A couple weeks ago, I went to the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Honestly, I'd never heard of them. Turned out to be a big deal, and who knew there were so many creative writing programs in the U.S.?
Two takeaways:
At a panel on "immersion journalism," several authors said you can never do too much research. I thought I was done researching my current project last summer, and since then I've got a half dozen more books to plow through.
Another panel on "voice." A well-published novelist said he keeps writing a character and the character's voice stands up on its own. A particular challenge in my current project because there are so many characters involved.