IWWG 2008

A little bit about IWWG ...

This year I was only able to attend one June weekend at Skidmore College host to IWWG's Conference: "Remembre the Magic 2008" (about 65 workshops are offered over the week!)

Foundress and foremost devotee of women for woman's sake and an astute business woman in her own right, Hannelore Hahn conceived of IWWG (International Women's Writing Guild) over thirty years ago. Kudos and hats off to Hannelore!!!

The guild has something for everyone from the feathered and flowered women seeking their inner goddesses to the serious writers seeking the "nuts and bolts" of good writing and craft.

I attended Lynne Barrett's seminar on PLOT! Lynne is author of two wonderful short story collections, the latest is The Secret Names of Women. She is a professor in the MFA program of FIU. I'm fortunate to say that I've known her since 1991. If there is anyone who knows anything about plotting a short story or novel, it's Lynne, and she does this with wit, aplomb, and a great sense of humor.

This year I was pleased to meet W. Hope Player, a CPA, whose interesting workshop covered business advice for writers. Visit Hope's website: http://www.thearcadiangroupcpa.com/

I also had the pleasure of meeting Heather Cariou, author of Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister's Memoir, a nonfiction book about her sister's illness, Cystic Fibrosis. Heather's informative workshop was about marketing a published book. (Buy her book on Amazon.com!) And be sure to visit her website: http://www.sixtyfiverosesthebook.com/

There are so many other wonderful workshop leaders, but Zita Christian's romance writing instruction is fun and doesn't only work for genre, but is applicable to all kinds of writing from literary fiction to poetry.

So little time and so many great teachers, but I couldn't attend them all, such as Pat Carr's fiction writing and also missed Susan Tiberghien's nonfiction, but I did catch one of Kathleen O'Shea's "Writing from Our Religious Pasts," which stirred up some interesting memories.

I did however make it to both weekend sessions by June Gould. What can I say about a woman who sets off firecrackers and lights bonfires without striking a match to get you thinking and writing? Her prompts and quotations are wonderfully evocative and suggestive, running the gamut from the Torah to Billy Collins. I have been inspired by Gould since 1999 to write several poems that have seen publication.

I crossed paths with so many other intriguing, intellectual, and ingenious women but http://www.evilslutopia.com/ bears mentioning. Don't let the name fool you, this is a group of smart and funny women that are are bringing a new perspective to the writing world. Check them out!

And last but never least, allow me to mention and give a public thanks to my travel mate, Lauren Small, author of Choke Creek, editor and publisher of Bridal Path Press, forward thinker and member of the Screw Iowa! Writing Group ... (check out: http://www.screwiowa.com/) for her thoroughly scrupulous critique of my novel according to Lynne Barrett's plot class!

... and now back to the revision!