I'm exciting to be heading to Cape Girardeau. Never thought I'd see those words typed out in front of me. The annual Missouri Writers' Guild conference is taking place in Cape on April 3-5, and I have signed up. My favorite thing about events like this is being around people like me. It's like Barack Obama heading to Kenya in Dreams from My Father, only completely inconsequential. Still, I feel at home around people who write. That's why I loved grad school: I was poor and over-worked, but my colleagues all had the strange minds of writers.
The theme of the conference seems to be the business side of writing, which at times is overlooked. I've worked in an advertising agency for nearly five years, so I considered myself savvy in marketing, but I have tons to learn about the publishing industry in general. Hopefully, I'll glean some nuggets. "Collecting bullets for the gun," as one of my instructors used to say.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Critiquing with 5th Graders
I have handed Dreamcatcher over to the fifth grade class at St. Peter's here in Jefferson City, and I'm surprisingly nervous about it. I've had my work critiqued by many groups before -- my writing group, college classes, friends and family -- but this feels different. What if they want dragons fighting unicorns? What do I do then?
I supposed my greatest fear is the possibility that this project isn't as clear as I've always seen it in my head. This is the most fun I've had writing anything in a while, and I think I have a pretty good understanding of kids. (My nephew would probably tell you I'm childish, if you asked, and he's five.) Though they are complicated in their own way, kids never seemed like much of a mystery to me, not like adults. Maybe I'm wrong.
We'll find out soon.
I supposed my greatest fear is the possibility that this project isn't as clear as I've always seen it in my head. This is the most fun I've had writing anything in a while, and I think I have a pretty good understanding of kids. (My nephew would probably tell you I'm childish, if you asked, and he's five.) Though they are complicated in their own way, kids never seemed like much of a mystery to me, not like adults. Maybe I'm wrong.
We'll find out soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)