What a treat to attend the University of Rhode Island’s Ocean State Summer Writing Conference as both participant and panelist this past week! Dr. Mary Cappello’s moving introduction of the first keynote speaker, Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright and Novelist Ayad Akhtar, included a twenty-year-old piece of homework she had saved from when Ayad had been her student at URI.

She’d been moved by the depth of his work diagramming a poem–in far more depth than the assignment had called for.  Akhtar’s advice for writers included:

– Write Every Day: Find a word count to live by. Akhtar pointed out that Victor Hugo had his servant push an armoire in front of his bedroom door so he couldn’t leave his writing desk.

– Write Toward the Unknown: It’s always struck me as well that we do our best writing when we discover something new ourselves and don’t just stick comfortably with what we already known.  In Akhtar’s words, “Write about it in a way that there is a question you have not answered.” He also suggested to, “find what your perspective is and move towards the opposite. Along the way you’ll discover something.”

– Show Your Work: Use discernment in deciding who to show it to, so you’ll get useful feedback. “Find trusted readers.”

– Persevere: Akhtar shared the vicissitudes of his career  and the commitment it took to persevere when faced with the earlier limitations of his writing. After all, it takes time to write at a Pulitzer Prize level–and some of that early writing may not be so hot. Keep writing.

Akhtar’s reading from American Dervish inspired me to buy a signed copy, which I’m very much looking forward to reading this weekend. Perhaps I’ll hear the author’s voice in my head as I read.