Welcome and Introductions: Charles Connor

This discussion board is the place in which our private workshop of writers will hold our class meetings for the next twelve weeks. These meetings will be virtual -- people will come and go as their schedules allow and their desires motivate them -- but the words and ideas will remain posted here for each of us to view and ponder, forming a growing body of joint knowledge. It is this shared body of knowledge that is the key to success of these workshops.

Most of us don't feel completely comfortable sharing our thoughts with anonymous strangers. That's natural. But if we are to be a functioning workshop, a community of writers, then we must dissolve that anonymity and become colleagues in the same quest.

Please post as much biographical information as you wish to share with other students in the workshop. This information will not be available to anyone but the participants in this workshop. Tell us something about yourself, about your writing experience, and about your writing goals.

You may use your real name or you may use a nickname if you feel more comfortable. You may post your email address or not, as you feel comfortable.

We're glad to have you with us.

Introduction: Kristin - 09/17/2002

Hi, everyone. I'm excited about our virtual group. I'm floundering and fluttering in the midst of writing my first novel. I have 198 pages written, and I think I'm a little more than halfway there. My characters don't always behave themselves, though, so we'll see over the next few weeks if they agree with me.

For biographical information, I have a BA in English (expository and technical writing) and an MBA in strategic management. I did some journalistic writing, copyediting, and proofreading between the two degrees. After my MBA I took a job as a management consultant and did that for 7 years. This year I quit my consulting job to write this novel, with the support of my wonderful husband. This has been a dream ever since I got "off track" with that MBA decision.

I've taken CE classes in writing at Emory and the Atlanta College of Art, and I've just joined a small writers group that meets every other week to give each other feedback on our work. I'm looking forward to hearing all of your feedback too -- and especially to reading what you have to say.

On a personal note, my husband, Craig, and I are big animal lovers. We have 3 dachshunds and 3 cats in our house.

Kristin

Introduction : JimA - 09/17/2002

I thought I'd jump in and say "Hi" also. I'm JimA, I have virtually no writing experience, am a lousy typist, and am a long way from my college days! I spent my first life as a photographer, consultant to the photo industry, and have a BFA in painting, drawing, graphics, and photography. Among my many happy memories was the pleasure, with my wife, of joining Ansel Adams in the last workshop he gave. I think we were the only couple ever to qualify. Speaking of my wife, she'll be along shortly; she's part of this experience also. My life is now consumed with a passion for genealogy, digital imaging, and a weekly radio show I've done for our local PBS station for the last eleven years. Hopefully, my lack of formal training will be overshadowed by the many wonderful people and experiences I have to draw from…or, as they say, "youth and
conditioning will be overtaken by cunning and experience." My youth was in the south, but, for the last forty years, I've been in Ohio. Call on me if you need help with computers, photography, or genealogy. I'm looking forward to meeting and visiting with each of you.

JimA

Introduction : Dawn - 09/17/2002

I'm sitting on my porch in the High Sierra, communicating with you all via my laptop, which I am required to return to my employer tonight. Thereafter, I will be without a computer for the first time in several years (in denial just now, expecting severe withdrawal symptoms quite soon). Somehow I'll have to find the energy to stay late at work some nights so I can use the computers there.

About me: my 47th birthday will be spent backpacking this weekend.

I'll save the details of my emotional makeup for possible later, gradual revelation. Let's see if I can sum up some externals that might give you a glimpse of me: I've lived in a small mountain town for most of the past 35 years. Formerly shy, I'm now quite gregarious, unless I'm doing my (frequent) hermit routine. I live with a Dog (Jesse, a big ol' sweet hairy thing) and three Cats (Devalera, Val, and Pilot, an elderly blind kitty). No kids, one short marriage long ago.

I have an AA in Humanities, where my focus was on visual arts and literature, and a BA in Sociology, which I just got in 1999 via distance learning from CSU Chico. I'm in the process of applying to enter a Master's program (online) in Conflict and Negotiation Management...or maybe Humanities. Maybe both.

I work part-time for a youth-development program (read: low pay, high stress, lots of satisfaction and heartbreak). I prefer being broke and having time to pursue my interests to being flush and working all the time. Usually. I spend as much time as possible reading book-length fiction of all sorts, and being outdoors. One of my hobbies is testing backpacking gear and writing reviews about same.

I've written scant fiction. My goal is to complete a novel, emphasis on the "complete." One early story was published locally, but all I really have to show for myself at this point is one heck of a handful of hastily composed ideas and character sketches. I know I can write, and learn to write better, but I have a deep-seated fear that I'm not really a story-teller, that I'm just a story-lover.

I seem to have a gift for self-sabotage. I look forward to being given deadlines that will force me to write.

I look forward to the learning and the community I think this program will provide. I also hope to learn how to stop starting all my paragraphs with "I."

Best,
Dawn

Introduction : Nancy - 09/18/2002

I'll continue the string of introductions. My name is Nancy. My husband (JimA) mentioned in his introduction that I'd be along shortly. Unlike Jim, I'm from the North and have lived in Ohio my whole life, so far. I have been working for the same company for over 30 years (I was only 7 when I started working!), have several degrees (most recent is an MBA). Besides being a manager and a teacher (of an MBA course on knowledge management - that's a whole 'nother topic), I enjoy reading, quilting, knitting, traveling, exercising, swimming, and genealogy.

Most of my writing experience has been at my job or when I was in school. I'm looking forward to the chance to do some creative writing. Even though a genealogy is supposed to be based in fact, I hope to use what I learn in this writing program to write the story of my genealogy. I also enjoy mysteries and would like to try my hand at writing a mystery. Who knows, these could be the same story.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with you all, to get a chance to read what you write, and to hear what you have to say about what I write. Having not done any creative writing before, I have no clue what my writing will be like. I'm looking forward to solving this mystery with your help.

Introduction: Mike - 09/18/2002

Hello everyone. I'm looking forward to our mutual learning experience, and hoping to lessen the distance between the perfect ideas in my head and the jumbled mess that shows up on paper. I live in the Pacific Northwest with my wife and three sons. Who knows,I may have used some of the backpacking gear that Dawn has written about. My writing experience has been of a technical nature -- I have published about 60 research papers in academic journals, but now am trying to develop my creative writing skills. As Sol Stein wrote in chapter 1, academicians write dry, factual stuff, and now I am trying to reawaken the other half of my brain to tell stories to appeal to the heart.

In the year that I have spent on creative writing, I have published one nonfiction story in a magazine, and have written some unpublished stories and one short unpublished novel. I am currently working on my second novel. I am realizing that I have a long way to go before my writing achieves the same quality as that of published writers that I admire, and hope that the courses here will help me to improve. My goal is to be able to write one story that is good enough to be published by a reputable literary journal. Then maybe I can tackle the novels more successfully.

Introduction: Pamela - 09/18/2002

I was born and raised in Houston TX. In 1996 I relocated to Boston MA and in 1999 to Ponte Vedra Beach FL, all work related moves. I lived in London for 6 months in the year 2000, also a work related assignment.

I will celebrate my fiftieth birthday next May. For the last two decades I have been single; single in the traditional reference of being unmarried and single in my focus. Corporate America was my entire world, the source of my relationships, the sole definition of my self. The veneer of my corporate life began to crack 6 years ago. With each subsequent year, the tremors increased in severity. The big one hit a year ago in July when I was terminated due to business conditions. I was lost, confused and depressed, emotions that still haunt me from time to time.

A year has now passed and I have come to terms with the fact that I will not return to Corporate America. Instead, I have chosen to simplify my lifestyle and revive the dreams and aspirations of my youth. My first declared major in college was journalism. I did not complete the first semester. The facts bored me. I preferred embellishment. I returned to school as an adult, earning a BS in Business and an MS in Training and Development.

My writing experience is limited to personal and business correspondence. My goal is to develop the discipline to write in addition to the technical skills needed to write well.

I feel honored to be a part of this group and am looking forward to the next twelve weeks.

Introduction: Virginia - 09/19/2002

Hello to the group!

I spent a good while last night, thinking about and writing my introduction to you. Unfortunately, I apparently did not send it correctly!

So briefly, I am 34 years old, I live in Athens, GA. I have had several lives, in several cities and am now back home. I have an extremely bad back and have endured several surgeries trying to improve it. The body has fallen apart, but my mind is still sharp (as far as I can tell).

I write a lot and read even more. I have a really bad first draft, almost completed, of a novel length story. I have several short stories that I am unsure of. Can I learn to be a better writer? Can I learn to help others be better writers? I hope so. Let's find out!

Introduction: Kim - 09/19/2002

This is the best classroom I've ever been in. The teacher can't call on me, I don't have to get up and go to the board, whoo hoo. My name is Kim Skinner. I live in Locust Grove, GA. South of Atlanta. I am a 5th year senior, finally decided on Therapeutic Recreation as my major, and love it. I will get to use games as a form of helping people learn new skills, or just make their day more exciting. Locust Grove is in the country which allows me to enjoy being outside in nature (which is generally pretty quiet). I have one dog, one cat, and one horse. The cat thinks he's a dog, the dog thinks he's human, and the horse thinks she's smarter than me. I love them all. I've always been jotting down stories in my head or acting them out (which is more fun). I expect to learn more about people in order to help me make really interesting characters. I hope we have a blast and can help each other out. Take care!

Kim

Introduction: Charles Connor - 09/20/2002

Gee, you guys. Talk about a quick start! You must all be eager to get going. Well, it does my heart good to see the string of posts. And the stuff you're posting looks so good! It's as if the class jump started itself and has taken on a life of its own. I love it. I guess if I'm not going to be left behind, I'd better post my bio. Let's see, where to begin. Ah, yes, in the middle . . .

Chapter 58

As of two days ago, I'm exactly 18 months away from retiring from the faculty of the University of Georgia where I have been since I was the age of the students I no longer understand. But then, when I was their age, I wouldn't have understood me, either. Is that one of those logically impossible time loops? It's not that I'm actually retiring, I like to think I'm moving into a stage of my life where I can do those things I enjoy the most, such as these workshops and the Harriette Austin Writers Conference. (Not to worry, there is no end in sight for the Harriette Austin Writing Program. We will continue, uninterrupted.)

It was all because of my wife Beverly, really . . . or perhaps it was Harriette. It all began in earnest in 1983. That's the year we got our first personal computer. Beverly had been interested in writing for several years, since before 1980. But you know that feeling you get when you sit down, pen in hand, facing a blank sheet of paper and you think a really long time before you can bring yourself to write anything, because you know if you don't get it right, if you make a mistake, you have to start all over again?

And then the typewriter . . . same thing. That white-out thing was just a stop-gap waiting for the computer to be invented. But the computer, that was the next step in the evolution of mankind. Now you could do anything! You could write your heart out, and if you didn't like it, a couple of clicks of the keys and you could copy, paste, move, insert, delete, spell check, combine, split, archive, recover, search and replace whole characters -- whole cities! The imagination was unleashed, unfettered by fear of leaving a hard copy record of your worst effort. You no longer have to get it right the first time. You just have to get it right.

So, Beverly gets really serious about writing. She's turning out story after story, five hundred page novels . . . and it's really good stuff. Science fiction. Fantasy. Mystery. She's blossomed from a shy little mountain girl into a blazing intellect. It's as if life has just begun. She's excited, I'm excited . . . but we can't get New York excited. We can't get New York to even read it. We read all the books on how to write and get published. We become experts in printing, boxing, mailing, writing query letters, tracking down editors. And waiting. Months pass.

Then one day the manuscript box appears in the mailbox. Inside it the pages don't look rumpled enough to have been read. There is a brown circle on the cover sheet, as if someone's flower pot has been sitting on it for months. There are coffee grounds inside the manuscript box. There is a smudge from a jelly donut, and other objects that I hesitate to identify. As in the dozens of other returns, there is a small mimeographed sheet with a column of little check boxes next to phrases like, "Not right for us," or, "Sorry, but our list is full," whatever that means, and half a dozen similarly obscure half sentences. Sometimes one of the boxes would even be checked.

All hope is drained from us. We don't live in New York. We don't have an influential friend in the publishing business. We don't really know anyone important. We go on, writing, mailing, waiting, getting the rejections. Life grows darker. It affects our friends. The depression and disillusion spread from our little 36 acres in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, across the community, across the state. The whole Southeast is eventually pulled into a psychic black hole. This is what caused the five-year draught of the mid-1980s. A little known meteorological fact.

Then we discovered a quiet, sweet woman who taught us something about writing and changed our lives.

More to come . . .

THE SOUTHERN GOTHIC INFLUENCE

I had always wanted to write fiction. I remember when I was a sophomore at the University of Alabama in 19^# (oh, sorry, those numbers won't print), a waitress asked me why I was going to college. I told her without hesitation that I wanted to write a novel. I did. There were things I had seen growing up. Things that bothered me. I continued to see things, think things, feel things I had no way to express. This was a tumultuous time in modern Southern history.

I lived fifteen minutes from downtown Birmingham and watched the nightly news on our black and white TV as police commissioner Bull Connor (absolutely no relation) turned police dogs loose on black protestors. As an undergraduate I sat in the fork of a pecan tree two hundred feet away and watched Gov. George Wallace perform his famous "Segregation then, segregation now, segregation forever" speech and stand in the schoolhouse door, blocking the entrance of black students attempting to register at the University of Alabama. I looked into the faces of state police and national guardsmen who hated me simply because I was a student. I saw some of my friends go off to Vietnam and not come back. I saw others locked away in prison for acts of passion and stupidity. I saw all the things that followed during all the years.

I took advanced English composition, as close as I got to Creative Writing courses. But I knew early on that I had to make a living. I didn't know anyone who made a living writing fiction. My folks were coal miners and sawmillers. Everyone I knew worked for a living. I tried it. It was too hard for me.

I majored in American Studies and read all the works of all the great American authors on the reading lists. I followed my broad interests into the social sciences, eventually ending up in Education, in Instructional Design and Development -- technical writing, manuals, curriculum, basic skills instruction, technology, educational publications -- still trying to address those problems that had bothered me throughout my life. I developed great problem-solving skills. No creative writing. No novel, but it was still there, deep in my mind, that I would "someday" pull out and resurrect.

THE HARRIETTE AUSTIN PHENOMENON

Beverly enrolled in an evening writing class at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. She was reading and writing and discussing. We lived sixteen miles from campus and had one automobile. Beverly would keep the car on Tuesdays so that she could come to town to writing class after work. I would sit in the coffee shop and read my magazines and journals while she was in writing class. Her class instructor, Harriette Austin, frequently invited me to sit in on the class. In truth, I wanted to, but I was focused on work . . . keeping ahead of the game at the office . . . troubleshooting.

After a while, hearing the coffee shop discussions about writing and characters and creativity, my mind began to turn to old thoughts. During my waits on Tuesday evenings, I began to scribble notes about people and events from my past that had left an impression on me. I found myself writing snatches of dialogue. Then I was writing at home and at my office instead of working on office matters. I began to lose sleep. I got bags under my eyes. Within a period of two weeks I had hand-written thirty pages. I started sitting in on the classes.

In Harriette's workshops I heard many good manuscripts under development. What I heard sounded better than many of the books on the shelves for sale in book stores. Her students were finishing and polishing manuscripts, but no one was getting published. The same old problem: We couldn't get our stuff read in New York.

On a fateful Spring in 1993, Beverly and I attended a small writing conference in Fairhope, Alabama. The Sea Oats Writing Conference. Sixty participants attended sessions on writing and getting published by two authors, one agent, and one NEW YORK EDITOR.

During our enthusiastic report back to Harriette's workshop on our Fairhope trip, Harriette remarked that she had tried without luck over several years to talk the conference center where her classes were held into organizing a writing conference. They had a certain lack of vision. Ever the vigilant problem-solver, I said, "We can do that."

So, a few of Harriette's students got together and decided. If we couldn't get our stuff to New York, we would bring New York to us.

THE BABY THAT GREW UP

The name, for us, was obvious. We decided to call it the Harriette Austin Writers Conference, put on by Harriette Austin's writing students in honor of our mentor and shepherd. We told Harriette what we were going to do. She was shocked, kind, as always, but I don't think she really believed that we could do it. All of us being of adventurous stock, we never had a doubt. It's a good thing we didn't know in the beginning the work we were getting into. Some of us might have been afraid of the appetite of the giant we were creating.

We began with the premise that if we were having the problems we were, discovering the secrets of the publishing industry, producing the kind of manuscripts New York is interested in buying, and getting those manuscripts in the hands of editors, then there must be many hundreds of aspiring writers across the country having the same problems. If we could put together a solution that works for us, then it would attract those other people looking for the same thing.

We borrowed all the faculty from the Sea Oats Writing Conference we could get, asked them for references, and made every contact we could. We found out very early, if you don't ask people, you won't get them. If you do ask, the worst that can happen is that you don't get them. That first year we put together a program of a dozen faculty to be offered the third weekend in July. We printed 10,000 copies of a brochure, got writing-related mailing lists wherever we could beg, borrow or lease, put the brochures in the mail, and waited.

The first conference, in 1994, we had 249 participants. That was also the July of the 500-year flood in the Southeast. We found out that a number of participants from Florida had driven eight hours out of their way to get around flooded Interstate highways to get to us. We collected enough registration fees to pay the bills and break even. We figured we were on to something.

At the 2nd conference in 1995, my wife Beverly had a sample of a manuscript evaluated by an agent. Within a month he had taken her on as a client, and within four months he had sold her manuscript for the first in a five-book deal for the Lindsay Chamberlain archaeology mystery series. That same year, another of Harriette's students, our friends Judy and Takis Iakovou, got a three-book sale with St. Martins Press for their Nick and Julia Lambros series.

The year 2002 was our 9th annual Harriette Austin Writers Conference. We had over 400 participants and a faculty of 45. We have come to expect that as a result of every one of our conferences, writers will be picked up by agents and manuscripts will be sold to publishers.

Agents and editors from New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Hollywood tell us every year that the Harriette Austin Writers Conference produces the best offering of quality manuscripts that they find at any writing conference in the country. And they tell us, year after year, that when they are reviewing manuscripts, they can tell by the quality of writing when they are reading a Harriette Austin student's work.

Throughout the year we get queries from aspiring writers asking about the availability of Harriette Austin workshops. We have seen the need for something we are uniquely qualified to offer. But we can manage only one writing conference a year, and what is really needed is the availability of the Harriette Austin workshop methods to a wider audience.

So, let's see . . . what can we do?

Introduction: Dennis - 09/22/2002

Wow! I have been reading the bio’s on the message board of everyone who has joined together for this tremendous educational and growth opportunity! I have yet to read a bio that parallels my own life experiences, but I find it fascinating that such a diversity of individuals can share a common passion.

I am a Georgia native who grew up in a small town in the southern half of the state. In fact, my home town is best known as “the bird dog capital of the world”. (I would be very moved if anyone can identify this municipality.) I am a double graduate of UGA, with a bachelor and master’s degree in economics. I have spent most of my career doing corporate planning and analysis for several major corporations. I currently serve as a vice president for a division of an international pharmaceutical company, where I am responsible for analyzing the performance and future of the business. You may have guessed by now that I spend a portion of my time generating reports and commentary to corporate people around the globe. I am very frequently called upon by my company to explain business issues and trends to individuals, and regularly utilize my writing skills as the medium for communication. I live in North Atlanta with my wife, three children and a dog (not a bird dog, but close).

Not more than three months ago, I found myself doing a bit of inward searching to better understand what really excites and motivates me in life. As a result of this time of personal reflection, I discovered something that really brought me enjoyment, and that was putting ideas into writing. When I looked back at my life, I could recall places in time where I had written about experiences – some serious and some quite humorous in nature. These writings spanned all the way from my high school days up to the not so distant past. This searching brought back an old dream of writing. Not the great American business report, but the great American . . . . . well you know! Coincidentally, this epiphany occurred shortly before I found the “coming soon” banner for this class.

I am optimistic about this mode of learning creative writing, as an “online” course was precisely what I needed. With a busy daytime job (as many of you), this format allows me the flexibility to continue to pursue my current career and yet grow myself into a whole new world of possibilities. I may not be able to keep up with Kristin’s pace of posting to the message board, but I am motivated to move forward. (Did I mention that I periodically enjoy dry humor?)

I am truly excited about sharing the next few weeks with all of you. We have a diverse group of life experiences to share, and if I read his bio correctly, we have a teacher who speaks not from simple theory or an academic perspective, but who will lead us out of real world, heartfelt experiences.

This feels like the right place to take risks with some ideas and see what happens.

Dennis Carr
9/22/02

Introduction: Genie - 12 Oct 2002

Hello, my name is Genie, and I am a Harriette Austin addict. I always wished I could write but never had the confidence to try. Harriette changed that in one class. I have been writing since the moment I met her in 1995, and have published short pieces in several magazines and anthologies. I aspire to publish a mystery I am rewriting, yet again, and hope participating in the workshop will help me finish the current revision.

I congratulate all of the participants for being here. Fellowship with other writers is as essential as our imaginations.

Dennis, I don't know what South Georgia town can claim 'bird dog capital of the world', but I will before the end of the week. I hail from The Briar patch--your turn to guess.

From Genie - Birddog Capitol of the World

Dennis,

In the introduction I posted, I promised to discover your hometown. It's Waynesboro. Fellow writers have to ferret out important information like that. It's a rule.

Dennis: Birddawg capitol of the world

Hi Genie,

It did not take long for you to solve the mystery of the bird dog.

I cannot find your bio on the message board, but I believe I read that you are from the "briar patch". I suppose you might be from Georgia . . . and being from Georgia you might have read the stories of Uncle Remus . . . and maybe, just maybe you could be from Joel Chandler Harris' hometown of Eatonton.

Could this be so?

Dennis

ps. I only researched my brain and have not tried the internet. If I am wrong, I definitely need another hint.

Genie: Birddawg 2

Bingo! Growing up in the same neck of the woods as Harris, Alice Walker, and Flannery O'Connor made up for a lot of things--like not having a drive-in or a skating rink. Since I'm still confused as to what to post where, I'll be brief. (This may be chit-chat, but it is 'introductory' chit-chat, Charles.)

Genie.

Introduction: Jennifer P - 09/23/2002

Hello everyone. I'm really excited to begin this adventure.

I grew up in a small town on the Alabama-Florida line. (Hint: It's name is derived from the location.) I moved to Auburn, Alabama a few years after graduating from college. I then married my high-school sweetheart and we've lived here ever since.

I have been a teacher (community college), computer programmer and am now a systems analyst for the university. My hobbies include reading, bird watching, and genealogy.

Although I have been making up stories and characters in my head for many years, my actual writing experience has consisted of mostly business/technical writing. I have taken a couple of fiction writing classes and attended several conferences, but so far have produced very few pages of material. I decided recently that I need to "put up or shut up", so here I am.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

Jennifer

(p.s. Dennis, you must be from Waynesboro, GA. I love doing research!)

Dennis Reply to Jennifer Welcome Message Oct 2002

Jennifer,

I enjoy doing research as well, however, sometimes the research comes to you (if you wait long enough). I read your e-mail today and believe you are from Florala. This sounds as interesting as Waynesboro and certainly cannot be any larger in population - is Florala known for anything?

Dennis

Introduction: Eliz - 09/23/2002

Hello! I am Elizabeth Garner, and here is my bio:

Born in April, 1945 (nine days after FDR died and nine days before Hitler shuffled off his evil coil). Grew up in New York, Germany, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. Studied political science at George Washington and American Universities. Worked as a legislative assistant in the US House of Representatives (for Congressmen from Ann Arbor, Toledo, and suburban Atlanta) in the '60s and '70s, during the turmoil of the Vietnam War, Kennedy and King assassinations, and Watergate. Went back to school and received an MA in Egyptology from the University of Chicago in 1985. Have been a technical writer, of computer manuals, since 1986.

I met my husband on the Internet in 1994. We've been together since 1995, and in 1998 we were married on the deck of a charming waterfront cottage in Sooke, British Columbia, with sea lions barking in the background. We live in the Seattle area and regard the Pacific Northwest as a very special corner of the world.

I like traveling (especially overseas), photography, engrossing books, "The West Wing," and chocolate. I aspire to being a published author of fiction set in ancient Egypt.

Toward this end, I have already written a murder mystery set in ancient Egypt, in the time just before King Tut's reign. Although the book is finished, I feel it needs some revising, particularly with regard to its characters. Part of my problem, I believe, is that fifteen years of technical writing--where the goal is to keep sentences and paragraphs short, to the point that they necessarily are dull and dry--has blunted my ability to put color and action in my fiction and make my characters come alive. I hope to remedy these shortcomings with what I learn in this class.

Introduction: Beverly - 09/22/2002

Hello, my name is Beverly Connor. I'm the other half of Charles Connor and author of the Lindsay Chamberlain mystery series published by Cumberland House. I've just started the Diane Fallon mystery series to be published by Signet.

My series characters are both forensic anthropologists. Lindsay Chamberlain is a professor of archaeology at The University of Georgia, and Diane Fallon is a former human rights investigator and current museum director. My background is in archaeology. I worked in the southeastern United States on digs and analyzing artifacts from digs. I've lived in Georgia for about twenty-five years, but I'm originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

I will be joining the class now and again and will be available to answer any questions and hopefully learn a thing or two myself. One of the things I learned early after getting published is to keep working on writing skills. I study more about writing now than I did before I was published. You will find that the next hurdle after getting published is staying published.

Beverly Connor
You're welcome to visit me at http://www.athens.net/~bconnor/

Introduction: Sharla - 10/09/2002

Hello! I am a late-comer to the program and am scrambling around to catch up with the rest of the class. (I feel as if I am in college again!)

Anyway, after hearing my background, you will wonder why I am in this class. My undergraduate degree is in engineering. (you read that correctly) The only reason I majored in engineering was because I grew up with a rabid Georgia Tech fan (my father) and I never realized there was more than one college in America. Once you are at Tech, you have to major in engineering.

Realizing my mistake immediately, I attended law school after undergraduate. I figured law school my provide a glimmer of the liberal arts education I missed out on in undergraduate. Beside, I loved to write fiction and everyone knows that law school churns out writers (albeit not necessarily great writers). I have been practicing law for 6 years now. The legal profession is a great place to meet potential book characters, but it is rather stifling for writing style.

My dream is to write professionally. I have about 100 pages of a novel written (which you will learn more about when I make it to the second assignment). For as long as I can remember, I have kept a fictionalized journal detailing characters, places and events that I find interesting. (I told you, I am a lawyer, so I would never keep a journal that pertained to myself for fear it would be used against me one day in a court of law.)

At any rate, I look forward to getting to know each of you and hope this workshop helps me turn an all consuming desire to write into something productive.

For the biographical purist: I am a thirty-two years old native-Georgian. I currently reside in Atlanta with my husband, two cats and dog. (zodiac sign: cancer).

Sharla