Evolving

Sisters in Crime New England Mystery Mansion Day Conference, 2025

Pen to paper, paper to typewriter, typewriter to computer – I wrote prolifically from the 1970’s through 1995.  Plots and dialog materialized from anywhere and everywhere – an obituary, a snow globe, a Red Sox game. Three novels and dozens of essays and short stories later, nothing was accepted for publication. Looking back, I wonder if it was because I wrote and edited alone. I stopped writing for more than 25 years as life got busier with a child and career. 

In 2021, while discussing my old writing life with my nephew and his fiancé, they ordered me to start writing again. Re-entering the writing world was rough; plots and dialog no longer just appeared. Kismet and an ad on a local app led me to join the Charles River Writing Collective, a group of women writers (many of whom are published) headed by the gifted Kelly DuMar (see more about her classes and publications at kellydumar.com). 

In Kelly’s generative sessions, we bring a photograph and write in any genre from a prompt she's prepared. The results are powerful. I also attend her craft classes where the group discusses submission opportunities and supportively critiques each other’s work. Since attending these sessions, I’ve produced work that's been published by three different online literary journals. Much of the arc of my novel-in-progress, THE CON, was inspired by a writing prompt she gave, and many chapters have been critiqued in craft class.

Continuous learning and participating in critiques are essential to the growth of any writer. Attending workshops and conferences through Writer’s Digest University, Sisters in Crime, and the International Women’s Writing Guild (now defunct) have improved my writing and deepened my understanding of the craft. Spending a week at a retreat offered by GoandWrite! with other writers in the English countryside was one of the most rewarding and productive experiences of my life (see my December 2025 blog here). As a bonus, I’m lucky to count many of the women I’ve met as friends.

I’m already signed up for Spring events and workshops. How are you continuing to learn about the passions in your life?