Part 2: WOTS Conference Discoveries and Amazon.com Links

Hello World!

In my last blog entry, I started telling you about the Write on the Sound Conference. I'm nowhere near finished. I learned so much.

The keynoter was Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones and other books. With a gentle voice and excellent humor she gave a wonderful talk on how she discovered who she was. As her journey continued, she started writing and discovered she liked it. She became an author.

Writing Down the Bones was 17 years in the writing (and 4 in the publishing), the result of long meditation on the writing process and the way of life. She tells people to practice, practice, practice.  Translated, that means write, write, write -- even if it's sh#t. We all need to keep reminding each other to keep going. Keep our mechanism oiled and ready. If you read the comments on my last blog entry, you'll see that another writer who heard Natalie speak reminded me of that fact recently! (Thank you!)

Natalie had three main bits of wisdom for writers. 

1. Never stop writing. Write daily, even if you have nothing to write. "It’s a deep practice," she said.
2. "Don’t be tossed away," she said. Every time you're put down, after each fall, get up again. And again -- write.
3. "Make positive effort for the good," she told us. As with any good habit like just picking up the toothbrush and brushing your teeth, "just pick up the pen and write."

I first heard about two other books at WOTS that interest me. One is Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King. Self editing is something I want to learn well.  I've been an editor for others for years, but editing my own work is harder. So it's on my list, and I'll tell you more about it once I've read it. The other one -- as my writer friend reminded me in that comment I mentioned above -- is a current popular YA book called Hunger Games. She (and I) hope it will help inform the game in my own book-to-be, The Game. I have it on reserve at my public library.

If you are interested in the Amazon.com info on these books, I've added a look-up link and a display at the bottom of this page. All the books in the display are my picks -- only the books I've discussed on this blog. I'm a great supporter of the library system, but occasionally I buy books to use over and over again. If you would like to purchase these (or other) books, and do so here, I get a little kickback. Seems like a benefit all around to have the link available. Hope you don't mind.