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Status: Drafting the fourth book in the PERILOUS series!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

I Am Inspired

We are out there.

We have the awesome responsibility of molding the way the world thinks. The way educators teach. The way children play.

Tonight I attended the Whitney Awards ceremony. It was awe-inspiring. At one point, Dave Wolverton/David Farland (same person, if you didn't know) was presented with the Outstanding Writer award. Dan Wells stood up and quoted Dave as having said, "You can make a living as an artist."

You can make a living as an artist. Think it. Whisper it to yourself. Say it out loud. This is important. You can do it.

Our MC (for lack of a better term) requested that everyone in the room who had ever heard Dave speak, either as a professor or at a conference, stand up.

Many of us stood.

He then asked if anyone had ever read any of his books (such as Rune Lords) that they also stand. Few remained sitting.

And finally he asked if anyone had ever read any books by Dan Wells or Brandon Sanderson, two of Dave's students, that they stand.

Nobody was left sitting.

That is the impact an author can have. How many of you would still be sitting? One man has reached a huge audience, and he is not a Stephenie Meyer or J.K. Rowling. But he is an artist. He is an author.

The LDS Storymakers Conference had more than 450 authors in attendance this year. Laura Rennert, Nephele Tempest, and Krista Marino heard pitches and asked for partials. Something amazing happened over the past two days at this conference. We found ourselves. We recognized something great in ourselves. We discovered our ability to shape our lives.

We are not a small group. We are not a fanatical group. We are a driven, motivated, and inspired group. We are not alone. We are proud of who we are.

We are writers.

14 comments:

Mary Gray said...

Woot, woot!! Amen, sistah!! It was an amazing ceremony.

Talli Roland said...

What an inspiring post, Tamara. Thank you!

Mary E Campbell said...

Well said Tamara - so great to meet you.

Unknown said...

that's awesome to feel so inspired and influential!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

It was awesome, ladies. Half the room was crying. Like, patriotically awesome.

Jemi Fraser said...

I got covered in chills reading this! Wow - so awesome to see the impact one person can have. That is incredible and inspiring! :)

Elana Johnson said...

It was a great conference! How did I miss meeting you? Oh, yeah. Probably because there were like, 450 people there. Ha! :)

Melissa Cunningham said...

Beautiful post. And Amen to everything you said.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Elana,I met you! I took your query class. But I didn't email you or say anything the whole time. :)

Thanks, Jemi! It was powerful!

Hey Melissa! so great to meet you!!!

Krista said...

Oh, thank you for sharing that!!!!

Jay said...

Sounds like it was a great conference, Tamara. I'm glad you found inspiration!

And now you can find an award for your blog at mine! http://jayeckert.blogspot.com/2010/04/award-athon.html

Melanie Jacobson said...

This is a great way to summarize what the weekend was about. It was just a fantastic conference.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Thanks, Jay! Heading that way!

Melanie, you were there??? How did I not meet you?

Lothiriel said...

Sounds like an awesome conference!!

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