Thursday, January 26, 2012

Lost in Words


You are a time thief.  You forget to eat even though your stomach reminds you. Dirty dishes pile up around you. Often you get annoyed at the telephone or unexpected company, find a place to hide so you can think, and sneak out of bed because an idea hits you. You talk to yourself, carry a notebook and pen at all times, stare into thin air, drift away while others are talking, and talk a lot to yourself. Your computer is one of the first things you say good-morning to, and one of the last things you say good-night to. You indulge your imagination, obsess over unusual things, and tend to drive others crazy. You try to avoid tedious and boring, and find beauty in what others might consider ugly. 

You my friend are a writer and like me, lost in words. There is a lot of blog talk about conferences and workshops for writers and I find myself wondering what it would be like to hang out in a crowd, or even a group of such likeminded individuals. To actually see and talk to other writers in person would be a very unusual experience for me. Through this blogging community I have learned that I am not alone and I have met a lot of great people that are just as lost in words as I am. I have even met one of my blogger friends in person. When I was in Denver I got the chance to meet Nancy Williams, a rare treat for me considering that I have never met a real author before. Her book The Treasures of Carmelidrium is the first book that I bought online for my kindle and if you like to read Fantasy I highly recommend reading this one. You can check out Nancys blog and her book HERE. Nancy is a wonderful person who offered me great advice and the kind of comfort only another writer could give. 

Sitting alone in a foreign country full of words that I will never truly understand, it is comforting for me to know that there are places where my word friends can gather, and for a while be lost in the same words together. You are lucky if given this chance, so to Michael from “In Time” and to all my other blogger friends who are attending the SBCWI Writers Conference, enjoy yourselves! Remember that all of you speak the same language and love the same words. I am not the only person who writes in a language foreign to the country being lived in, so please share your experiences with us. What is it like to go to a Writers conference, a Workshop, a Book fair? Do you get to meet other writers in person on a regular basis, and if so are they your friends? I may be talking to myself a lot, but I like to think that sometimes someone is listening.

9 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I've never attended a conference, so I've not had the chance to meet other writers in person. Yet!

shelly said...

Very sweet! They do have on-line conferences, you know. There's one coming up in the summer. Don't ask me the name of it. Can't remember. But I'm sure the blogging community will be blogging about it.

Bossy Betty said...

Thanks for the suggestions. Love to get lost in time, words and books. Ah! Nothing better!

Anonymous said...

Write away my friend. You described my life in your first couple of paragraphs! lol

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

It's funny how many people use that photograph of the manuscript hugging the girl. I bet the conference will be a blast for all those involved. I wish I could go!

Crazy Life of a Writing Mom said...

I haven't been to a writing conference yet. I went to a fiddling conference once; it was awesome!

Susan Kane said...

I love how you described the whole writing life, and using that photo was inspired.

N. R. Williams said...

Hi Siv
Thanks for the shout out. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday that took all my time. So sorry I couldn't come by then. I have attended many writer conferences here in Denver. Each one has new opportunities. Many wonderful writers. At the last one, I made it a point to meet as many writers as I could. But of them all, I must say I only have a couple friends. The blogging community has offered me more encouragement and friendship than I ever found at a conference. It's because everyone is so busy planning the next class and taking notes. People get really tired.

I loved meeting you too. I wish I hadn't been under the weather, but alas, that has been my fate at the moment.
Nancy

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hey,Sis,

Thanks for the lovely sentiment. The conference was awesome! Hopefully you can make next years!

It is undescribable!