Robert Frost on putting yourself into your work

"No tears in the writer...no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer...no surprise in the reader."                                                       Robert Frost

Writing is the art of transfering emotion from one person to another. If we do not put our emotions into our work we are not writers, we are simply reporters. If we limit ourselves to conveying cold facts and transferring data we leave too much of ourselves hidden. To be a writer we need to imbue our words with living emotion. Frost was a master of this, we all know how he felt when he stopped by the woods on a snowy evening or when he came to two diverging roads in the heart of the forest. It is this sharing of ourselves which makes us writers

Keep your hands on the keyboard, the work flowing and your dreams alive.

Thanks

Jim Busch

Two great events for word lovers in 2014

In today's mail I received a post card promoting the 2014 Dodge Poetry Festival. This is the event that Bill Moyers covered in his series "The Language of Life." (This series is available on video and is well worth the effort of tracking it down). My wife and I attended this biannual event several times in the past and it was one of the most enjoyable events we've ever attended. We got to hear Robert Bly read his work and Coleman Barks perform his powerful translations of Rumi. We heard the Paul Winter Consort along with many other great performers, storytellers and poets. The festival also features one of the largest selections of books of poetry, literary fiction and how to books on writing. This year's festival will take place from October 23rd to the 26th at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark's downtown arts district. For more information go to www.DodgePoetry.org This is a great event for anyone who loves the spoken/written word.

The second must attend event for word lovers, particularly writers, is the 2014 Ligonier Valley Writer's Conference. The 2013 conference was one of the highlights of my year. I learned some very valuable new writing techniques and met some interesting and very creative people. Best of all, I walked away with my creative batteries fully charged and ready to write. I am still working on several ideas that came from the workshops I attended.

Both of these events are great ways to stimulate your creativity and kickstart your writing. The LVW will soon be announcing the deatails of this years conference. If you want to make 2014 the year that you get serious about writing, make sure that you are the first person to register.

Thanks for reading. Keep your mind working, your fingers on the keyboard and your dreams alive!