Writers Unbound

Aspiring writers often ask me about writing workshops. Are they worth the time and money? Can they really help you take your writing (and maybe your publishing) to the next level? And if so, what workshops are the best?

Early in my career, when I left a wonderful job to freelance and all my loved ones thought I was crazy, I did attend writing workshops. One of the most significant to me was the SC Writers Workshop. I had just started freelancing, and I wanted a network. In later years, I’d find myself on the other side of the podium because I conducted workshops for this annual conference. At those workshops, I met people who would be influential in my career, and I won my first significant award for poetry.

I had a déjà vu moment last summer as I conducted the poetry workshop for the Southeastern Writers Association conference. It was the first day of the conference, and I gave a small introduction describing my ideas and attitudes about poetry. One of the workshop attendees raised her hand.

“So you mean it’s okay to rhyme poetry?” she asked.

I told her of course it is. It’s okay to do anything you want. It’s your poem. Form only comes into the picture when you’re marketing your poetry. So you’d want to market poetry that rhymes to a magazine that publishes formal work like sonnets.

Then the participant told me something that blew my mind. She said a poet at a workshop told her to never ever rhyme poems.

By the end of the conference, I was very glad I met the woman who asked me about rhyming poems. She was a very gifted formal poet. Only someone who appreciated diversity in poetry would really appreciate the talent this woman had.

This has happened more times than I can tell you, not just with poetry, but with other genres as well. For some reason—and I’ll never fully understand it—some writers who teach workshops want the participants to write in a single-minded narrow fashion.

I’d say if you run into someone like this, don’t bother with the class.

Constructive criticism is important—it helps us to see our work as others see it. But when a writer critiques the work of another, that work should be judged on its own merit on its own terms. When you offer your work to another for feedback, bear in mind the type of outlook the other writer has. If there’s a narrow-minded aesthetic at work, you’re better off buying a book on writing. In my humble opinion.

If you find a writer who inspires you and who offers positive constructive feedback that helps you to improve your work, then your money is well spent. Conferences also offer great networking opportunities during downtime like receptions and meet-and-greet sessions.

It’s important to view publishing as a different goal than writing. Publishing is about the business; writing is about the art.

Publishing has very little to do with talent. Otherwise, Emily Dickinson wouldn’t have been dead before her poems were appreciated and she was recognized as a cornerstone in modern American poetry.

Links to selected writers’ conferences

http://www.myscww.org/
SC Writers Workshop; annual conference is in October, usually at Myrtle Beach. S.C.

http://www.southeasternwriters.com/
Southeastern Writers Association; annual conference is in June, usually at St. Simons Island, Ga.

http://www.asja.org
American Society of Journalists and Authors; annual conference is in April, in New York City.

http://www.wcupa.edu/_ACADEMICS/sch_cas/poetry/conference/index.html
West Chester Poetry Conference usually held in June, in West Chester, Pa. Application and submission of poems required.

http://journalists.org/2007conference/
Online News Association; this year’s October conference is in Toronto, Ontario.

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