Writer's Conference - I'm Still Smiling

The WVWriter's Conference is over until another year rolls by.

It was a wonderful weekend. I enjoyed meeting old friends and making new friends.

And, I very much enjoyed attending the Saturday night banquet where they announced the winners of their annual writing contest.

The presenter was speaking about no matter how the entries are mixed up and shuffled before sending them out to the judges - the cream rises to the top.

I am so happy that the judge chose mine as first and second place winners!

I entered six manuscripts into the children's category and four of them placed. (I also received 1st HM and 3rd HM)

Duck and Cover and Amazing Miss Maizie are near and dear to my heart. My heart skipped a beat when they were announced as winners.

Amazing Miss Maizie was the second PB I ever wrote, and it has been changed many, many times. I am a BIG advocate of revising to get it right.

Duck and Cover is a more recent product of my imagination. It takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The manuscript started out as a small memory from my childhood. A small memory that I never really understood. I remembered us going to my aunt's house and being scared. One of my other aunts kept saying that the world was coming to an end. But, I finally figured out that it must have been a memory from the time period of the Cuban Missile Crisis. So, I put on my writing cap and a story came to life from that one small memory.


For now I want to say to never give up and to keep revising until you are happy with your manuscript. Don't send your work out before it is ready. (Unfortunately, I have did this many times)

I think when you submit a story in which you have put your heart and soul into and have revised it over and over again --- that manuscript will have a much better chance to rise to the top and stand out in the slush pile.

I am very thankful to my writing group. They have put up with listening to my stories over and over again until I am sure they were sick of hearing them.

 Happy writing! I will be posting later about some of the things I learned from the workshops at the convention.

At the conference with WV Poet Laureate Marc Harshman.