Well, I'm back from my writers workshop ,and I must say it was wonderful. I was in the company of published authors, people who turned their ideas into words and their words into a hardback masterpiece. Not only were the featured speakers impressive, I was amazed at the number of attendees who had published their own work. One woman had written an eight-book series about a pre-teen detective; others had clippings from magazines like Time, Writer's Digest, and other national publications. On my last day, I sat in on a "Time Management For Writers" seminar and was encouraged to create a long-term plan for my writing - map out my ultimate goals and then move Heaven and Hell to see them through. That's when I realized I wasn't sure what they were.
If you were to ask me where I want to be in five years, I could do it in less than a minute without batting an eye: I want to have (at the very least) a master's degree. Be married. Have children. Live closer to my family. Continue writing. However, if you were to ask me where I want to be WITH MY WRITING in five years, I'd have to scratch my head and say, "Argh?" Since I knew how to read, I knew I wanted to write. And I did. I knew I wanted others to read what I wrote. And they do, from old stories (Leslie!) to new stories (Chris!) to these very blog entries (you!). But that was as far as I got.
One of the points made over the weekend that I truly appreciated was that "being published" means something different to every writer. Some have their sights set on the Barnes and Noble best sellers table. Others are perfectly content with running copies from a computer and passing out stapled pages to friends and family members. What does it mean to me?
I want my ideas to be heard. I want to write about the most humiliating and earth-shattering moments in my life so that someone can say, "She had the guts to say what I couldn't. I know exactly what she means." I don't have to see my stuff at the B and N for that to happen.
I learned a lot about the self-publishing business over the weekend and have been seriously weighing its advantages. Taking ownership of my writing and deciding how and when it will appear to others is definitely appealing. We'll see what happens. For now, though, I'm going to work on an idea I have for a non-fiction story collection. Dave Sedaris isn't the only writer who can make a person wet her pants and wipe a tear at the same time. At least, that's what I'm counting on.
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