I was an awkward teenager growing up in Marquette, Michigan (a town of twenty thousand four hours away from the next largest city Green Bay, Wisconsin). For people familiar with the area—this was the time before the Children’s Museum opened and more than a decade before the library became an award-winning institution with outstanding youth activities. My middle school and high school classmates were interested in hockey, basketball, and skiing. My two outgoing sisters were involved in artistic and theatrical activities. I wanted to be a writer, but that was an individual pursuit in rural Michigan. Looking back, this was not a missed opportunity, it was just the reality of things—regrettable yet understandable.
In the decades since then, my hometown community has grown and changed. We now have clubs and activities that encourage youth who are interested in writing such as the organization 8-18 Media and the Dandelion Cottage Short Story Contest. There is still not nearly enough for the creative scribbler, but there are more programs than when I was a teenager. When I returned to the area a few years ago, I wanted to find a way to create something for aspiring authors to find their place in a community. For the last three years, I have collaborated with the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA) to create the Young Writers Storytelling Workshop (YWSW).
The UPPAA conference is a regional event held every year on the third weekend in May. A hundred authors and publishers converge on Peter White Public Library in Marquette to nerd out about our shared love of books. Everyone is welcome—aspiring authors to prolific writers with dozens of titles to their name. We discuss a wide range of topics such as historical research, self-publishing, and book tours. It is a lively space to connect with friends and make new acquaintances.
This past Saturday, the library also hosted twenty-one middle school and high school students from across the region for the Young Writers Storytelling Workshop. To facilitate this, a dozen published authors, including myself, volunteered hours of their time to present on topics such as crafting characters and plot lines as well as writing poetry and participating in writing competitions.
The Annual UPPAA Conference and the day-long YWSW are energizing experiences! As a writer, this last weekend gave me perspective on the challenges of writing and publishing. Spending the day talking to other writers was an enjoyable way to recalibrate my writing expectations, get answers to complex questions, and find helpful resources. Helping guide young writers made me reconsider what are the most important foundational steps necessary to take the most successful path forward. It encouraged me to keep on persevering on projects that are both daunting and vulnerable.
Writing conferences have been an important part of my development as a writer. It is a way to make friends, get inspired, and learn a million things. At the writers retreat in Pensacola, I was able to sit with the two other organizing authors for the A Hundred Thousand Hopes, a book compiling short pieces about the power of prayer. In addition, a handful of the contributing authors also were present which helped us deepen our personal friendship and discuss future collaborations. I recommend that every author find the right space for them—conference, course, retreat, workshop or whatever else that is available where you are.
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