Honestly, today’s contribution to the WWK is more of a love
letter to the writing community than a traditional blog post. In the month of
May, I’ve traveled for two very fun writerly things: a convention and a book
launch.
As I wrote in my last post, I was a speaker at the Oklahoma
Writers' Federation Inc. Conference in Oklahoma City the first weekend in May.
It was a truly wonderful experience. There were a couple hundred writers there
of all levels and backgrounds and everyone was friendly, engaging and excited
about their craft. I am sure there is no better way to be introduced to the
world of moonlighting as conference faculty than at OWFI.
Then, this past week, I traveled to North Carolina for less
than 24 hours to celebrate the launch of THE WRATH AND THE DAWN, a new book
from Penguin/Putnam by my amazing friend Renee Ahdieh. I’ve known Renee since
before she even wrote the first word of this fabulous book and was lucky enough
to “alpha” read her first draft and spend time on the sidelines cheering for
her while she sold the manuscript and worked through revisions and the writing
of its sequel.
I cannot adequately express how amazing it felt to be there
for her book launch. Renee has worked so incredibly hard for years and years
and WRATH is a complete gem of a book. To see the people lining up to hear her
read from the opening pages, answer questions and sign copies, was just a
complete dream.
I was so excited to be there in person to witness it all,
along with several other friends from the writing community, including the
ladies you see in the photograph above. Renee is in the middle, pen in hand,
and those of us surrounding her have been there this whole time. Two of us flew
from far-flung places (Kansas and New York) and two drove (Georgia and Maryland)
to be there. It was one of the coolest showings of support I’ve ever seen and I
was thrilled to be part of it.
I’ve often said the writing community is so strong online
and I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful for the readers of this blog, the
friends I’ve made on Twitter and my email “pen pals.” But I’m also thankful for
the people we get to be around offline—at meetings like Sisters in Crime,
critique groups, book launches and conferences like OWFI. Often, it’s easy to
think of writing as a solitary process, but in the past two weeks I’ve been
reminded in the best ways that it never is.
