This is what the tribe has to say about the 2009 Anhinga Writers' Studio Summer Workshops held in Gainesville, Florida from July 29 - August 1, 2009.
Whew! What a great conference! Thanks, so much! Here’s a minimalist poem I wrote about the conference in Victor Bockris’s class.
unhinged
takes wing
Thank you thank you thank you! Learned a lot of great stuff, met a lot of great people. What more can I say?
John Rehg
Florida Writers Association St. Petersburg, Florida
I enjoyed the conference so much I am planning to attend next year, and am working on getting a friend to attend as well.
I learned something from every seminar and panel. You were all wonderful teachers, as well as (in my case) Rhys Bowen, Bob Morris, and Anne Hawkins. Charlaine was, naturally, delightful. She is such a wonderful writer and so funny and endearing ... a perfect fit for the conference. And let’s not forget the Men of Law Enforcement panel that was both informative and scary all at the same time!
My intention is to arrive next summer with a finished manuscript in hand, my pitch ready 24/7 (in case I meet an agent on the elevator ... again!) and an eagerness to learn all I can from next year’s conference. I know it will be as wonderful as this year’s.
Thanks again. See you next summer!
Nancy S. Crowson
Lakeland, Florida
I attended the Maui Writers conference last year and I want you to know that the Anhinga conference measured up to it, without the airfare.
I learned how to shimmer, refine my writing skills, prepare a non-fiction book proposal, work with words as poetry, and to kill off vampires for relaxation, fun and profit.
Along the way there were new friends, new organizations to join, and tips from dedicated and generous professionals.
Thank you!
I will be singing your praises and/or searching for a better cliché for a long time.
Gail Condrick
Longboat Key, Florida
What a wonderful and FAST conference. I loved every minute of every session.
One (of many) outstanding aspect was that the writing faculty were so approachable throughout. I was able to share a table at lunch twice with two of them, and it was marvelous. They were all so gracious to us and amazing to share insights so willingly. None of the faculty acted like they were holier than us, showing us that they were truly professionals in their own right and comfortable in their own skin.
My manuscript review with Mary Anna was awesome. I was SOOOO nervous but she immediately put me at ease. And! The hints she gave me were spot-on and encouraging. I am forever grateful for that opportunity.
Karen Blondeau
Orlando, Florida
... I enjoyed the conference and learned a great deal.
It was fascinating to listen to the editors and agents and authors and to learn about the entire publishing process. I picked up lots of pointers.
Thanks again!! Great conference!!
Donna McBroom-Theriot
Valentine, Louisiana
Thank you for a marvelous introduction to the world of writing. This conference was well worth the fee, and the location was great as well.
It was wonderful to see the openness, camaraderie, and accessibility of everyone there. Information was presented both on the writing side and the business side of writing. And as you all kept saying, I did network and hope to expand on new friendships. I definitely want to come again next year!
Pam Farnsworth
Tampa, Florida
I wanted to congratulate you on a very successful and enjoyable workshop. As a newcomer to this field I have much to learn, however, the workshop was an excellent step forward for me.
I understand how difficult it can be to teach “writing” when there are as many approaches as there are writers, but I do think the common issues were addressed effectively and some of the particular methods were also discussed.
The networking opportunities were excellent, I enjoyed meeting other attendees and I found that writers are cool people. I hope I can consider myself to be one soon.
Thanks again,
Randy Duensing
Gainesville, Florida
Thank you for organizing such an informative and welcoming conference. This was my first writers’ conference, and it met all of my expectations. I left the event motivated, rejuvenated, and eager to attend next year’s event. Meeting Charlaine Harris and spending time with new friends and like-minded people added unanticipated value.
The Anhinga Writers’ Studio Summer Workshops may have changed my writing life. I’ll let you know when I see you next year.
Suzanne J. Sprague
Port Orange, Florida
I wanted you to know how much I loved the Anhinga! My friends did all of Groff’s classes and were blown away by her teaching style and her amazing personality, not to mention her literary credentials. They talked me into going to one where I saw what they meant. She’s intelligent and charming. Her exercises helped us all write like gangbusters.
I truly appreciated Peter Meinke’s critique of my poetry. He dubbed me “publishable,” which was a thrill coming from him. He read everything twice and had wonderful, even inspired, suggestions. He has such an eye and ear with a keen mind to match. His workshops were invaluable for the insights he gave into the composition, form and inspiration of his poems. It was wonderful that his discussions were punctuated with poems he had recited by Nemerov and Shakespeare and Whitman and so many others. It is one thing for a teacher to recommend memorization, but quite another to see it so deftly used. He is a master and the reason I signed up for the Conference. He did not disappoint.
I greatly enjoyed Rick Campbell. I had not been that familiar with his work, but fell in love with it during his workshop. The way he combines images and experiences together into a seamless poem was fascinating. His reference to “triggering” ideas or images as opposed to “true” ideas is something that I have mused about repeatedly since then. I keep reading his “Ghost Counselor Explains His Craft” and “Again, Vietnam” poems. They are brimming with riches.
I loved Lola Haskins’ spontaneity and enthusiasm combined with her intellectual poems. She is also an excellent teacher. She treated each student’s work with respect while also making excellent suggestions for improvement. This is hard to do simultaneously, but she pulled it off with care and humor. Her love of poetry is inspiring and contagious. I have already read her Not Feathers Yet book and it, too, is full of encouragement for a craft that can be lonely and difficult.
It goes without saying that Charlaine Harris was a phenomenal speaker. She is such a remarkable mix of a level-headed, country girl and a superstar writer of racy, supernatural books that I am still processing it all. Did you know that Charlaine has 7 out of the 20 paperback best sellers on the New York Times list today?
I feel like you afforded us a glimpse into the beginning of a cultural happening through your interview of Charlaine. When you brought out that she didn’t write for 2 weeks after a fan posted a nasty comment, I saw just how vulnerable she still is to all of the hoopla surrounding her.
Thank you again for all of the work that you and your colleagues did to put on such an excellent Conference.
Emmy
Tampa, Florida
March 2009
It's no exaggeration to say this workshop changed my life. At the 2008 conference, I met with a New York agent for a manuscript consultation. She turned out to be my number one fan, and it has been an amazing journey ever since. She asked me to send her the entire manuscript for my first novel, Stoney Island Avenue in Bronzeville—no query, no chapters … the whole thing! I am polishing it now for the upcoming submission deadline.
Michele Draper,
Sarasota, Florida
Award Winning Journalist, Florida Press Club 2006, 2007
Coming soon —Her first novel, Stoney Island Avenue in Bronzeville
March 2009
In the summer of 2005, Kevin McCarthy planted the seed that blossomed into my first book. I was a novice writer, working on an historical family story, when I attended Kevin’s session on non-fiction writing at the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings workshop in Gainesville. For 90 minutes our group received incredibly helpful information about writing and publishing non-fiction, as well as huge enthusiasm for the genre.
What was especially unique about this session was the interest Kevin took in each of us, and the knack he had for engaging the group and trying to find a link that might be a writing opportunity. By the time we left I had lots of ideas, one of which to submit some articles about the Cape Canaveral area to magazines. In the process I discovered that no one had ever written a travel guide for the Space Coast. So I did! Two years after that workshop with Kevin McCarthy I was mailing my finished manuscript to the publisher. I look forward to attending another workshop with Kevin McCarthy and would highly recommend him to other non-fiction writers.
Dianne Marcum,
Cape Canaveral, FL
Author of Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach & Florida’s Space Coast, published January 2008 by Countryman Press, an imprint of W.W. Norton