This past weekend at the 19th San Francisco Writers Conference, I had an incredibly productive and enriching experience! The conference was respite from the difficult reality of the post storm disaster affecting my family and home. Reconnecting with professional contacts and networking with others in the industry is crucial and I’d let too many other things distract me since the Before Times. I was able to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and add to my network of professionals of the industry. I decided on a new writing project while there, wrote the pitch on Saturday morning and by that night’s Gala and Open Mic, I’d reworked and revised, received feedback from the ever gracious Michael Larsen and Katherine Sands, and been the lucky random person in the room during David Henry Sterry’s Keynote to receive feedback in front of the everyone attending!
I came empty handed to SWFC#19 without manuscript, proposal notes or a planned pitch to make. As one SFWC tribemate remarked, I entered the conference “shellshocked” from current circumstances. By Sunday, I understood the validity of that observation. By then, after three days of workshops, discussions, and fellowship, and having written, revised, revised, revised and delivered a poem at Open Mic, I felt more like myself for the first time this year. Writing is my core, it feeds my soul. There’s been a drought. I’m back at the well.
Returning home with only one backpack full of new books to read, I’ve already registered for the 2024 conference. If you’ve never been to the San Francisco Writers Conference – make 2024 the year you attend. Register early, the price goes up numerous times throughout the year. Monday morning, I felt renewed energy and enthusiasm, have regained motivation and focus as I engage with my 2023 writing goals. Now the work begins!
Two projects I continue to work include updating the poetry book Literal: Defining Moments to reflect post election issues, and ready my MFA thesis (essays regarding my 33 year career including wars, peace enforcement, cold war, war on terror, and the era of persistent conflict ) for submission to an agent. The anthology writing projects are currently closed, and I may reopen them at a later date.
A new book is coming out very soon. LITERAL: Defining Moments is my first chap book. The poem Literal is a language poem, following the meaning of words and creating a trail for the reader to follow. How often do we use words without thought to actual meaning?
Vicki Hudson 