Lynn York, Author, is Workshop Leader at Netwest Writers' Conference
By GLENDA BEALL

Lynn York-The Piano Teacher

Lynn York will be presenting a non-fiction session at the Lights in the Mountains Writers' Conference in Hayesville, NC September 30 with the title How to Find Time and Inspiration to Write. This busy woman knows this subject well. She wrote her first novel in the busiest time of her life when she had two toddlers, a consulting practice and a husband trying to launch his own business.

"I am not one of those super-efficient people who can write perfect prose while their children are napping. (My children didn't nap.) Every time I wrote, it was like petty larceny - I simply stole the time," York said in a recent interview.

She was driven by the work itself. "Once I had breathed some life into a few characters and set them in motion, it seemed impossible to stay away from that little world that buzzed around in my head."

There came a time, after the first hundred pages, when the novelist began to realize how difficult it was going to be to write the book and get it published. She started to doubt herself. Was her writing really good enough?

"I might not have bothered to go further if not for the pushy members of my writing group. There were six or seven of us then, meeting every Wednesday night, reading the work of that week aloud. My fellow writers listened to my stuff - the good, the bad and the ugly."

They were concerned about her characters and told her which ones she should kill off and which to keep. They kept her writing by insisting she bring part of her manuscript to read each week. She has been meeting with her writing group for almost ten years and highly recommends writers' groups, especially small ones. "I couldn't have made it otherwise," the mother, teacher and writer said. Between the four writers who have stayed with her group, they have written six novels.

With her writing friends' encouragement, she finished her book. Fellow writing group member Pamela Duncan, author of Moon Women, Plant Life, was with York at the beach the weekend she typed the last word on the last page. Duncan was ready with the champagne. They took it out to the beach and just as they made their toast to York's successful completion of her novel, four dolphins jumped out of the water and did several flips.

"They were better than any you have seen at Sea World," York said.

When a manuscript is done, revised, and when it is the best it can be, it should be sent out. You will get rejections, she says, tons of them, but the more you send out your work, the greater chance you have of finding that one person who will love it.

Lynn York had always wanted to write a novel, and the first one she wrote, The Piano Teacher, was published by Plume in 2004. The Winemaker will be published by Plume in spring 2007.

"The most important preparation for a writer to make is simply to be present in his or her own life - and I mean really present, with ears, eyes and noses open and ready for business. There is a short story around every corner, a novel in every day, but you've got to notice it before you can write it down."

Although it sounds obvious, York says a writer must also read.

Hooked on writing from the time she was asked to read her story about a one-eyed giant in first grade, York was unpublished until she submitted her first novel. Now she stays busy with writing, speaking engagements and readings, as well as teaching workshops. At the Lights in the Mountains Writers' Conference at the Hinton Center in Clay County, one of her non-fiction subjects will be Attic Writing, Reviving the Stories You Always Meant to Tell.

Dr. Jim Smith, Associate professor at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia will present two sessions on Poetry. His subjects are The Beginning and the End of the Poem and Hearing Voices.

Contact Shirley Uphouse, 828-837-6007 or email her: shirl@dnet.net for information on registration for this conference. You may also contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441. There is no deadline on registration and registration will also be taken between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. the morning of the conference. This event is for beginners as well as published writers.

Until September 22, you may register with credit card online at www.ncwriters.org. The Lights in the Mountains Conference is sponsored in part by the North Carolina Arts Council.