Meeting Other Writers · 9 November 2024
Meeting other writers is a fun thing, especially in real life.
It is always fun to meet another writer. You can chat about things that those who think writing is crazy would never think about.
How much do you write?
When do you write?
Do you write every day?
How many books have you written?
Who is your publisher?
Questions like these can turn into long conversations. Or at least significant conversations. When I think about it, I know that there are times when I talk to people and give just one word answers to many of these questions. But when I meet another writer, I usually answer, then ask, “What about you?” It is the natural question and the conversation can continue.
I am glad that I have a colleague who is also a writer. We chat about work and we chat about writing when we get a chance. We talk about projects we are working on. We talk about writing techniques. We talk about writing tools. And of course, we talk about not being able to write as much as we want. That seems to be the case with every author who does not write as a full-time gig.
I recently met another author at a school workshop about Professional Learning Communities. Specifically, about being a teacher who is the only teacher of that particular subject. The workshop was called Singletons in a PLC: Navigating On-Ramps to Meaningful Collaboration (which is also the name of his book). Quite the mouthful, but it was a great workshop. Worth the price of admission in the first couple hours.
The presenter, Brig Leane, was the co-author of the book we used, which we got to keep (also worth the price of admission). Brig regaled us with stories from his own teaching career. He told us stories of other people having success too. Not necessarily just because of his work with them, but it could be inferred that his assistance certainly helped them. After all, he was an expert practitioner of what he was teaching us. And his presentation and teaching style gave us all hope. But more than that, Brig gave us concrete things to do when we were done with the workshop.
(By the way, you cannot just teach a lesson and hope the kids will learn. Brig even said that hope is not a teaching technique.)
Our group of educators invited Brig to dinner after the first night and he accepted. We had a great time chatting about the food and life and work. Then, Brig and I started talking about writing. We talked about publishing and self-publishing mostly. And he even asked me to point out my Amazon page. It was a great conversation.
I am thankful that I had even a short conversation about writing with Brig Leane. We are both passionate about teaching and writing, so we had much to talk about. We also talked about weightier issues like the condition of the heart and soul. I am so glad that he took us up on our offer to share a meal. And I am glad I had such a great opportunity to meet another author in real life. It is always such fun.
© 2024 Michael T. Miyoshi
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