Eyes on the Prize

Summer of 2011 I received a grant from the Illinois Arts council to attend a writer’s conference called A Room of Her Own (AROHO) at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.

It was a very, very encouraging time. The group of women I met with in the afternoons gave me the confidence to go bold. The group was led by Mary Johnson author of An Unquenchable Thirst now out in paperback. Also in the group was Renny Golden whose latest poetry collection Blood Desert won the WILLA Literary Award by Women Writing the West.

One afternoon I sat in on a breakout session led by Kate Gale of Red Hen Press where she extolled us to go bold. What do you really want?

It’s not that no one has ever asked me that—just not lately.

One of the things I wrote down as a goal was : Win a prize.

So far in 2013 I’ve had 4 pieces accepted and been paid for 2 of them. In addition I’ve been shortlisted at The Red Line. Next month at OCWW I am schedule to teach a course on The Art of Writing Small (flash memoir) on March 14.

Without AROHO I don’t know if I would have moved forward, to go bold.

Right now is the time to register for A Room of Her Own. If you are looking for a supportive network and a conference just for women, please think of applying. They are really selective, so good luck. Oh yeah, the conference setting at Ghost Ranch is also truly inspiring—see some of my post from 2 years ago.