A WALK IN THE PARK Attending a creative writer's conference

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

When my niece Sharon recently encouraged me to go to a creative writer’s conference with her, I wondered if it could be a hint. Since she has read some of my articles in the past, I thought she might be implying that I could use help. Applying the same logic that says never decline a breath mint when offered, I accepted her invitation to tag along.

Sharon has an English degree and has written children’s books and some pretty creative Christmas letters, so I figured if this conference was one she returned to year after year, it must have something useful to offer. Now, after spending two days at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference in Eureka Springs, I can’t say for sure that I am a better writer, but I certainly found the whole thing interesting and hopefully I picked up a few ideas that will improve my self-taught skills.

At first I felt intimidated being surrounded by so many “real” writers. It seemed that I was the only one at the event who hadn’t already published a book or at least aspired to do so. I sat through several presentations scribbling notes, trying to glean tips that could be applied to my kind of writing.

The first speaker covered topics such as developing protagonists and antagonists in stories using mannerisms, description, dialogue and the like. This was interesting butI couldn’t think right off how that would help me write my weekly column, although I didn’t roll my eyes and shout “no” at the idea - see, I used it right there.

Shannon Vannatter, author of romance stories, discussed writing an effective synopsis to include key information editors are looking for. Since I don’t plan to write anything more than my weekly column right now, I probably won’t ever use that particular information. However, this lady, the wife of a minister, was an interesting speaker. Her books are set in the Arkansas towns of Romance and Red Bud, and always conclude with happy endings where the characters make positive changes in their lives.

Johnny Boggs, another featured speaker, is a novelist and primarily writes westerns although, among other things, he is also a travel writer. This got my attention and I even worked up my nerveduring the break to tell him about my year-long quest in 2009 to visit all our state parks and then write about many of them in my weekly column. He was polite but didn’t seem interested in reading any of the articles I just happened to have with me.

That was OK though, because I found a lady from Mississippi in the lobby who wanted to take a look at them. Maybe this was just to give her something to do to pass the time while she sat by her book display, but she did seem genuinely interested and made some nice comments when I went back to pick them up.

One of the most entertaining parts of the conference was the breakout session entitled “Poetry in the Round.” It makes perfect sense now but, until I experienced it, I didn’t understand that everyone in attendance was expected to get up and read their own original poem to the group. Before I knew what was happening, I had been assigned to go second. I don’t remember anything about poem number one, because I was busy trying to think of how to bow out gracefully when my turn came. I could only think of one poem off the top of my head and that was the very first one I wrote way back in elementary school. So, when my turn came I graciously passed to the next person and began to relax and really listen.

The poems were as varied as the people in the room. Among many other topics, one creative young man read a very polite poem about how well someone could curse - the poem didn’t contain one bad word. An older gentleman read verses he had written about losing a kitten he loved.

Each poet received cheers of support no matter what their poem length or topic, and it almost made me brave enough to recite my own - but not quite. Maybe I will workon something new and be ready for next year.

All in all, I enjoyed the conference more than I expected. I made new acquaintances, gained some inspiration and had fun spending time with Sharon. I left feeling encouraged to keep learning and to keep trying until I become a “real” writer.

Just in case you are curious, here are the words to my first poem, written a long time ago in Mrs. Bunch’s fourth grade class. I still remember the day I wrote it and the compliment the teacher gave me.

“The lightening flashed, the thunder roared. The children got scared and went indoors. Then it rained and got foggy, andin the house came our little wet doggy.”

Annette Rowe is a freelance writer and a speech/language pathologist at Siloam Springs High School. She may be reached by email at awalkinthepark50 @ yahoo.com.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 10/20/2010