Friday, May 16, 2014

The Importance of Community in Writing


Books by Dianna Hutts Aston

I had the fortune of meeting some writers through PiBoIdMo, run by Tara Lazar, who lived in the same area as me, so we started a Facebook group to keep each other informed of writer's events in our area. Word of our group spread, and we grew from a handful of members to over 30.

As I added the people requesting to join the group, I realized how many of them had amazing credentials. It made so much sense to pool that local knowledge, so we decided to have our own mini-workshop.


 
We had the first one, of many I hope, a week ago. About 13 of us, and the presenters, met in a library (the rooms of which you can usually reserve for free) and listened to award-winning author, Dianna Hutts Aston, talk about her inspiration, where her stories came from and how she got her start (She even talks about money in the full presentation for those who are curious about that aspect of publishing.). 

We were then treated to a tour-de-force presentation, by Marcie Flinchum Atkins, on using mentor texts to guide your writing. I've heard Marcie speak on this subject before, but I still learned so much. 



I put their full, well mostly full, presentations on YouTube (included at the bottom), but above are two very brief videos that showcase just a bit of what they talked about.

Besides learning how to improve my writing from these talented women, I also learned that a gathering of writers can empower an individual. We learned from each other as we exchanged ideas and knowledge, and offered suggestions and insights to those seeking ways to overcome a specific writing hurdle. 

I'd highly recommend forming smaller groups within your communities that you learn with and from. It's a more personal way to strengthen you in your writer's journey.

Have a great weekend and please see below for the full presentations.


10 comments:

  1. That is so neat that you pulled this together! And sometimes smaller is definitely better. Thanks for sharing the videos.

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    1. It was great. Very personal feedback, which is often hard to some by.

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  2. I really enjoyed this. Thank you!

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  3. Nothing beats a face-to-face writing community and how wonderful you have built such a vibrant group.

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    1. It is. I wish we could have them more often.

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  4. Very cool! It's amazing what authors can do when they join together. :)

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    1. Yep. I learned so much from people within just a few miles of me.

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  5. Wow, these are great! Congrats on getting this group of writers together and thanks so much for sharing the presentations with all of us!! =D

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  6. I have to agree, this is such a great group of writers with wonderful presentations!

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