Our Mission Statement:

The mission of Pens & Pages Writers Guild is to facilitate and encourage writers of all genres, to share resources and tips about the writing process and, most of all, to provide a positive and productive forum that will encourage and support each writer in his or her creative endeavors.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Notes on the Keynote Adress at the 2011 PPW Banquet

Julia asked me to share my notes on Angela Hunt's speech with her, and I thought I'd just go ahead and post them here for everyone while I was at it.

The Writer's Toolkit

Writing is like building -- a writer can write anything (any genre) with the right tools and blueprint.

Tape Measure - a love for reading. You need to love to read and do it often.

Screwdriver -- for joining and prying. A willingness and ability to ask questions, both of yourself (what if? What next?) and of others (interviewing, listening) and to ask yourself what the reader needs to know.

Hammer - a drive to communicate - writing is hard work.

Saw - enables the builder to make things that fit - the writer must understand and adhere to genre guidelines; must check fact and do research.

Stud-finder (get your mind out of the gutter, romance writers!) -- you have to know where you can anchor -- how to be true to yourself in what you write -- don't prostitute your skill just to make a buck.

Vise -- perseverance holds the writer together, especially at the beginning; there WILL BE a learning curve. You must have willingness to keep learning and working to improve. Learn to wait.

Level
- Someone who likes you and can give an honest critique of your work. The professional writer needs perspective - we can't see all the flaws in our own work.

A blank sheet of paper - the builder can build whatever he can sketch (subject to skill and budget restraints). The writer can write whatever his/her imagination can create.

Glue -- we need it to keep us in our chairs. Sit, write, repeat.