What JRW Means to Me
Jeri Watts worked as a public school teacher for 27 years. She has written numerous short stories as well as the picture book Keepers. Kizzy Ann Stamps is her first middle-grade novel. She is currently an assistant professor at Lynchburg College.
Jeri will be a speaker at the 2012 JRW Annual Conference. She recently shared how this event contributed to her writing career.
For me, the James River Writers annual conference means:
- Immersing myself with other writers and the world of writing,
- Two whole days to be taken seriously,
- Having other people talk about what I really like to talk about,
- Overhearing conversations where I understand the threads,
- Having to make tough choices for workshops (ooh, that sounds good … but that one sounds good, too … rats!)
Most of all, the JRW conference helped me find a publisher for my manuscript!
After I went to a BIG writer’s conference and was told by an agent that the epistolary form just wouldn’t work, I went to a much smaller conference just down the road (more or less) and found a publisher who would actually read my manuscript and worked with me (and liked that letter format).
Thank you, JRW, for being there for all of us who need a spirit of friendliness and a pat on the back to keep us going. The going can get tough at times because the writing world is hard, but keep those beautiful words flowing!
Back to What JRW Means to Me index page