By Becky Killian, WPCI Secretary
Award-winning Hoosier author Larry Sweazy urged a roomful of fiction writers to stop procrastinating and just “practice your art.”
Twenty-two people, including members of the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana and members of the public, attended the free workshop on Saturday, March 16, at the College Avenue Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library.
“The hardest part for writers of fiction first novels is finishing what they start,” Sweazy said. “Great ideas tire out. Real life gets in the way. Doubts overtakes the dream.”
By sharing his experiences as an aspiring writer – including the rejections he received – Sweazy encouraged the workshop’s participants to remain tenacious in their dedication to practicing their craft.
He used a writing exercise to demonstrate just how many words can be written in a matter of minutes: when done daily, those words accumulate to the about 85,000-word length of most modern general novels.
As for the self-doubt that plagues most writers, Sweazy reminded participants that the joy of a first draft is that it is expected to have problems. Momentum is vital, so keep writing with the reassurance that those problems will be remedied by rewrites.
WPCI President Viv Sade said the workshop was offered to the public as an outreach by the nonprofit WPCI Education Fund.
“The workshop was a great success and a wonderful opportunity to share the story of WPCI with people who didn’t know about the Club’s long history and talented members,” Sade said. “It gave us a platform to share the Club’s ongoing efforts to promote better communication through ongoing education, competitions, and scholarships.”
Sweazy is the critically acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author of 19 novels, one short story collection, and 40 short stories, including the Trusty Dawson, U.S. Deputy Marshal Westerns, the Sonny Burton series, the Josiah Wolfe Westerns, and the Marjorie Trumaine Mysteries. Learn more at larrydsweazy.com.
