As most of you are aware, Lighthouse's annual summer Lit Fest is fast approaching. The two-week extravaganza of workshops, readings, salons, parties, impromptu cocktail hours, organized cocktail hours, lunch dates with old workshop buddies, late night debates about structure, form, voice and dialogue, and all sorts of other gatherings devoted to the unbridled love of reading, writing and talking about reading and writing kicks off on Friday night with the (what else) Lit Fest Kickoff Party at the Ferril House.
Loads of workshops are already full, but you can still get on a waiting list, and a few classes still have spots available. In typical fashion, I signed up for the parties early and the workshops late, thereby missing out on a few choice opportunities. I did manage to snag a spot in Doug Kurtz's seminar on Backstory and Flashback. As anyone who has ever taken a workshop with me knows, I am prone to rely a bit too heavily on flashback in my fiction. I don't know what it is about a good tangent that captures my imagination, but once I send a character back in time there is no guarantee they will make it back to the present day story (also known as the plot) in any graceful way.
I'm also hitting up the first salon: The Final Word (on Final Words), which is of particular interest to me as I am currently in the process of mangling and tangling the final words of my own novel. And that's just the first week.
There are more salons on the schedule and also participant readings (always a highlight), plus the final business weekend, where agents and editors will be happy to tell you what gets their attention and what makes them run screaming.
The whole schedule plus info on which classes are full (you can get on a wait list) and which classes still have a spot are two available is online at the Lighthouse website.
I look forward to seeing many familiar faces and meeting some brand new folks over the next two weeks.
