Write the Dream Writer's Conference Experience

This past weekend I had one of the most fantastic experiences of my life.  I attended the first ever Write the Dream Writer’s Conference, hosted by Studio Z Publishing at Bartle Hall, here in Kansas City, MO.  It was their first conference and my first conference.  Writers from all over the area were in attendance. There were writers with little to no publishing experience, like me, writers with dozens of publication credits, and writers everywhere in between.

In my daily life, people know I like to write, but I don’t ever call myself a writer.  I’m a teacher and a mom and a wife, who likes to plunk out some creative words from time to time.  But at this conference, I was a writer who happens to do all of those other things.  I didn’t feel like I was bragging when I talked about the three pieces I've published.  I didn’t feel silly talking about my genre or lack of genre.  People weren’t poking fun or joking when they said, “That could be a book!”  They meant it, and I realized, that could be a book!

 

Cady McClain, best known for her roles on several soap operas, but who is talented is so many other ways, was the keynote speaker on Friday night.  I was in awe of her from the moment I realized in my online search that she played “Dixie” on All My Children when I was a kid.  Visions of the TV in the little apartment where my babysitter, Alice, watched my brother and me flashed in my mind.  Dixie was a young blonde character wearing bright puffy sleeves in the show we watched over lunch.  Somewhere up in Heaven Alice was smiling down on me as I listened to Cady’s inspirational words.

 

After hearing her speak, I have decided to take her advice, which you can find in full here on her blog.  My writer self is a child that I have to nurture with kind words and feelings.  I will not listen to the bully voice that tells me I am not good enough.  I will put that voice aside, protect my writer from it.  I will find a way to feed the fire of creativity everyday.  And, I will thank God and Alice that I went to this conference because of their nudge.

On Saturday, I spent the day listening to several speakers hurry through information about a myriad of topics.  In the whirlwind that it was, I learned about where to get started with self-publishing, how to market, what to write off on my taxes, where to spend my money if I have it to spend, and so many other little things that I filled 10 pages in my journal with notes.  All of the information was invaluable.

On Sunday, I skipped church and spent some time with God.  I’m not kidding here.  The workshop led by Cady was called “Dreamscaping.”  I literally had a dream while I was wide-awake.  Cady led us through a visualization of a scene.  She prompted us to think about all of the senses involved in the situations she was suggesting to us. 

After the visualization, which could have only come from a higher power, we all sat to work writing down everything we could remember.  I came out of it with several pages of scribbled notes followed by a few more pages of all the things I forgot about.  This first writing was emotional, but I was not prepared for the emotions that would flow when the group of six of us came back together to share our experience aloud.  I am not going to tell you any of their stories, nor will I tell you mine at this point.  It was all much too intense and personal.  I will say that I won’t soon forget the images and the tears these words produced for each of us.  Pictures of beach grass, red birds, horses, white bags, picket fences, golden angels, and lakes will exist in my memory files forever.

During this discussion Cady gave individual suggestions to each of as to how we could expand on the ideas the dream gave us.  She suggested things like poetry, exploration of another character involved, or writing from the point of view of someone or something else in the dream.  This process yielded yet another round of touching pieces, more discussion, and finally more suggestions for taking the work further. 

I cannot comment as to the effect this had on the other members of the group in specific terms, but I do know we all experienced something profound.  We are now linked to each other because of the words we trusted ourselves to share.  I will feel the presence of their encouragement each time I sit to write and when I feel the fear of being rejected by my inner critic.  They will be there rallying for me to keep going.

As I write this, images of the play I have been encouraged to create are flashing frantically through my head.  I am scared to write it, but not so scared that I won’t try.  And for that, I will be forever thankful.