WRITING: Writers’ Festival Windup

Yesterday’s full schedule of events proved to be just as exciting and informative as day one of the Tunxis Writers’ Festival.

The opening act was Ernest Dorling, author of Consciousness of Guilt and Murder: A Family Affair who stressed the process of non-fiction writing as a search for truth that called upon even more than his twenty-five year experience in law enforcement. His point by point emphasis on the journey of writing and the research involved was extremely informative, especially at a community college where Criminal Justice is a primary program of study.

Author Colin McEnroe is much more than a local celebrity radio host and his personality and public speaking manner made me want him to go on and on for much longer than his brief one-hour presentation. On the topic of Memoir Writing, Mr. McEnroe read from his book, My Father’s Footprints and discussed in depth the special techniques and emotional involvement required of this genre. Mr. McEnroe kindly shared a bit of his journey as a writer, and offered much insight into the paths writing can take.

After being beaten into “submission” by all those who went before on the sorry state of publishing hopes for the first time author, thank God for Patrice Hamilton’s uplifting presentation of query letters. She offers a ray of light in pointing out what makes a submission request get at least a bit further along to its goal, and shared her own story of progress both heartening and heartbreaking that displayed a gutsiness in both its revelation and its determination.

Robert Brown teaches journalism on campus, and his experience coming up through the ranks of the media to claim the editorial position at a major local newspaper organization was inspirational. He also pointed to truth in journalism, and it extends to all forms of writing in non fiction, as well as hinting at its importance in being honest to your own voice in fictional work. Journalism is based on compression, and this format as well as poetry are two of the best teachers of truth in as few words as needed.

We were graced with a talk by Jesse Abbott who teaches literature, writing, and philosophy and so were treated to the aesthetics of writing established by his most enthusiastic and ongoing delight in poetry. Perhaps he gave one of the best definitions of muse, a word that is thrown about without clear understanding of its meaning. His readings were of exceptional quality because of his ability to get into the poetics in both voice and manner, from rap to Shakespeare, not only his voice, but his expression and stance displayed his involvement and serves as inspiration to explore poetry further.

All in all, bless Neha of Wanderlust for initiating what we hope will become a tradition.