Thank You and Recap

The 2009 festival is over and here at the Get Lit! office we're tidying up the last few details before we get started on the preparations for next year's big event. We hope you enjoyed all of the fantastic authors and literary events that the festival offered.

Many of you filled out the feedback forms we handed out at the events, but we'd still like to hear from you in terms of what we did well, what we can improve on, and what you'd like to see at future festivals. Please use the comment section for this post to let us know.

It may seem like a year is a long time to wait for the next Get Lit! festival, but don't despair, we'll keep the blog going to let you know about literary news and events in our community. You can also check out our community calendar on the Get Lit! website.

Meanwhile, read some of the festival authors' blogs for the insider perspective of participating in a literary festival. Midge Raymond posted some glorious photos of the Spokane Falls in her Dispatches from Get Lit!. Oliver de la Paz's blog, Pugnacious Pinoy, has great shots of the other authors, as well as other stuff. (Our favorite: Food Porn!)

Martha Silano blogged diligently throughout the festival. Read about her first impression of Spokane and joy over her goody bag in Live From Spokane/Get Lit!, find out how sparkles might help you channel your muse in A Little Bleary Eyed but Still Very Lit, recognize the top ten highlights of a successful Charles Baxter event in Post-Charles Baxter Reading & Conversation at the Bing Theatre, Spokane, learn how to save the environment in David Suzuki Rocks Spokane, find out why Simon Armitage and Kathy Fagan impressed Martha in Get Lit! Finale: Kathy Fagan & Simon Armitage.

A big thank you to all of the festival authors, organizers, olunteers and attendees. Without you, the festival would not have been the great success it was.

THANK YOU!

Cyber Author Panel: What Keeps You Writing?

April will arrive sooner than we think, but it’s still not quick enough for those of us that can’t wait to pick the festival authors’ brains about living the writing life. To satisfy that craving, Get Lit! asked some of the festival authors to blog about what keeps them going. Each response to the question “What Keeps You Writing?” was as unique as the authors themselves. Take our Cyber Author Panel tour of these writers’ blogs:

Kelly Milner Halls writes about being a single mom and keeping your kids in college, but adds that her motivation includes “…a burning curiosity. I was born with an unyielding need to discover the who, what, when, where, why and how of virtually any topic that crosses my field of vision….”

Activists and keeping the fight going inspires Claire Rudolf Murphy to stay at her keyboard, while Midge Raymond describes what it’s like stay motivated as a “writer who is still ‘emerging’ after a decade of slowly but surely getting published stories into the world amid my various day jobs.”

For some, the drive to write is always present. Martha Silano describes writing as something that, “…gives me permission to be silly, absurd, childish, sarcastic, ironic, grave, witty, ponderous, ambivalent, obfuscating, someone else. Who doesn't want to be some or all of these?”

Brandon Schrand acknowledges the hard work but also the reward of realizing that “not only have you placed words in a place where they had not previously existed, but you have done it in a way that affords new ways to see the world, new modes for accessing meaning.”

Many thanks to these fine writers for participating. Visit their blogs, leave them comments, and don’t forget to meet up with them again during our festival! Click on Event Details in our Blog Category list in the right navigation panel to view our festival schedule or visit the Festival Event's Calendar on our new website to find out when and where they will appear.