Sandra Gail Lambert

Florida Literary Arts Coalition's "Other Words Conference"

And here I go again, once again in St. Augustine.  The Other Words Conference is November 10 -12, and I'm presenting at two panels.  "Memoir: Who Are You Writing For?" is on Friday and Saturday I'm reprising "The Search For A Literary Agent."  And I'm part of the Friday night readings.  

And there are plenty of other panels on so many subjects - from the use of profanity in your work to "Fire Ants and Leaves of Grass" (about nature writing) to the use of point-of-view and narrative voice in creative non-fiction and poetry.  And I've heard from returning writers that anything by Ira Sukrungruang is not to be missed.

And don't forget the keynote speakers - Jenny Browne, Alice Friman, Diane Wakoski, Michael Gills, and Carol Frost.  Yep, I'm going to load up on anti-inflammatories and go to everything. 

Writing Women Retreat - Getting Ready for October 15th.

 
Anne Martin Fletcher and I have put together what I'm pretty sure is going to be a kick-ass presentation  (Aren't I humble?) about the quest for a literary agent.  Our "quest" stories, our work, our writing backgrounds are so different and that right there is instructive.  

The talk will be chock-a-block with specifics, but the part I want to share here is more amorphous.  By the time I finished writing this novel, I'd spent maybe a year in revisions.  Which means the way I cared for my writing was to be tough, critical, unsparing, and always trying to see it as someone else, someone detached.  But when I wrote the query letter this didn't work.  Open-hearted, generous, enthusiastic, unconditional, delighted - all these qualities had to somehow reappear.  Between now and the conference, I'm hoping to have something more articulate to say about the importance of falling back in love with your work.

So, the Writing Woman Retreat, Saturday October 15th in St. Augustine, presented by the Jane's Stories Press Foundation. 

Writing Woman Retreat in St. Augustine on October 15th

 
The presenters include Karen McElmurray, Georgia Martin-Banks, and others, including me.  Jane's Stories Press Foundation has put together the Writing Woman Retreat - a good, reasonably priced, nice long day of workshops, panels, and readings.  And it's all in downtown, historic St. Augustine overlooking the Bay.  Go ahead and save the date on your calendar.  

I'll be doing more posts later about things like why a talk entitled "The Floating World: Truth, Facts, and Memory in Memoir Writing" gives me the shivers or why I, a non-poet, might be sitting front row for "Telling Tales: Poetry and Fairytales."  Oh, and there'll be a word or two about the presentation that Anne Martin Fletcher and I are doing.  And about the readings I'll be part of that evening.