It's Peaceful Up in the Air: A Catch Up on Creative Writing

Now for some Ag Media Summit Reflection.

Wow. Yep, I think I can reduce it to this three letter word. Ag Media Summit was quite the experience! I mean, getting to and exploring Albuquerque was one thing, but the actual conference was so wonderful.

I had the opportunity to attend two sessions in addition to a few of the ACT activities. The first I attended was "Making it Real: Evoking Place and Character" led by Pulitzer Prize finalist William deBuys. DeBuys is both an eloquent writer and speaker. He was phenomenal to listen to! His words rang with wisdom and experience, and I hung on to every word as they left his mouth.

The following are a few notes I took from his session.

• There are two parts to writing: the art and the craft. You can't teach the art, but you can develop the craft.
• There are three things to think about when writing:
• Place
• Use movement in your writing. 
• Use strong verbs rather than excessive adjectives to describe. 
• Think of place as a body- the heart is strong verbs
• Character & Personality
• Use voices, facial features, gait, hands... to describe people
• Collect names
• Let your characters speak for themselves- voice tone, diction, rhythm, silence... all reveal something
• Capture conflict and contradiction
• Narrative
• Everything is a journey
• Journey of intellect, emotion- love or hatred, sense of discovery; journeys within journeys
• Solve the puzzle
• Things don't always add up, pieces don't always match as well as they should
• Instinct is to make it work- don't. Trust your gut, don't ignore the issue. Take it as a hint that's where the real story is.
• Writers read, and writers write. Those two things can help make you a better writer.
• Revision is the heart of writing. Lay down the base track and rhythm, then go back and fine tune.

I especially like that part about good writers being good readers. When I was younger, my mom actually had to limit the number of books I read in a week. I guess all that reading is paying off!

Listening to deBuys made me excited to write! It's been a while since I've sat down and wrote something creative. I've got this blog, yes, but I haven't written any essays or articles since April. So, on the plane from Albuquerque to Dallas I took some time to do a little writing exercise. Here is a portion of it:

It's peaceful up here where the clouds gather beneath us. Today is mostly clear, unlike our flight Saturday.

We are above New Mexico and headed to Texas. Never have I seen such a dry, arid land. It's a far cry from my home in the rolling green hills of Missouri. 

The canyons and winding rivers below look like someone took a hammer to a rock and cracked it, the mountains like crusty ant hills. In the future, looking at a topographical globe will take on new meaning. 

We're crossing a sea of clouds now. The complimentary Mott's Tomato Juice slides down my throat. The flight attendant has been hard at work making sure my fellow passengers are comfortable. 

This is a large plane- we are in Row 30 and not quite in the very back. A baby screams from the front of the plane, but the distance between us muffles his voice. A little girl, maybe ten years old, with wiry brown hair and a freckle adorned face sits in front of me. Her dad sits next to her, her mom and sister in front of them. 

The girl clutches a small penguin stuffed animal, a teddy bear sits on her lap. When we took off, her penguin fell through the crack and landed on my lap. I handed it back to her, and she grinned. Periodically she turns and peaks her head around the seat to look at me. I smile, and she shyly turns back around. 

She opens her window and looks outside. The light is streaming brightly right onto my face, but I don't mind. Her dad must have been trying to sleep because he gets on to her. I learn Abby is her name. 

I look back out my window. The clouds are exactly what I imagine white, translucent mountains would look like. My eyes tell me they would feel like bouncy cotton balls, but my brain knows my hand would pass right through if I could touch them. As we descend upon the layer of mountainous clouds, the majestic beauty turns into mystery and contempt. They darken and soon we are enclosed. 

Blue peaks out, and I can see Dallas below. We are descending, and soon I will be on my way back to Kansas City and then home. Home. I must say, I'm ready. 

Okay, I think this is it for now. I just realized we're headed to Iowa tomorrow for a little family time before I have to go to school. Be sure to tune in later though, a lot more happened at AMS!