Last weekend I was invited to speak at the Dallas Fort Worth Writers Conference in Hurst, Tx.
I had a blast. I love speaking and teaching and meeting other authors. This was exceptionally special as I also had the chance to meet several agents. No word yet on how that will turn out but I had some promising feedback and encouragement and requests for pages.
I managed to take a few classes –two where I read part of my work and asked questions and one where I learned much about writing picture books for kids. I loved reading to my kids so it was fascinating to listen to an agent speak about what makes a good one. First hint: Don’t rhyme! Second: Don’t let the dialogue move the action forward. It was a terrific class!
The Hurst Conference center is a lovely space with plenty of space –there were 5-6 classes going on at any one time and the keynote was given by Scott Westerfeld. I found the agents to be open and ready to discuss their work and mine and the other writers to be supportive and excited for each other’s successes.
My first class was “Writing Through Your Trauma”
We discussed the act of writing your way through or out of trauma. I had a standing room only class and no one was more surprised than me! It was an inspiring class for me and I have heard many nice things from my students.
My second class was my Character Creation Workshop
The cool part of the picture below is that it is dad and I teaching together. I hope I get some more pics from students –It is so fun! I was teaching my character creation class and it was a blast. Those of you who were there are busy contemplating the life of Lizard the man who lives in his mom’s basement.(he was the class creation)
All in all it was a terrific time and I am still remembering and digesting all I learned. I hope they ask me back!
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