Holy Writer OVERLOAD-in a good way

Mary Newell DePalma

Brian Lies

 In one week, I was honored to attend two writer's events.  The first, was  Overcoming Challenges: A Program for Writers and Illustrators.  As a writer who's felt rather challenged lately, every little thing the panel members said resonated deep with in me. The event was small, intimate yet very inspiring.  

Jo Knowles

Barbara O'Connor

Listening and talking to like minded people pushed me to keep going just a little bit further.  And meeting each of them gave me the strength to do it that much better.

Sera Rivers, Jo Knowles, and ME!

And then, I went to a workshop in Pennsylvania: The Write Stuff.

There, the faculty was DONALD MAAS, an agent passionate about great writing and his wife LISA RECTOR MAAS, an independent agent, also dedicated to writing.

On Day One, Donald covered a variety of topics, including character and plot development, emotional conflict, and building of tension.  It felt like eight hours of intensive psychotherapy with my book.  WOW!  It hurt, in every way possible.  

Day Two involved more secondary aspects as minor characters and settings, as well as Lisa's input on sagging middles.  Yeah, another eight hours of yanking, crushing and building up my novel again.

I think the MOST easily shared piece of information I took away from these two days is exactly how much psychology and sociology goes into every great book.  The more tortured the soul, the better-meaning both writers and characters-ha ha!  

In addition-passion goes a long way.  It was so easy to feel the love of words, good books and writers exuding out of the souls of Donald and Lisa.  Just being in the room with them was enough to make me REALLY want to say what I need to say.

So, in closing, I'd like to share what ignites my passion-the very stimulus for my book, titled JUST A GIRL.  When I forget, I listen to this song-LOUD!!! and then I remember....