Saturday, June 18th a group from the Des Moines Writer’s Workshop(I was a lucky panelist) held a panel at the Wonder of Words Festival in downtown Des Moines, IA. The turnout was fantastic as we talked about the paths to publishing and our personal setbacks and successes.
We had about forty people crammed into a classroom at the Pappajohn Education Center as we talked about the winding and unique road we are taking (or have taken) on the way to being published. My takeaways from the discussion are:
- There is a huge interest in writing and publishing in the Des Moines area.
- The attendees were smart and asked great questions.
- Wonder of Words is a great festival supporting local Iowa authors.
- The Des Moines Writer’s Workshop is filling a need for intense critiquing.
- Beth Burgmeyer, Rachel Eliason, Kay Fenton Smith and Kamerhe Lane are incredibly knowledgeable about writing and the publishing process(I already knew this one).
