Craftfest, July 7 & 8, 2010, NYC

  Seminars I attended:

 

For The Thrill of It: From Book to Screen

by Lorenzo Caraterra

Eight Ways to Writing – and Finishing – Your Novel

by William Bernhardt

Who’s Telling the Story and What They Are Saying

by Steve Berry

And The Winner for Best Supporting Actor is…

by Andrew Gross

Keeping a Book Diary: Simple Secrets That Can Keep Your Book on Track

by David Hewson

Crafting Big Scenes for the Blockbuster Novel

by Al Zuckerman

Creating Authentic, Tough, Smart Female Protagonist

by Alex Kava, JT Ellison (a writer from Nashville) and Erica Spindler

From Soups to Nuts: Crafting a Thriller From First Notion to Completion

by Michael Palmer

What Makes a Hero?

by Donald Maass

 

One of the most inspiring things about conferences like Thrillerfest/Craftfest is meeting fellow aspiring writers and/or those that are book lovers like myself.  Writing is a lonely business and its nice to sit in a meeting room surrounded by people who suffer through the agony of writing like I do.  Yes.  Agony.  That seems to be one of the universal “themes” that I took away from both the workshop leaders and fellow attendees ; as much as we love writing, it is painful.  The other repeating issue is self doubt.  It appears that all writers, even those that are successful, are full of the insecurity, an insecurity that our interior editor welcomes and builds upon.  Fellowship with other writers helps defray that very loud interior editor.

 

So here is where’d I like to give a shout out to my new friends from Thrillerfest:

Gaby O. Lapus, a lawyer and book reviewer.  Check out her blog at:  www.startingfreshnyc.com

Beth T. Irwin, former military lawyer and writer.  Her blog is:  www.btibooks.blogspot.com

Jean Osborn, writer

Steven D. Covey, writer and realtor.  His blog is:

RamblingsOnTheFutureOfHumanity.blogspot.com

I'd like to leave you with an antidote that was told during one of my seminars regarding Harper Lee and the writing of To Kill A Mockingbird (which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, check out Gaby's blog about it here: starting fresh ny).  Apparently Harper Lee was about halfway through writing To Kill A Mockingbird when she became convinced it sucked.  She opened her window and threw the manuscript out into the snow.  Soon afterward she had a conversation with her agent.  Nobody knows what was said but when she hung up, she went outside, gathered the sheets of paper and went on to finish one of the best American novels ever written.

Seems I am in good company.....

 

Comments

[Gaby @ Starting Fresh]

Hi Jen,

It was great meeting you at ThrillerFest (and thank you for the kind words about Starting Fresh). I loved ThrillerFest as well -- it's an amazing experience. I hope to see you there again next year!

Gaby