged writing. And if that produces more writing, it's also producing more readers of an elevated level. So all in all, a good thing.
Quite a lot is required of writers these days in terms of, if not promoting the work, then being a representative of the work. It's a difficult thing, really.
I do have the feeling that other writers can't help you with writing. I've gone to writers' conferences and writers' sessions and writers' clinics, and the more I see of them, the more I'm sure it's the wrong direction. It isn't the place where you learn to write.
Writing is not a matter of choice. Writers have to write. It is somehow in their temperament, in the blood, in tradition.
There's a certain freedom in writing when you don't know if you'll ever have an audience.
I think it's a very bad idea for someone to start writing for a readership.