Writer's workshop

I went to a meeting of a local writer's club and it was a workshop run by a published poet. She was running it as a workshop for beginning writers who want to be published. She had the standard rules and resources which is in most blogs on the Internet. That probably fit with that writers' organization since most of them are not published other than self-published; however some have been published and they were sneaking out the door which is what I did at the first break.

The information was the exact same information that is given out in most books that are for sale out there and that are contained in many blogs. I saw many people jotting down the information. It was poetry based but she included other information that included all forms of writing freelance. The rules were for the most part based on common sense such as always follow the submission guidelines and keep your rejection slips so they you can burn them when you make your first sale. They were so much like other rules that I had suspected she got them from other sources that I had also read.

The workshop leader was a published poet trying to make a living because poetry does not pay. She had a helper who looked like he may have been a writer or poet doing the same. They just go from one workshop to another trying to make ends meet and submitting as they go along. There are a lot of people who want to say they are writers but don't put the time in and write everyday. These are the writers who go to the workshops and pay the fees that keep other writers and poets alive.

In Buddhism, it is said all of the knowledge necessary to reach enlightenment is within and if you meditate you will reach your goal. In some ways, writing is the same. You can take all of the classwork you want, get all of the degrees you want but all of the knowledge you need is gained from writing everyday and reading. Nothing replaces that. You just do the two in tandem and it will work. It seems almost too easy and most people think it is. It isn't really. You have to put the sweat in and the time in; or you can attend the workshops and listen to the silly simply rules instead of putting your fingers on the keys or your hand on the pen. Oh, yes and the pencil that does the editing. That is it. Even if you think you have nothing to write about you do it anyhow and you will.