Happy Wednesday! If you're a writer, poet or happy dabbler, how's your work coming along? Hope you're not having one of those midweek slumps when nothing seems to go right, but if that's the case, take a break from your writing, change the scenery (or add some music), or bring out a different project and see if your fingers don't start dancing on the keyboard. My new semester with poet/professor Ava Haymon began tonight. Whoopee!
I had the pleasure recently of attending the LA Book Festival once again. The weather was perfect and the speakers were fired up. Below are a few notes I took during various sessions you might find interesting:
Author of many books including The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte, Laura Joh Rowland's topic was "True Lies: Writing Fiction about Real Characters." She said good fiction is a mixture of fact and pure balderdash, and advised writers to do lots of research on the time period, people, customs, fashions and people their books revolve around, so that they will know their characters inside and out. Everyone gets rejections. Even after having agent Pam Ahern for 7 years and publishing 10 books, Rowland still got 30+ rejections on the Bronte book.
State Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque advised those who write poetry to "Keep it real, keep it simple, keep it close." {I love that!} The people close to you, neighbors, parents, family and your upbringing make excellent subjects and muses.
A panel of mystery/suspense authors had a lively discussion about what distinguishes their genre and niches within Mystery. The speakers were C. S. Graham, C. S. Harris, Deborah LeBlanc, Erica Spindler and Barbara Colley:
I don't know about you, but when I get to spend a leisurely day in the company of poets and authors, I feel like this:
Can you remember something you heard at a conference, in a class, etc. that really stuck with you? If so, please share the wealth!
And if you're looking for something really good to read, please check out The Rose & Thorn Literary e-zine's Fall 08 issue, fresh off the press today, as well as the newsletter which you can find linked to the new cover here ---> http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/
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