Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Wonderful Weekend for Writers


One of the accepted rules abut blogging is that the blogger should be consistent. Publish on the same day of the week, keep more or less to the subject, etc.

At first I tried to write every two weeks. Then I aimed for weekly, using the hour or so before church on Sunday when all was quiet and my head clear. After writing a newspaper column for 10 years, that should have been easy, right?

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans ...

First, I had a really big project to complete and all else suffered until I turned it in.

Then I had a really big weekend. On Saturday, four of us went to the Book 'Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair in Lumberton. Michael Palmer and Carla Neggers were the main presenters. I enjoy medical thrillers and was eager to hear what Palmer had to say.

His presentation was wonderful. The man is funny! His son, Daniel Palmer, was on the program also, and the two surprised us with a hilarious duet (Daniel on harmonica and guitar) that satirized almost every best-selling thriller author in print. I was disappointed that although Daniel has some music CDs in addition to his books, none of them have the really humorous songs on them. Hint: Daniel, the world is waiting.

I had a chance to talk to Michael Palmer later -- essentially told him I liked the presentation and his books. He looked tired and I imagine he was. Lumberton wasn't the first stop on his tour and he said he looked forward to returning home the next day.

On Sunday, our writers' club held its annual awards ceremony. We have held contests in prose and poetry for 23 years and always reward the winners with certificates, cash prizes and a reception. The winnners are also published in an anthology called "Anson Pathways" every three years.

This year's program went exceptionally well. We had thought of giving it up after the next go-round, but seeing the faces of the children and youths who had won and received applause after reading their work made me think again. How many of these young people will go on writing -- maybe become the next Michael Palmer? -- who wouldn't have dreamed of being an author but for the encouragement they received from a group of people who are pledged to foster the art of writing in our county.

So it was a busy weekend, totally focused on writing. I will try to do better in the future, but when an opportunity comes along, I may well be late again.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Sandar -- It was great meeting you there. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, seeing many old friends, meeting new ones, talking about books and writing. It was all good and well worth the two-hour drive each way for me.

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  2. It was indeed a great day in Lumberton--Buy a Book, Stop a Crook! Michael and Daniel Palmer were definitely hits of the Book 'Em event. Here's hoping that music does get recorded and made available. And the Sunday program did indeed give us pause to reconsider continuing the contest. Plus it was delightful to have you and Karen with us on that trip!

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  3. Awesome, Sandy! So glad you got to meet him!

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