Blog Indiana is my absolute, must attend event every summer—and, that says a lot coming from me. I attend a lot of blog conferences throughout the year, most of which are a bit more catered to my, uh, demographic. You know, a (cringe) mom blogger.

There’s something about spending several days with women who get you, for sure, but Blog Indiana is full of my people. And my people? They are awesome. We’re talking about a room full of Hoosier hospitality, Indy geeks and such amazing talent, I can never believe we all fit in one, small midwestern state.

Just take a look at this year’s schedule! We have rock stars closing million dollar deals over Twitter. We have multiple published authors speaking. We have a local mom blogger who’s more influential than Dooce! (Klout says so.)

These amazing Hoosiers are not only willing to share their knowledge through sessions & panels all day, but they’ll gladly chat in the hallway, sit down to lunch and grab a drink after the event for more. That’s what makes Blog Indiana an awesome conference—it’s just soIndiana!

In a couple weeks, I’ll spend several days in California, at a very large conference specifically designed for women bloggers like me. It will be chaotic, overwhelming and often times completely confusing. But, one week later is Blog Indiana, where it all makes sense.

What I’m most looking forward to is a refreshing few days among people who get me. People who embrace me. People who live where I live and see what I see. If I had to choose just one session to be most excited about, it would have to be the Battle of the Brands panel.

Because I need some serious help managing my multiple personalities. Maybe then I’ll be a little less confused…

Heather Sokol is a frugal, gluten free, chocoholic, bubble bath connoisseur. She’s a little bit crunchy, always opinionated and sometimes speaks geek, but not fluently. Heather is the founder of Inexpensively.com and tweets as @JustHeather.

What 2 things do @ButlerBlue2 @mrkinetik @basschaos @saraelysecroft @chuckgose @roundpeg @nathan_hand & myself (@cjtheisen) all have in common?

#1–We are all on Twitter (are there people still not on Twitter?)

#2– We will all be on The Twitter Battle of the Brands panel at             Blog Indiana moderated by @jessica_journey

Everyone would’ve had 3 things in common but Blue II doesn’t have opposable thumbs (which makes it hard to tweet)

If that list of panelists hasn’t made you sign up for the conference already I don’t know what more I can say or do but here goes.

Have you recently joined Twitter but aren’t sure how to go about picking a handle? Starting up a business Twitter account but don’t know how much of your own personality to add into the tweets? Do you tweet under personal and business accounts? Should you tweet under both or just one or the other? How do you attach yourself to a brand as the face of their marketing online but stay disconnected enough that you can move your persona and presence to a new industry?

The panel will give you their insights into many of the above questions and take a few questions as well. Should you be interested in posing some Twitter branding related questions to the panel you can ask them in the comments below, via the hashtag #bintbb or reach out to @jessica_journey @saraelyscroft or myself (@cjtheisen) directly on Twitter.

If you aren’t attending already click the reserve your seat button at the top of this page now. Seriously stop reading this and register. If you are going I hope to see you Thursday after lunch for The Battle of the Brands.

–Chris Theisen, Digital Communication & Marketing Manager at Flex-Pac

Anyone can be a writer. If you work at it, you can even be a good writer.

You need a basic grasp of the English language. You need to know punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. You need to know how to string several sentences together in a cohesive string.

And that’s it.

You don’t need to go to writing school. You don’t need to take special writing classes. You don’t need permission. No one is going to tap a sword on your shoulders and say, “I dub thee. . . a WRITER!”

You just need to start stringing words together in a way that is pleasing to you. And, if you like, pleasing to other people. You just need to start writing something you enjoy, and when you’re done, you need to write something else.

I have based my entire writing career on trying something new and seeing if I liked it. Not waiting for someone to tell me I can do it, or taking a class on it. If I like it, I’ll do it again. If I really like it, I’ll keep doing it. That’s how I’ve managed to make a living — and a long-term hobby — out of being a professional blogger, a newspaper humor columnist, and now, a book author.

I didn’t need any special training or permission to be a writer. I didn’t take any writing classes. No one granted me a writer-ship with a sword. But, on a good day, I can sometimes do it better than the people who did get all of that.

Back in 2005, I entered a script for a play into the 2005 Indiana Theatre Works script competition. I took a play that I had originally written for radio, and adapted it for the stage. But I had never even written a stage play before, so I wasn’t sure how it was done, so I did some reading and wrote what I thought was a “proper” script. I even had to ask my wife for stage blocking directions.

So you can imagine my surprise when I was named a finalist for the Indiana Theatre Works conference itself, where I would get to meet other writers, directors, and even actors. I was in awe of the people who were there, and I questioned whether I belonged.

This was a room full of playwrights and Masters of Fine Arts holders whose specialty was in playwriting. I was just some schlub who made booger jokes once a week for some newspapers.

Everyone else had spent years, and sometimes decades, in “the thea-tah.” My only experience in live theatre was as a G-Man in “You Can’t Take It With You” when I was 16. My total stage experience was two lines. Otherwise I hadn’t done anything with or for live theatre.

But I could write. I had already been writing for 18 years, so I at least knew my way around a pen and paper, so I tried to get by on my (false) confidence. Everyone else figured it out though, as the weekend went on, and I asked some pretty basic questions. Plus, I think I blurted out “but this is my first play!” more than once.

So a few people were rather annoyed when I received the Best Comedy Script for the entire competition, beating out a couple MFAs who had spent years honing their craft, sweating every word, only to be beaten by some newbie who entered the contest on a whim, because he had never written a play before.

What’s my point?

My point is that, it doesn’t take anything or anyone special to be a writer. Anyone can do it, and anyone can succeed.

It doesn’t matter whether you can spell. Or that you don’t know the difference between the subject and object of a sentence (after 24 years of writing, I’m still not clear). Or that no one has said “you’re a WRITER!” and whacked you with a sword.

All you need is a laptop, or a typewriter, or even a stubby pencil and the back of an envelope. It’s up to you to call yourself a writer, because no one else is going to. Or needs to.

Besides, my sword is tarnished.

Erik Deckers is the co-owner of Professional Blog Service, and the co-author of “Branding Yourself” and a new social media book coming out in October. He also helped write “Twitter Marketing for Dummies.” Erik will be the keynote speaker on Day 2 of Blog Indiana 2011.