I Meet People Wherever I Go

On speaking to readers when I travel & finding new ideas by talking to strangers

“Mom loved the tour guide,” Eliana said to my husband after we returned home from her 21st birthday trip to New Orleans.

“It’s not that I loved him,” I said of the animated guide on our French Quarter ghost tour. “It’s that I love talking to people wherever I go.”

I can’t help it. I stand up at the front and ask questions of the guide on every tour we take. I strike up conversations with the people in my row on a plane. I relate to the servers in restaurants, ask questions about the history, the decor, the story behind the place we’re in.

I want to know. I want to learn. I soak up the world wherever I go.

And that really helps my writing.

While the trip was to celebrate my daughter turning 21, I also booked a speaking engagement for my novel, WOMAN OF VALOR, with Hadassah New Orleans. And, as I gathered with ten incredible women in the home of a writer-friend, I listened as much as I spoke.

Some members from Hadassah New Orleans at the home of Briann Shear

They all had great stories. They were willing to share them. And I was more than eager to listen.

“Why did you set your second novel in Scotland?” one of the women asked.

Because I spent a month there in 2022, and have been fascinated by its green rolling hills and roiling dark waters for decades. And just you wait for the next novel—it takes place partially in Cape Breton, where I took the next writing sabbatical a year later.

Briann Shear, chair of Hadassah Book Clubs, and me

Who knows. There just might be a novel set in New Orleans down the line. And maybe some of the characters will resemble the people I met and talked to while I was there.

Maybe it’s because I was once a journalist, trained to ask questions and listen for the answers between the answers. Or maybe it’s just who I am. I look. I listen. I soak up details. I am open to understanding and learning and exploring. I am fascinated by people and the choices they make (or don’t).

On the first morning of our trip, my daughter and her boyfriend asked about the novel I’m currently writing. They listened intently, and it was great fun to show how the story is unfolding. And then, Eliana asked about the protagonist’s motivation. “You’ll want to explore that, Mom,” she said.

Of course I will! These winding conversations help me build a deeper, better story. And the interaction between us gives life to my made-up world.

I finally got to meet Maureen Shea, a writer who’s been in my classes for years and is part of The Writers Community. She’s also a retired Tulane professor of Latin American literature. Pretty cool lady.

If living is about connection, then the heartbeat of a good story is the way a character and their situation pulls the reader in intimately. Gets them involved in the why of the story.

A story is really a conversation. I write it, offer it to you, and you take it to mean something. At least I hope you do! We have a silent conversation, an exchange of ideas, and both of us think about ourselves, our lives, our dreams and desires differently because of what the story has to offer.

I’m off this week to write in Humboldt County, California, where the tallest, thickest redwood trees live. One of the best places I’ve ever visited. Perhaps one day they’ll provide a perfect setting for a story to grow.

What places have sparked great writing for you?

Upcoming Classes - Join Me!

Two opportunities to write with me this month!

On October 29th, I’m teaching my three-hour Hemingway and the Art of the Sentence course. It’s a one-time webinar that will be recorded, so if you can’t make it live, you’ll get the recording if you sign up. I love teaching this class, and my students always get so much out of it. Make your sentences stronger and more beautiful!!

Registration info here.

And, in honor of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I am fast-tracking my normally 8-week book-writing accountability course this November. We’ll meet live for four straight weeks AND have an online classroom to submit writing for feedback and where the lessons will live. It’s a great class, and there is room for you! Get your book written in November.

Register here.

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