Friday, January 11, 2008

One Big Crazy Family


By Keith Fisher

I registered for the LDStorymakers conference the other day. As with everything else the price went up, but that’s not what I want to write about today.

I have a friend who wants to become a writer. She asked me where to start and I gave her a flippant answer I cannot recall, but then I went into detail about rough drafts, conflict, and characters, hooks, cliffhangers, and adverbs. I told her to start writing and read a lot. I told her to go to the writer’s conference.

In my attempt to teach her, my mind drifted over seventeen years, and hundreds of pages in books about writing. Magazine articles, writers clubs, and workshops. I realized I’ve come a long way. It hasn’t been easy, I’ve struggled with English and grammar, problems with plots, and time conflicts. But all in all it has been a good ride.

This will be my third LDStorymakers conference and I’m looking forward to it with all the wide-eyed optimism of a new writer. I can’t wait to see the antics of Tristi Pinkston, rub shoulders with the many talented people, meet new friends, and renew old acquaintances.

When I look at my many manuscripts in different phases of development, I realize I’m a much better writer than I used to be. Most of all, I can see the sweat and blood that I’ve put into them.

My friend, I know there is a chance you will be published on your first submission, but it may take more. Years will pile up, but you will be rewarded.

As I’ve written many times before, start writing and never quit—watch people and note how they do things. Let your imagination soar—it will take you to new ideas and plot twists that you never dreamed possible. Let your characters speak to you, don’t be afraid, because you’re not crazy . . . even if you are, you’re in good company. Go to a writer’s conference and you will see . . . we are all one big happy family of crazy people.

Good luck with your writing, and see you next week.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

See you at the Conference Keith. And for your friend, writing is a never ending journey that takes us on delightful twists and turns in life. It's a path I will never leave.

Christine Thackeray said...

I'm signed up for the conference too. I can't wait and have just started really pursuing my writing. I worked with my sister on our first book, it just came out!!! Then CFI bought my old re-vamped manuscript and I'm under contract to write the next in the series with my sister on C. S. Lewis. Check it out!

http://www.cedarfort.com/catalog/9781599551128.html

Tristi Pinkston said...

I'm totally stoked about the conference too -- it's my favorite time of year.

Keith N Fisher said...

thanks for the comments. I look forward to hobnobbing with the greates, most talented people in the book business again this year. and I don't have to organize a mix and mingle dinner. Yeah.