Connections

I like how simple it can be to connect with someone you have never met.   There are so many ways to find others with similar interests with just a few keystrokes, these days!

But I love it when you meet someone--actually meet them--and hit it off!  It's tougher, it's scary but a small little miracle when it happens.

I write alone and am usually terrified to show my writing to many people.  (After all these years of hearing about it, people will find out my writing is crap.)  So I make myself go to writer's conferences occasionally to "face my fear."

The effort is completely rewarding, even when the fears prove true occasionally--like when your writing is magnified on a wall using an overhead projector and the response is so delayed you can actually hear the crickets chirping outside the large conference center.  It is still a learning experience.  (Even though it may seem like a wise move to revise, chop and completely change your pages at midnight the night before you present them to a large room of people, resist the temptation.)  Others in that room have been in your shoes.  They are in your shoes--their transparency is up next!  Their writing is better but they will come sit with you at lunch, share another story with you during the coffee break and join you for a longer discussion over a glass of wine that night.  By the time you go home, you have a new friend (and their website/email/twitter address, as well)!

Two years ago, I met Jen at the SCWW conference.  We've kept in touch, traded pages and now I am so excited for her as she begins her newest journey!  You can view the cover for her new novel here and pick up the book soon!

I met Barbara last year at SCWW and cheered her on from Indiana as her contribution was published in an anthology!  I am ashamed to admit that I did not purchase the book right away but am thrilled to not only have it now but to have won it!  "Child of My Child" is a touching collection of stories and poems by grandparents and Barbara's piece helped inspire the title!  Please do not delay as I did.  Go out (or go click) and pick up a copy of this lovely book!