 Left to Right: Muriel Pritchett, Jeff Newberry, Marlene Ratledge Buchanan, Patrick Hemphing, Amy Wetherington, Jim Furry Hey Y’all, I just returned from an amazing conference for writers. Southeastern Writers Association offers a conference each year at Epworth-by-the-Sea on St. Simons Island, Georgia. This year was their 50th anniversary. I fell into writing totally by accident. I replied to a Letter from the Editor with an on-line newspaper which stimulated some discussion which lasted over a couple of issues. I stayed involved in the conversations until the end. Afterwards I was contacted by the newspaper editor to write a regular column for it. That was the beginning. The columns focused on local news and gradually moved into essays about life. The essays were designed the find the funny in foibles of life. They ranged from human behaviors to pets to fashion to a little bit of everything. None were ugly or hurtful, but all were a bit humorous. My friend Cece Landress wanted to write a book. She encouraged me to attend a few classes with her to hone my skills. My skills were limited to “sit down. Peck out something on Hissy Prissy, the computer. Get my husband and a friend to read it. Correct errors. Done.”  Left to Right: Susan Lindsley, Marlene Ratledge Buchanan, Lynn Hess, Cece Landress A good friend Chesta Drake, a retired English teacher, would proofread and edit my work. Then she would tell me what a good job I was doing. That’s all it took. Praise from a couple of people and I continued. It was Chesta who helped name my local column Hey Y’all.
My first book, Life is Hard. Soften It with Laughter is a collection of essays designed to make you smile, if not laugh out loud. It won the Georgia Independent Author of the Year award. The second book, A Place with a Past, is a cozy mystery. It, too, won the Georgia Independent Author of the Year for its year of publication. My latest is a book to support parents as they help their children learn. Tips, Tricks & Techniques has been nominated for the Georgia Independent Author of the Year for 2024. You can write. You can tell stories. Try it and you may be very pleased with what you produce. Let me encourage you to explore your creativity. If you want to tell or write stories you may enjoy the FREE storytelling classes which are offered though the Mid-Continent Public Library (www.mymcpl.org) of Kansas City, Missouri. It is all on-line through a zoom program. It is one of the best program I have ever taken. Another free writing group to explore is Scribblers Web. It meets the last Monday of each month at 6:00 pm EST on zoom. Scribblers focuses on the business of writing. Check out its book store and newsletters. www.scribblersweb.com Join SWA. The monthly zoom meetings are valuable information to help you develop your writing skills and get yourself published. Explore this amazing group further by looking at the www.southeasternwritersassociation.org web site. Next year’s conference will be June 6-1, 2025. Writing my essays and books has given me an outlet for creative thinking. Let it do that for you. You can write things just for yourself, cuss someone out, and declare your love, anything. And then you have the choice to share it or not. You can create a blog and put your essays out into the world. Write a book. Take a fantasy and put it onto paper. You may be more than pleasantly surprised at how it makes your creative self just grow. Give it a try. You will never know what you can do until you do it. |
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Warning: Drinking while reading this blog may cause liquid to be expressed through the nose and from the mouth. Read and drink at your own risk, the risk of your computer, and any items that may become wet. Life is hard and laughter is guaranteed.
