Parisian Phoenix Publishing

This post is not about my publishing company, nor is it about our authors nor myself.

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure to attend an online question-and-answer session with award-winning horror author Jonathan Maberry who will be the keynote speaker at The Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group The Write Stuff conference April 11-13 in Bethlehem, Pa.

On Sunday, I visited the Bethlehem Township Barnes & Noble where GLVWG member and poet Robert Martin was selling his books.

On Sunday evening, I attended a workshop as a guest of the New Jersey Storytelling Guild where GLVWG member Judy England-McCarthy gave a presentation on thinking outside the box.

I attended the event with Jonathan because of my own personal allegiance to him. He was a formative voice when I was transitioning from a journalist to a creative writer. His advice resonated with me and I used it in many aspects of my life.

I went to see Bob on Sunday because he’s a regular at Barnes & Noble Noble Quills— and a member of the writers group where I serve as president. It’s important to me that I model the behavior I would like to see in others. I want to see more writers support each other in a true community fashion.

And Judy– Judy is a big personality and sometimes she’s too much for me. But thank goodness I’ve hung in there because as I start to see beyond her energetic presentation of her ideas, I also see how much good strategy lies behind her methods.

So, to support Judy, and to expose myself to a new avenue in storytelling and spark my own creative thinking, I opened myself to working with strangers from the New Jersey Storytelling Guild.

None of that is time wasted.