What? There is an advantage to not being published? It was a joke between me, and a presenter, and I’ll explain in a minute. I attended the Write Here in Ephraim Conference today and I wanted to tell you about it.
The conference is small, like Storymakers used to be. The presenters did well, and I learned many new ways of doing what I do. Rachel Ann Nunes. (I know she goes by other names these days, but I met her before the pseudonyms.) Anyway, Rachel delivered a great Keynote address about believing in your self, and I was thrilled.
Oh yes, I believe.
I mentioned Storymakers and the size that conference used to be. I think I posted a blog about that once. Anyway, At the Ephraim conference, I made a comment about a time when we could fit the whole Storymakers conference in one small room. I remember marveling at that first event, about all the people who wanted to write. Then, within a few years I looked out over the mass of humanity. Oh my.
Now, self-pub and e-books have taken off. Many of my friends have published piles of books. James Dashner and Jeff Savage are rock stars. Yeah things have changed. I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic when I saw writers I met then, come back now, bringing their children who probably hadn’t been born, then.
I’ve been attending these events for many years, I’ve seen writers come and go. Every time, however, I get a fresh prospective, and that leads me to the unanswered question in the title.
While walking into Rachel Nune’s classroom before her presentation about romance, I said hi. She recognized me but probably didn’t remember my name. She made a comment about me attending a lot of the writer things and how she kind of wished she could just attend, sitting in the classes and absorb the wisdom. I said, well, that’s the beauty of not being published.
I suppose that’s true, (except as you might remember from my post about LTUE), You become a fixture and people tend to think you aren’t serious about writing. I don’t really care about that, though. I write several thousand words every day, and I can’t not, write.
During the keynote, I remember thinking Rachel was preaching to the choir in my case. Later, in a candid conversation with a good friend, I lamented over all the self-pub books she has produced in such a short time. She pointed out that I ought to do it, too. I agreed I should. Now I think of Rachel’s kick in the behind as a battle cry. I say to myself, “Finish what you started you idiot.”
I write, but I don’t publish. So here we are. It was a great conference. Short, but sweet. I stayed in my trailer in the campground in Manti. I got lots of writing and editing done. I can move on. I’m not sure I ever want to be in Rachel’s shoes, with a desire to just attend and not present at an event. As you can see from all my blog posts, here on the Blogck, I can teach.
I started this post with a desire to talk about the art on the Snow College Campus. I took a couple of pictures, but those at the bottom are awesome. If you can’t see, somebody took different colored and textured stone slabs and made them look like books on a shelf. There were two of them. I think they are beautiful, but there is a metaphor there. If you write good books, they will stand the test of time. They will be as stone, a monument to your creativity, a work of art.
Good luck with your writing—see you next week.
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