Dan's Papers - June 6, 2008 - The Writerly Life: Take a Chance on a Writers Conference

The Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference is accepting applications through June, and for those still straddling the line between "I write, therefore I am" and "I love to write, but don't think I can," I have just one word of advice: STOP. The precious time and creative energy you waste trying to decide whether you're a real writer - the kind who could survive and thrive in an intense, 12-day literary boot camp - would be much better spent enlisting and subsequently training. Yes, you will probably sweat. And cry. And doubt your strength as you encounter seemingly insurmountable hurdles. But if you can hang in there long enough, it just might change your life.

And I speak from experience. When I applied to the Southampton College MFA program, the luxuriously lengthy version of the writers conference, I was a recent college graduate, who, after dipping her toes in various corporate pools in cities across the country, had learned fairly quickly that she wasn't swimmer enough for big-company currents and sharks of industry. That didn't mean I knew what I wanted to do instead, of course - it just meant my options were disappearing by the thousands. So, I did what any book-loving, pen-and-paper-toting single person would do. I went back to school.

Fortunately (and surprisingly), what started as a somewhat desperate attempt to buy more time quickly turned into the smartest thing I've ever done. For the next two-and-a-half years, in an academic environment that couldn't have been more comfortable and inviting if they'd strewn "Welcome" banners and balloons, I finally learned what I hadn't - and couldn't have - learned anywhere else. I learned that writing was enough. That loving books and stories, and wanting to absorb as much as possible to constantly improve at creating my own, was it.

The realization didn't happen automatically, but I had a hunch in my first class, "Beginning the Novel," with Kaylie Jones. I'd never attempted a novel before (the idea alone was paralyzing), but doing so under Jones's guidance, surrounded by other writers of all ages, backgrounds and experience, was actually fun. And useful, too - the critiques and support shared during that workshop, like every other Southampton College workshop, were always helpful and inspiring. No one was there to cut anyone else down, or urge them to stick to their day job (which almost everyone, including myself, had). They were there to help and encourage.

The hunch grew stronger with every class I took - Bob Reeves kept it real while keeping us laughing, Clark Blaise took us through the intricacies of short stories and Lou Ann Walker taught us that writing for children is important writing. It was in Walker's class, in fact, that the major, life-changing realization occurred. I'd never really intended to attempt to write professionally, and I'd certainly never intended to write for children, but after crafting the first 30 pages of a young adult novel for the final assignment of "Reading and Writing Children's Literature," I was hooked. This was it. Good-bye post-MFA law school, English PhD and Starbucks barista training; hello, rest of my life. And thank you, Southampton MFA faculty.

Of course, it wasn't all easy. Writing, by nature, isn't easy. (The blank page will always be the blank page.) But surrounded by talented, supportive faculty, wildly successful lecturers and fellow writers, the challenging times were also inspiring. Getting through them, even more rewarding.

The Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference, which is also offering separate screenwriting and children's conferences for the first time this summer, is your own jam-packed, inspiration-intense, mini-MFA program. Whether you are because you write, or you write because you like to, this literary boot camp will give you the greatest workout of your life...and possibly change it, too.

The Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference runs Wednesday, July 16 through Sunday, July 27. For more information, visit sunysb.edu/writers, call (631) 632-5030 or email southamptonwriters@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.