A wedding pulled me away early from the annual Literary Connection conference on Saturday. Last year, caucusing for the Democratic Party caused my early exit from the proceedings.
Drat. But life often calls us away from our writerly duties and/or fun. This was both. The duty part comes with being the literary consultant for the Wyoming Arts Council. There's a certain part of the day devoted to meet-and-greet-and-consult. The fun part comes with sitting in the Hitching Post Inn meeting room and listening to acclaimed writers talk about their writing. I'm always entertained. And I also learn something.
Before my departure, I heard talks by poet Kim Addonizio, novelist Myla Goldberg, and another fiction writer, Jill McCorkle. A bonus: Kim played the blues harmonica as part of her poem to Robert Johnson. She played it well.
Jill, the consummate southern writer (with accent) from Lumberton, N.C. She read a very funny piece about a single woman and her imaginary lover. Following that, she talked about teaching writing. She urges her students to "reach back to those primal moments in childhood." She equated that with Crayola crayons. As kids, we get the five-pack of primary-colored crayons. Later, we get the box of 64 with periwinkle blue and burnt siena. That's when we look at things in shades of colors and not the basics. So got back to those primal primary days of yesteryear if you're feeling stuck. And even if you're not.
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