by Addy Farmer
Writing is an act of faith in yourself, in the others you count on to support you and in the publisher who'll eventually provide you with a happy ending. Sometimes it's hard to maintain that faith and doubts slink in - my story is wafflingbadly/toomanywords/toofewwords/notenoughdragons - that sort of thing. It gets tough.
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Ernest Hemingway
Cheery stuff but sometimes it might feel that way. So on this midweek morning I'm reminding you, dear slushpiler, that you are not alone and that you can become perky again just by getting out once in a while - meeting those publishers, having fun with your writing and communing with those all-important writing pals. This weekend
Lincoln Inspired did all these things. It was a community crowd-funded festival and wonderfully inspiring.
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| Cheer up, sausage and go to a festival! |
Sometimes you have to work at inspiration, sweat a bit even. Sometimes you have to find the right place at the right time with the right people. Then again sometimes it's
easy because all of those things come together.
I kicked off the day doing 1-2-1s with pre-published children's writers. We chatted through their writing dilemmas and I think it fair to say that I was in some sort of near-heaven where the only thing I had to think about was writing, writing and more writing. Okay, it wasn't my
own writing which would be actual heaven but we'll get to that later.
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| Big head at The Drill Hall in Lincoln - one of the venues for Lincoln Inspired. |
Then, because I was late through too much talking, I had to walk very fast up Steep Hill in Lincoln (yes, the name is apt) to get to the next event,
Inspiration through Artefacts. This was at the
Museum of Lincolnshire Life and led by SCBWI member and museum curator, Debbie Holt.
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| Debbie and Alan ready to inspire |
There were so many stories to be told. We looked and we touched (yes, we were allowed to touch - Debbie said so) and we thought and we wrote as the
moo took us.
Children can make playthings out of just about anything...
It just takes a bit of imagination.
A tea-trainer sparked a memory of drinking tea on holiday picnics at the seaside and how good it tasted and how it just wasn't the same at home.
From imagining stories to having them published. Emily Thomas, publisher at
Hot Key Books came with those all-important insider insights.
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| You can't see their faces but all these people are smiling as they soak up Hot Key's zinging fresh list |
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| The lovely Emily Thomas brings Hot Key Books to Lincoln |
I'll return to Hot Key with a further blog soon ...
There was more and more inspiration with the Sunday Scrawl Crawl. It was led by SCBWI member and illustrator, Katherine Lynas. I cannot draw for toffee but I took my camera and found death and battle and honour and light and dark - all stories for the taking.
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| Debz, Katherine and Hazel getting ready to scrawl at The Collection in Lincoln |
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| Don't listen to the doubters ... |
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| and don't look so worried ... |
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| You can do it ... |
With a little help and inspiration from your friends. So, happy Wednesday after a wonderful weekend and here's to finding your story.
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| A truly awful photo of some truly inspirational people |
