LONGVIEW, Texas — I recharge my creative cells in late July by spending two-and-a-half days at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, sponsored by the University of North Texas at a resort near DFW airport.One day is spent in a workshop, where 10 of us critique each other's essays, led by a professional who keeps the discussion civil and participants on task.
That's the hard work, eight hours cooped up in a room with strangers — each of us in the hot seat at some point, having one's work taken apart by others.
After that exercise, limited to the 50 finalists, the roughly 400 conference participants enjoy back-to-back presentations from some of America's finest writers. In the three years I've attended Mayborn, literary luminaries such as Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Theroux, M. Scott Momaday and many others come and talk about the craft.
I always leave charged up by what those who actually make a living as writers have to say and by interacting with folks like me, who write because they want to, not because they are trying to pay the mortgage.
It's been a long time since I made a living by writing, and even then I was doing other things at a newspaper — taking photos, laying out pages, even selling ads. Plus, I wasn't making much of a living.
So I fill this space each week, as well as work on other pieces most nights after work, because I feel incomplete if I don't write regularly. It is a joy to be among people who feel the same way, from all walks of life, for a few days each July. I've made friends and met some fascinating folks each year.
For the past three conferences, I've taken notes in a small spiral notebook as the literary elite spoke — book authors, writers for major magazines, reporters and hosts of National Public Radio, and a few grizzled newspaper veterans tossed in for good measure. The other night, I flipped through my notes, looking for my favorite quotes from these writers, some of whose names you will recognize, some not.
— Bill Nack, longtime writer for Sports Illustrated, specializing in horse racing: "After covering politics for four years, I decided I would like to cover the whole horse."
— Kevin Fedarko, outdoor adventure writer: "Things only become interesting when failure enters the mix."
— Joyce Carol Oates, renowned novelist and essayist: "One thing that is not said often enough is you need a spouse that is sane to be a writer."
— Erik Colonius, former Wall Street Journal reporter and non-fiction author: "I don't want to write the same story in the trampled snow."
— Allison Hedge Coke, memoirist: "There is nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of, because you're working for the greater good."
— Bob Shacohis, novelist and National Book Award winner, just before he began to speak: "I'm gonna be sober before this is over."
— Tim Madigan, crime writer: "Book signings are God's way of keeping authors humble."
— John Burnett, extremely tall reporter for NPR, and harmonica player extraordinaire: "We deliver stories three days late and call it analysis."
— M. Scott Momady, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1969: "In the oral tradition, everything is just one generation away from extinction."
— Roger Thurow, Wall Street Journal writer who has taken up the cause of eliminating hunger in the world by writing about it: "In a famine, the starving speak with their eyes."
— Julia Reed, Newsweek writer and one of the funniest women on the planet: "Most stupid stuff happens to people named Donnie or Dwayne. I have a Dwayne file."
— Roy Blount Jr., humorist: "I've always found you can be incorrect, adroitly."
— Alma Guillermoprieto, New Yorker writer: "Every time you look at a memory, you transform it by your present perspective."
— Paul Theroux, travel writer and novelist: "A lot of writers' conferences are like mental illness theater."
Theroux hastened to add that this conference was the exception. I don't know about that.
I do know that I always leave inspired and humbled, in equal parts.
Gary Borders is publisher of the Longview News-Journal. E-mail: gborders(at)longview-news.com.
