Hi Writers,
I'm finally recovering from the 6-hour jet lag from Hawaii following the Maui Writers Conference and a week of frolicking on the big island—swimming in the wild with dolphins and watching hot lava spill into the sea—talk about inspiration!

The Maui Writers Conference was fabulous. Brian wrote some great post-conference articles including Gary Braver's 10 basic ingredients of a successful thriller and Steve Berry's 8 Rules of Writing, both of which are pulled from sessions we attended.

But as always seems to happen with conferences, the most inspirational words came from the mouths of the writers who are just on the cusp of making it.

Eldon Thompson first went to the Maui Writers Conference in 2000 to study with his writer/hero Terry Brooks. In 2003, after multiple trips back to the conference and much work on his manuscript, Thompson sold his 3-book fantasy trilogy Legend of Asahiel to HarperCollins and he's just finished the screenplay adaptation of Terry Brooks' Shanarra series.

It's success stories like this that make it all seem worthwhile. We'll be offering video streaming of sessions from Maui coming soon via WritersDigest.tv so be sure to check back.

Keep Writing,
Maria

pictured below: 
Eldon Thompson at the Maui Writers Conference
Maui Writers Conference opening ceremony