2015 Ridgefield Writers Conference Offers New Workshops and Resources

Now in its third year, the Ridgefield Writers Conference will offer new workshops, resources and guidance for writers, starting Friday evening, September 25, and running through Saturday, September 26, at the Ridgefield Library, with keynote speaker Lary Bloom.

 

Based on the workshop model of the MFA in creative writing, the Ridgefield Writers Conference offers practical instruction in the craft and art of writing, with new workshops and resources, panels on publishing and the writing life, agent queries, readings, and wine and cheese networking receptions with and for attendees and guests. This year’s faculty includes Michael White and Chris Belden for long and short fiction; Sonya Huber and James Chesbro for memoir, nonfiction and creative nonfiction; and Karen Osborn and Adele Annesi for storytelling and cultural narrative.

 

The keynote speaker for the 2015 conference is author, columnist, teacher and playwright Lary Bloom, author of The Writer Within. Described by Wally Lamb as a writer with “a sharp eye and a warm heart,” Bloom also authored the Connecticut Notebook and co-authored The Test of Our Times. His columns have appeared in Connecticut Magazine the Hartford Courant and The New York Times. Bloom has also taught at Fairfield and Wesleyan universities and Trinity College.

 

As with last year’s event, the Friday evening readings with Shamus Award-winning author Peter Spiegelman and author Sonya Huber are free and open to the public, including a wine and cheese networking reception hosted by co-sponsor, the Ridgefield Library. Also free and open to the public are the Saturday afternoon readings by attendees and guests, and a wine and cheese networking reception. Book and resource tables and book signings are available throughout the conference.

 

The Ridgefield Writers Conference runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, September 25, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, September 26. For registration and full information, visit Ridgefield Writers Conference, contact Adele Annesi or call 203.894.1908.

Remembering Your First Love: The Amateur Writer

When writers fall out of love with the habit of writing, it may be because we've forgotten our first love.

Whether or not a writer is published, or has been published recently, there’s a sense in which all writers should retain an amateur standing. The word amateur can mean anything from one who has a taste for something to a lover of something. It can also mean a dabbler, as opposed to a professional. Regardless of a writer’s status, all writers are, in this sense, continual amateurs, because we’re always learning from other writers and ourselves.

While there are almost as many reasons as there are writers to stop loving the craft and art of writing, one way to squeeze the love out of the relationship is to let it become more about obligation than discovery and joy. We start focusing on what we have to do or should do, and all by deadlines, often self-imposed, that often get pushed further and further into the future the harder we try to meet them.

Regardless why the love has been lost, one way to rekindle it is to take the pressure off. Open a page and write. Even if the process begins largely with lament, at least the words are there. Reawakening the real pleasure of writing often comes afterward, from tinkering with the words and discovering new methods of expression, even in a grousing journal entry well-written.

What’s keeping you from your love of writing?