What a journey it is to write a book! All of you who are reading this newsletter know this already, but it can’t be said enough. I just received an infusion of enthusiasm and inspiration just getting back from the AWP conference in Seattle where I got to meet in person many people whom I’ve had a guests here at NAMW. Sue William Silverman and Sheila Bender have presented their fabulous workshops with us several times–Sue will be with us for our May 9 Telesummit this year–stay tuned for that announcement soon.We all need a writing community to help support and reflect our efforts–that our words mean something, that we are connecting to others with our words. After all, we write first for the joy of our own self-expression and by sharing, we create a community. I got to see how BIG that community can be at the AWP conference where 13,000–yes, you read that right–writers gathered to learn, connect, hug, kiss, read, and cry together. The panel discussions included poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, and memoir. The memoir panels were all overflowing I think because the topics were so pithy: Breaking Silence, Family Trouble, Writing about Relationships–and there were many others.
This week our Roundtable guest is Linda Bello Ruiz, who was a new writer when I met her a couple of years ago, but she already had gritty determination to write a book that showed the arc of her life, from being a lost young girl in San Francisco whose life had started to turn dark, to someone who rescued other lost children in Costa Rica through programs she started. Linda had to learn how to write in a literary way and how to write a book all at once, but she is one determined person. She writes in her blog post this week what she had to go through, and we’ll talk more about what it takes to write a book. You will learn about the community building she did, as well as the layers of the writing and editing process that she and I did together to bring her book into the world. It won the Gold Medal Award in the 2013 Illuminations Book Awards, Memoir Division.Please sign up to you can get the free audio download–or join us live so you can ask questions during our Roundtable Discussion. What do you need to know about writing your memoir? Do you want to be a prize-winner? Or perhaps you would like to listen to a “regular” person, who was a beginning writer, tell you how she became published and won a prize.
Event Details
Name: Linda Bello Ruiz
Topic: 5 Things You Need to Know to Become and Award Winning Author
Date: March 6, 2014
Time: 4PM PST 5PM MST 6PM CST 7PM EST
Sign up here for this event.
