Bonnie Garmus, the author of Lessons in Chemistry, and an enthusiastic supporter of libraries was the featured speaker at the local Boulder Public Library Gala in September. With attendance at close to 400 supporters, our Boulder Writers Alliance group was fortunate to have good seats close to the dais. Maeve Conran from KGNU conducted an insightful interview with Bonnie. The interview will be broadcast on October 24, 2024, at 9 AM, on KGNU Community Radio 88.5 FM on Radio Book Club, a collaboration between KGNU and the Boulder Bookstore.
The next morning, I joined a small group from the Library Foundation and their supporters to meet with Bonnie for breakfast at a local venue. Bonnie spoke about how important both the school librarians and the local public librarians in her town were to her as a child. Her interest in reading and writing blossomed under the guidance of attentive librarians who gave her interesting tasks to do. Thus, she has chosen to be an active supporter of libraries as an adult. Throughout her career, Bonnie worked as a copywriter. Honing her skills for editing and accuracy proved invaluable to her work as a novelist. She added that her experience in marketing was beneficial when she began to collaborate with her publisher. She also emphasized that she goes through many drafts before publishing—up to fifty! I am looking forward to her next publication.
My Writing Goals for 2024
Continue to develop my poetry and connections with other poets:
This past month, the Jaipur Literary Festival Colorado was held at the local public library. I attended several sessions with visiting and local poets, including Rohan Chhetri, Jovan Mays, Reiland Rabaka, and Anne Waldman.
I also participated in a workshop at Naropa University led by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer who was San Miguel County’s Poet Laureate from 2007-2011 and the Western Slope Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. Moudi Sbeity, a poet who is a writing instructor at Naropa University, joined Rosemerry for the session. The following evening, they both read their work at the Colorado Poetry Center’s reading at the Boulder Bookstore. I found both the workshop and the reading to be exceptionally warm, personal, and instructive.
I also attended Bardic Trails, a program on the Western Slope, on Zoom. This month it featured Eirene Hamilton, a poet who writes in both Diné Bizaad and English. Eirene’s integration of nature, humor, and her people’s culture into her poetry was delightful.
Additionally, I invited David Jilk to present for the Boulder Writers Alliance Poetry Circle in September. He discussed and read from his newest publication. Dave is the author of Epoch: A Poetic Psy-Phi Saga, two collections of lyric poetry, co-author of The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche: A Book for Disruptors, and lead or co-author of several academic papers on cognitive neuroscience and on existential concerns related to artificial intelligence.
Finish my first novel and query agents:
I drafted new pages for my critique group.
Continue to work on my second novel:
I did not work on this book this month.
Continue to work on my third novel:
Our new BWA literary critique group met to work together. Three of us were present on Zoom and we all expressed our appreciation for each other’s work. We also made comments and made helpful suggestions.
Continue to develop a network of kindred spirits in the world of writing and publishing:
Boulder Writers Alliance: I attended the BWA Happy Hour in September and our Writers Who Read session led by Gary Allen McBride this week in which we had a lively discussion of Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake.
Denver Woman’s Press Club: I read the newsletter and decided which sessions I could attend this fall.
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers: I read the newsletter and followed the RMFW Colorado Gold Conference on Facebook.
Women Writing the West: I am looking forward to the annual conference which takes place this month. I sent in my pages for the critique group being held at the conference.
Document my writing progress through my blog and post it on the seventh day of each month, one blog per month in 2024:
Today is October 7, 2024. I am posting my tenth blog of 2024. September was beautiful and mostly warm. Because of our exceptionally warm autumn, my flower garden is still in full bloom today, adding color and richness to my days.
Writers who were born in October that I particularly enjoy:
Jill Kerr Conway, e. e. cummings, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing, Katherine Mansfield, François Mauriac, Terry McMillan, Arthur Miller, Ivan Turgenev, and Oscar Wilde
Poets that I admire who were born in October:
John Keats, Sylvia Plath, Arthur Rimbaud, Wallace Stevens, and Dylan Thomas
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