Destin writers put it on paper at first meeting

What does it take to get your writing published?

“You walk into Barnes & Noble, there’s thousands of books and you wonder how the heck do they all get published,” novelist Betty Lazarini told Destin’s Writers in Sandals group recently at its first meeting. “How the heck is a little bitty book going to sell when Nora Roberts has a whole shelf?”

For some of the almost 20 attendees, getting published was the goal that drew them out on a Saturday morning; others were interested in writing or learning to write better.

“We collaborated on a novel,” Rachel Gripp said of herself and her husband Leonard. “We would like an exchange of ideas with the group. When you have an exchange of ideas with people you tend to grow.”

“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” her husband said. “Whatever you can teach us, we’re ready to go.”

Diane Fiore said she had a story to tell, but she couldn’t seem to get her direction: “I’m hoping this will give me the juices and self-discipline to do it.”

Ariel Lowerson said she’d written for trade journals and newspapers, but she and her husband Bill were committed to writing a book about their life: “Since I met Bill 15 years ago, our life has been an incredible adventure.”

Okaloosa County film commissioner Linda Sergeant said she was working on a film script and needed to learn to write better dialog.

Brenda Barnes recently published the non-fiction “The Wine and Chocolate Evacuation Plan,” and Lazarini has her first novel, “A Promised Land of Plenty,” in print. Although it was Lazarini who organized the group, she told the recruits she’d rather be a moderator than a teacher.

 “I thought we’d try visualizing a fictional story,” she told the group after the introductions. “We’re just going to create a story.”

Like a game of Gossip, Lazarini said, they’d each add something to the story as it passed around the table. Bit by bit, it emerged:

•The protagonist is a red-headed girl.

•She’s eight, chases seagulls, likes videogames and loves watching “Wheel of Fortune.”

•She’s the baby of the family with two brothers. And she has a clubfoot.

•She’s sad because of a secret: She’s clairvoyant.

•She found a magic seashell on the beach and a man came out of it to talk about her secret.

•She’s a cutter — someone who cuts their own body — and the man is a therapist using the seashell as an analogy to connect with her.

“What we’ve learned from this is that we have an imagination we can pull from when we’re writing,” Lazarini said.

“If the direction you’re going in doesn’t seem right, go in another direction.”

The group discussed what to do at future meetings: Bring in a professional writer for a presentation? Share and critique each others’ work? For the August meeting, they agreed to work on dialog.

Want to go?
The next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Aug. 15, at the Destin Library’s Calhoun Room.