This past Saturday, I was the master of ceremony for
the first ever Quadrennial Carteret Writers Conference. It was informational, friendly, and most of
all…fun!
Our keynote speaker was Sara E. Johnson who writes the
wonderful Alexa Glock mystery series that is set in New Zealand. In addition to her lunch time talk, she gave a
wonderful workshop on the importance of setting.
John Dedakis—mystery novelist, writing coach, and
manuscript editor—did an incredibly educational workshop on Buffing, Polishing,
and Editing.
Additionally, there were workshops on poetry and
creative non-fiction. And, a good friend
of mine, Sheri Hollister offered her views on independent publishing and Rose
Cushing actually did a live podcast from our stage.
The last event of the day was a panel discussion
about
publishing and writing that I moderated.
The panel consisted of John Dedakis, L. Diane Wolfe of Dancing Lemur
Press, Robin Miura of Blair Publishing, and Ed Southern, of the North Carolina
Writers Network.
What’s special about all of this was that the Carteret
Writers Group had essentially become moribund during and directly after the
pandemic, as so many organizations had suffered from the same fate. I’m extremely proud that many of my former creative
writing students jumped in, joined the board, and have taken the writers group
to a whole new level. It was their group
that made the very first writers’ conference here on our part of the coast a
reality.
The evening prior to the event, there was a lovely
cocktail/pizza dinner at a local restaurant for faculty and organizers. It’s always wonderful to get together with
like-minded individuals who enjoy talking about writing and publishing.
And, of course, there was one unexpected guest. Isn’t there always? I included a photo of both him and me. I mean, how often do you get to meet
Spiderman at a writer’s event?
If you have the opportunity to attend workshops or
conferences geared around writing, I hope you’ll consider attending or joining
your local writers’ groups.
