A Full Day at Southwest Festival of the Written Word on Saturday

Article by Shirin McArthur Photos by Shirin McArthur and Mary Alice Murphy

Southwest Festival of the Written Word hosted a packed day of activities in downtown Silver City on Saturday. Everything from writing workshops and talks to poetry performances and an open mike session brought dozens of interested readers and writers to various venues around town.

The nine sessions on Saturday morning included a writing workshop entitled Scalpel and Thread, where Mary Sojourner gave all participants a writing exercise, then followed it with an editing exercise on what each person had written. A handful of participants shared their opening paragraphs and Sojourner gave brief feedback that included teaching moments about writing cadence, avoiding passive voice, and the importance of setting the scene for readers.

A dozen afternoon events included a number of talks on the Writer's Life. V.B. â€œBarrettâ€ Price discussed the various ways that he has kept up his writing momentum over the years. His tips included writing in as many genres as possible, becoming an independent scholar to keep curiosity honed and the mind engaged, and collaborating with other creative people. Price also read a few of his poems to an appreciative audience.

Another afternoon session on food writing brought together cookbook authors Rob Conneley and Carolyn Niethammer. Conneley surprised many in the audience with his response to a question about altering recipes for high altitude. Briefly citing his own experience and refuting assumptions made by other professional bakers, he stated that his only concessions to high altitude are to minimally mix the ingredients and turn down the temperature by ten degrees.

Richard Mahler spoke on the role of digital technology in self-publishing, which is fast becoming a cost-effective method for many authors to publish their books. After asking the audience to list the pros and cons of self-publishing, he shared his own experiences with assisting other writers in this growing field. Mahler noted that Amazon's CreateSpace holds the market share of self-published books, with CreateSpace, Lulu and Smashwords accounting for 70% of the self-publishing business.

Late in the afternoon, Phyllis and Jim McQuaide performed a dramatic reading of â€œLove Lettersâ€ by A.R. Gurney at the Yankie Creek Coffee House. The full day was capped off with an evening dinner and talk at WNMU's Light Hall.

This second biennial Southwest Festival of the Written Word concludes on Sunday with another nine events, including such topics as a summary of the publishing industry, the art of book design, and writing song lyrics.