WoW - Guest Speakers
This past Saturday our local writing chapter – WisRWA — had a guest speaker join us. Leanna Renee Hieber was in town from New York visiting her fiancé/boyfriend/main squeeze. I’m not quite sure what the exact relationship is, but Leanna very graciously agreed to speak at our meeting.
Before 9:00 a.m., I was heading toward the meeting rooms at Mayfair Mall when I noticed the sound of tapping heels behind me. Now, at that time in the morning, the only people at the mall are the mall walkers (complete with soft sole tennies) and those of us going to our meeting. So high heels are not the norm. I glanced behind and saw a woman dressed in a fabulous black outfit, frilly with a vaguely Victorian style. Certainly not your average mall walker. 
And looking a little lost.
Figured it had to be Leanna and introduced myself … after calling her Renee, of course. I’m horrible with names. I was able to lead her into the bowels of Mayfair Mall where we hold our meetings. Leanna’s talk was terrific and inspirational. She drew on her experience with the theater to make this lecture interesting and inspirational. I thoroughly enjoyed her talk and only wished I could have dashed home to put some of her suggestions into practice. Unfortunately, I had a couple of previous obligations … i.e., my niece’s birthday celebration, complete with movie and dinner. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and had to hold off for another day.
A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to read the ARC of Leanna’s debut book “The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker” which has just been released Dorchester Publishing. This was one of those books where you don’t want to put it down until you reach the end. Loved it.
So … if you get any opportunities to attend guest lectures held by a fellow writer … go for it. Doesn’t matter whether that person writes in your genre or not. There is nothing more inspiring than listening to someone who has beaten a few of those odds and has a published book in hand.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 am
I loved Leanna’s talk. You can bet I’m blogging about it at Magical tomorrow.
I’m so glad you ran into her in the parking lot. And later you led her to the ladies room, which is another trek.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:12 am
I shall put her on my list of writer’s to be on the look out for.
And Edie, looking forward to your post on her insights tomorrow.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I had this image of her wandering lost.
Actually, we were both in the mall heading in the right direction. It was a terrific talk. We were lucky to catch her while she was in town.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
The book was excellent, Theresa. Frankly, I can’t really say if I would have picked it up had Edie not recommended it. Glad I did and will be on the look out for Leanna’s future books … the second to this series which is coming out.