A word on Wordstock

[dampscribbler]

Oh, I hope to come back and post a few more things about Wordstock but I am ready to be done with the computer for the day, so I'll just do a quick post for now.

For those of you not familiar, Wordstock is Portland's Festival of the Book.  Writers and publishers from all over the place come to Portland for a weekend in the Fall to talk words and books, and of course to sell books and sign them, too.  I attended all day yesterday with DH and Miss M (although her grandparents picked her up after a few hours so they could play with her and DH and I could relax a bit,) and today for just one hour. These kids of things are a bit overwhelming for an introvert, so I'm tired now.  

The talk I attended today was a panel of YA writers -- Young Adult fiction -- talking about their books and their writing.  The panel was moderated by Sarah Ryan, and consisted of Lisa Schroeder, Lindsay Leavitt, and Corey Whaley. It was a great panel, and I was glad I attended, and there are a few things from it I plan to pass along later, but I just wanted to say right now that my favorite moment was Lindsay Leavitt spontaneously volunteering that her least favorite question to answer is "what's your writing process like?" which she then proceeded to answer with "Sometimes you sit down at the keyboard and crack your knuckles and the awesome just starts flowing out, and sometimes you're curled in a fetal position on the floor for three days and you can't see how it will end."  Which sounds pretty familiar to me, and makes me feel a lot better about my own process. 

Comments

[fj.livejournal.com]

(I just can't get the URL right)

Currently I am finding this talk about process very comforting:

http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link (and all the attempts to get it to work!) I've seen that before, a while ago, but it bears reviewing.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

I watched that this afternoon, I'd forgotten her take on creativity and process, I will be carrying that with me for a while. Thanks again for linking!

[kimmiepoppins.livejournal.com]

See...you are not the only one! :o)

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

:-)

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

I went to a plotting workshop yesterday that validated my own process in so many ways. I'm glad to hear you got some, too!

I will try to post about it this afternoon. It's almost time to get offline and get ready for yoga :D.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

I saw your post mentioning that, it sounds really great! I'm looking forward to finding a venue to work with others again, gotta get to work on that. :)

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

I am tempted to send you my packet! It was so helpful :).

I hope you find something soon. Did you get some leads from the conference you went to in CA?

[lorrainemt.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful day--we might even get a bit of sun.

And isn't Wordstock great! I was only able to run in and out and talk with a few folks this year, but there's so much to take in. I'm glad you were inspired.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Sun would be great, I noticed KOIN is predicting "filtered sunshine" for today. Ahh, language, is there nothing you can't obfuscate? :)

Wordstock is wonderful. I think I probably spent more time there this year than any other year. It's always so interesting to hear the authors talk, and so frustrating to have to choose between them! :)