The second workshop this last week was a short story focused workshop lead by me and Tekno Books editor Denise Little. Thirty professional writers attended and it was great fun. And a lot of work. And I learned a bunch and had some wonderful discussions and conversations.
Writers came in from 13 different states and Canada. Florida, Texas, Maine, and lots of places in between. It’s always a stunner to me when we go through the room and people introduce themselves and say where they are from. Some of these people feel like old friends now, yet this group of friends is spread all over North America.
Denise Little came in from Wisconsin. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to her for taking the time and energy every year to do this and work so hard and for such long hours to give everyone fair feedback. A lot of us have worked for her, and sold her many stories, so she says it’s like getting 30 of her writers together all at once. Not sure if that’s a dream or a nightmare for an editor, but she sure seems to love it. And we love having her here. Thanks, Denise!
And wow, what a fantastic bunch of stories. You put thirty professional writers together and have them write short stories and it takes a long, long time to read all of them. But what enjoyable reading. Fantastic stuff. Often, and I do mean often, my entire comment about a story was “Wonderful. I’d buy it.”
And Denise would say the same thing more times than not. You will see a lot of these stories in books and magazines over the next year or so, that much I can promise.
Next up is the marketing workshop in two weeks, then in April we’re doing a Character Voice workshop. After this last week I’m tired, but excited about the new workshops coming up. I’ve got a ton to learn.
New Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing chapter up in a day or so.
Denise was an absolute peach, that much is certain. Reminded me tremendously of one of my favorite (late) cousins. Smart, witty, insightful, and not afraid to express her mind.
I think everyone benefitted greatly from both Denise’s feedback, and yours. It’s not often some of us get to have constructive comments and instruction from two highly-experienced editor/writers.
Whether the full week of workshops results in sales or not, I think the learning and the experience was well worth the investment, and the trip. I also liked being able to help out with PDX logistics, and appreciated the trust that showed.
Really, I believe trust was the underlying theme of the whole week. Students at all levels, trusting the instructors, trusting each other, instructors trusting students to work and function professionally, and so forth.
And yes, it’s difficult to walk away from something like this and not feel like everyone is a friend. Especially with most of us living and working in the Anchor, which is beginning to feel like my personal fiction writing mecca. If ever Kip decides to cash in, and the Anchor goes away, it will be a sad day for all of us ‘castaways.’ Workshop venues just don’t get any better. I feel absolutely spoiled. How is any other workshop or venue going to possibly measure up?
Okay, enough gushing. I’m pretty much a blatant cheerleader at this point. Time to put the pom-poms (hat tip Dayle) away and take what I’ve learned and apply it to the rest of the years’ projects.
Thanks, Dean. Thanks, Denise. Thanks, Kris. And the Yorks. And all the terrific people who flew or drove in to participate.
I’m going to cross my fingers that there will be additional workshops in 2010, and get back to work on manuscripts.
(clickity clackity clickity clackity)
Dean, Denise, et al:
A wonderful weekend full of learning and writing. As usual writing to a deadline produces incredible work.
I really hope the Denise Little workshop continues in 2011. Denise is a dream editor and her sense of story is incredible. The feedback alone from you both is worth all the gold in Fort Knox.
Thanks for hosting, Dean and arranging everything. This takes a lot of work and is truly appreciated.
See you in May.