Twitter is all a buzz after the #RRWC

My experience at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference was inspiring, energetic, and moving. Moving because it made me want to move my pencil. Move my life forward. Move stories and lives, like those around me.

It was in Janet Jaquith's class, The Personal Essay, that I thought: I LOVE being an artist. How lucky are we, to be among one another? To learn from one another?

And although Janet's class was about radio, and I am not a radio journalist, it spoke to me in so many ways. I love radio. I've always found it to be this fantastically raw form of media. Media at its finest. I just don't think I truly understood why I loved radio until Janet's class. It was as if I discovered it all over again; through the personal essay.

Janet may not have realized that her tips on delivery, rhythm, and how to engage the listener were as easily applied to writing as they were to my everyday life. See, I've never been particularly good at speaking. I'm not sure if it's some kind of genetic defect (nature) or nerves (nurture). Yet, I have decided recently that I can do something about it. And with the tools she provided, I felt closer than ever to figuring out how to do just that.

Something else I think we all took away from Janet's keynote speech was a lesson from her refreshing honesty. Dan Smith called her, "Brave," and I thought, yeah, brave. I realized then that admitting your insecurities isn't a weakness, it's a strength. I shouldn't be discouraged for admitting what I don't know and need to learn; a place I find myself in everyday.

In Mary Hill's, When the Muses Flee: How Writers Woo Inspiration Back When They Hit Writers Block, I learned that I stink, to accept that I stink and that my mother still loves me. Sometimes we're all so afraid of stinking it keeps us from doing what we love most. So here I am, stinking up my blog.

In Cara Modisett's, This is Not Q&A: Interviewing, I learned that many of the things I was already doing were very good! While other things were not so good. I learned that interviewing was something I kind of love. And it made me want to get back out there.

As if the day weren't fulfilling enough, my last class was, Rex Bowman's Nothing Less than the Secret of Writing. And he delivered.

He gave me hope that a painter like me, an artist who loves to write, can actually learn to write. After giving us some basic tools and tips (and of course the secret!), I thought, you mean there are rules?! Okay, so I knew there were rules, I just didn't know how easily I could aquire and apply these rules to improve my own writing (I haven't started yet).

So what did I take away from the conference? Inspiration, hope, guidance and a hunger for more.

Thanks for reading. I hope to start writing a little more on this art blog of mine.

-Monica

Follow tweets about the conference here: #RRWC

Read Dan Smith's recap here: A Brief Report Card on the Writers Conference