6-22-2013

An advertisement for unpublished writers

How I spent my writer-development money this year…

“Pour it on the Page” was the theme for the annual Writer’s Workshop (June 16-19) at ‘the castle’ of Glen Eyrie Conference Center in Colorado Springs www.gleneyrie.org. Four different workshop tracks, led by Angela Hunt, Kathy Mackel, Bill Myers and Nancy Rue, supported every kind and stage of writing.

This year Nancy Rue introduced a new workshop track for writers emerging from ‘The End’ of their manuscripts. This is a frightening place for unpublished writers. It’s best not to proceed without an expert guide.

Applicants seeking admission to Nancy’s ‘advanced writers’ class permitted a peek at their newborn books. Each of the sixteen manuscript samples Nancy approved was returned with a generous cover letter teaming with praise and guidance as well as instructive line-edits. Our collective instructional needs became the basis for our tailor-made curriculum. All this in advance of our convergence on the castle!

Nancy took care to know us personally before shepherding her flock of white-knuckled writers through the arduous process of polishing and preparing our completed manuscripts for the next level. It’s a scary time for a writer but our fledgling manuscripts and flighty writing egos were as safe as the indigenous Colorado Big Horn Sheep that grazed the lush lawns of the castle grounds. Nancy answered our feeble bleats for leadership with tender nudges and palms of praise for our tiniest leaps up the dizzying precipices toward publication.

For three days, she gave morning instruction based on our conglomerate needs and on two afternoons we lined up for one-on-one meetings with her. This was in addition to twice-daily sessions with all four instructors (a keynote presentation and a panel each day). It was exhausting – it was fun – I made new friends – I slept three nights in a castle. I departed ‘full to the brim and stuffed to the gills’ (courtesy of Glen Eyrie’s multi-course meals plus bountiful snacks and attentiveness of the hospitality staff).

Why Glen Eyrie? Besides the obvious ‘cool’ of a castle retreat…

There is a serious leap between a new writer’s manuscript and the narrow, steep climb toward publication. I chose to prepare for that leap somewhere gloriously beautiful with folks I trusted to laugh, cry and walk a mile with me.

As a bonus, I enjoyed a lovely Victorian High Tea with my dear friend Pam. Lovely.