Yikes. Week 8 of summer already but who’s counting? Well, I am but instead of dreading the shorter, colder  days to come  I am trying to pack as much enjoyment into each day of summer as I can.

So week eight of a great summer and some time for ENJOYING WRITERS.

This weekend I had the privilege of attending a writers/readers conference. In fact, it was called ‘A festival For Readers and Writers.’ The first annual. (I love being part of a first annual event!!) I traveled with and shared a hotel room with a friend. Thank you, Marlene, it was most enjoyable.

I thought I’d share a bit of the weekend but I don’t even know where to begin. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of a cross-section of writers from every discipline. There were literary writers, poets, sci-fi, futurist, romance writers, non-fiction and speculative and probably a whole lot more sub-genres. The surprising thing–or perhaps not so surprising as affirming–was how we had so much more in common than we had differences. It was sweet to the soul.

I attended a grand total of 12 workshops (each event was an hour long) and 1 poetry reading (thank you, Bob Stallworthy for taking me on a roller coaster of emotions) in 2 days. I heard about different publishing models and their pros and cons. I listened authors talk about how to write difficult scenes. I had some blanks of understanding filled in at a talk about Fukashima Power Plant event (only a few teeny tiny blanks were filled but the talk was spell binding.)

I got to meet with and talk to many writing friends I haven’t seen for a long time. And that was refreshing. I wish I’d taken pictures of us but I was too busy yakking.

The last workshop I took was presented by Sherry Peterson Silencing Your Inner Saboteur. Notice she calls that inner voice a saboteur not a critic. A critic’s intention is to help us. The saboteur’s goal is to stop us or destroy us. She gave point by point steps in how to identify and defeat the saboteur. I liked this workshop which she offers in an on-line course. Check it out at http://www.dwarvenamazon.com/

As if to reaffirm the message she delivered, my friend Carolyne Aarsen posted this link on her Facebook page this morning. Another way of looking at the things that destroy us and how to deal with them. http://michaelhyatt.com/what-story-are-you-telling-yourself.html

So be careful of what story you listen to and above all–enjoy what’s left of summer.