The Anson County Writers' Club, South Piedmont
Community College, and the Carolina Romance Writers teamed up to
present the Carolina Writers' Conference on Saturday 4 April at the
Lockhart-Taylor Center in Wadesboro, NC. For their first conference, they did a
good job of pulling in authors and attendees.

I stayed in town Friday night at the home of
Catherine Crandell. She heads the town Arts Council and is also on the
conference's oversight committee. When I present at a conference out of town, I
enjoy staying with folks on conference committees because I get to know
individuals, share a meal with them. Catherine took me on the grand tour of
Wadesboro. The industry in this town was textiles, so it's received the
economic one-two punch recently. But Catherine is spearheading an exciting
project: renovation of an old town theater that dates from the Vaudeville era.
Check out the marquee of this place. Personality and romance, yes? The grand
opening, set for 2010, will give Wadesboro residents their own performing arts
stage.

First thing Saturday morning, bestselling Southern author
Robert Inman kicked off the conference with his keynote theme, "Who
are your people?" This question resides at the heart of all the poking and
prodding small-town Southerners do when they assess someone who is new in town.
Inman, a native of Alabama, assured the audience that it's the Southerners'
attempts at establishing a connection between themselves and others.

That explains why I get approached at so many events by
folks with the last name of Adair. They're hoping I'm their people. (It really
is too bad that I'm an Adair in pen name only. Otherwise, I'd have made the
acquaintance of kissin' cousins all over the South.) Inman develops his stories
by asking his characters, "Who are your people?" That echoes
something Mary Buckham told me several years ago: "Keep talking to
your characters." To develop your characters beyond two-dimension, you
must engage in ongoing conversations with them. Ask them questions like,
"Why did you do this?" and "How would you react to this?"

Inman, pictured here with graphic artist Lillie
Templeton during lunch, mentioned that his mother read to him when he was very
young. I did this with my sons, and the impact it makes on children later is
incredible. Both of my sons love to read. They'll read a variety of material,
not just graphic novels. Neither is afraid of writing. They do well at writing
in school, and they often entertain themselves at home by writing stories. Now
that they're older, I don't read as much to them; however, the three of us
often read the same book separately. Then we get together and talk about the
book: its characters, plot, merits, flaws. In effect, my sons have become
discerning book editors. That ability extends to what they see in movies and TV
shows. They have also become the tough first readers for my manuscripts. Trust
me, teenaged boys don't have the attention spans to tolerate slack in a plot or
characters acting out of character. In essence, when I started reading to my
sons over a decade ago, I made investments in their future as well as mine.

Okay, back to the Carolina Writers Conference. Romance
author Judi McCoy, military fiction author Robert Macomber, and
poet Glenis Redmond led solo sessions, and throughout the day, there
were simultaneous sessions on the craft and business of writing. I attended
Leigh Greenwood's session on romance because I have an idea for a
paranormal erotica novel (or maybe it’s a series), and I'm at the stage of
information collection: getting an idea of where the industry is headed with
this fairly new sub-genre and who's doing what with it.

My session on plotting with the Hero's Journey was scheduled
for the afternoon, and it was well-attended. At the conference, I ran into
fellow mystery authors Joyce and Jim Lavene of the Carolina Conspiracy.
I also ran into a woman (Carole St-Laurent, I think!) who attended my pitch session
at Moonlight & Magnolias 2008. Small world, eh? In addition, I met a bunch
of romance writers that I might otherwise not have met, such as Virginia
Farmer, president of the RWA chapter in Charlotte.

This picture is of Leigh Greenwood, author Gail Martin, and publisher Nancy Knight, with whom I chatted in the authors' lounge and
during lunch. Connecting with other authors, especially those from other genres
and other regions, was how I spent a good deal of my time at this conference. I
guess you might say it's one way of finding out "Who are my
people?"

Thanks to the conference committee for the opportunity to present yesterday!