Sunday, October 3, 2010

pen to paper, please

Yesterday I spent the entire day at a writers' workshop with the authors Craig Childs and Amy Irvine. I shall not explain who they are because I am leaving that up to YOU. Wikipedia is only a click away.

The workshop was pretty good. There were only 12 of us, which was nice for the participants because it meant more attention from the authors, but it is also a bit depressing that only 12 people in the entire state of Utah (and surrounding states) decided to attend a workshop taught by two award winning authors. Sure, it cost a little bit of money, but for a six hour workshop, it was a good deal. I guess everyone else was too busy listening to Boyd K. Fudge Packer talk about how gay the gays are. Understandable.

(I apologize to those who were offended by my comment on President Packer. I also apologize to the gays who have to put up with this massive corporation oppressing them. Meg: Gettin' All Opinionated!)

Okay, I'll admit it: My dad "made" me go to the writers' workshop. Sure, I was excited to go, but I would have never made the effort to actually sign up for a workshop and pay for it. So I am a bit of a hypocrite. Amy Irvine pointed out that if you want to be a writer, you need to attend workshops and other opportunities that allow you to meet and socialize with other writers and that "force" you to write. She is right. So now I will write.

3 comments:

Chris Almond said...

this is great. I would love to participate in something like that, and happy you had the chance. Although I think I would be a bit sheepish, as I've never really shared any of my writing, aside from blogs/diaryland.
I am not really sure what a writing workshop entails, What sort of things happened at this workshop? Was it helpful? What were your fellow workshop attendees like?

Meg said...

I had no idea about the workshop, but Craig Childs is one of my absolute favorite writers. Please tell me what you experienced!

meg said...

The writing workshop was enjoyable because it was so intimate and lighthearted. And very helpful. Craig and Amy know what they are doing and were so gracious with their advice and help. We basically just did short writing exercises for six hours, read our pieces aloud, and then commented/gave constructive criticism on each piece. It sort of helped me renew my interest in writing. Sort of. I am really in a writing slump these days.