By Adam Pulchinski

Marketing Coordinator Austin Area Commission For the Arts

So if a picture is worth a thousand words, does the opposite hold true that a thousand words make a picture?

It does make some kind of sense, especially when you think about how we read. As someone who writes, I can definitely admire the ease with which a picture, whether a painting or photograph, can convey an entire story.

I admire it because I’ve done it, and I’ve also done the other which is to sit and stare at a screen and type until words form sentences, and hopefully those sentences come together as some kind of story, either fiction or informational.

I’ve never done anything the length of a novel, but I know many who have, and I can tell you it can be an arduous process. If it’s a work of fiction, there are so many details that a person might not have ever imagined needing to be mapped out to complete even the shortest of short stories. If it’s non-fiction, depending on the subject matter, the hours, days, weeks, months, and years of research that can be involved would make some people go insane.

This is why not every one can do it, even in today’s internet age. And you can tell when someone has put in the work and when they have not. When they have, it’s important to recognize their hard work, and if they have found some measure of it, their success as well. So the Austin ArtWorks Festival gladly welcomes writers. They are welcomed to show our support and give them some recognition, and to learn more about what they’ve written.

Giving some major insight into the process of writing is coming straight from the New York Times Best Selling horse’s mouth, too. Grant Blackwood, a former Austin resident and previous ArtWorks Festival guest, will be giving tricks of the trade, pointers, and advice to those wishing to learn as part of a workshop at the Austin Public Library Thursday, Aug. 25. Space is limited, so I’d get contacting them if you’re interested.

Blackwood is the author of the Briggs Tanner series and the co-author of the Fargo Adventure Series with Clive Cussler. He’s also worked with James Rollins and with Tom Clancy (having also written under his banner following Clancy’s death). Not only will he be doing a workshop, he’ll have a presentation spot at the Historic Downtown Power Plant during the Festival.

But Blackwood isn’t the only author by any stretch. Other authors include Douglas Wood and John Duren, David Housewright, Sarah Stonich, Virginia Wright-Peterson, Gail Kittleson, Peggy Keener, Jennifer Schwertfeger, and Sherri Hansen. Each day of the Festival will also feature a panel of three authors- the first being Janet Moe, Kara Page, Judi Bergen, and the second being Harriet Ulland, John Haymond, and Jeff Ollman.

I can assure you’ll want to know them all, and just as our social media pages have been showing off visual artists, the authors will get some of that spotlight in the coming weeks. So keep an eye out for that and updates to our website: http://www.austinareaarts.org/festival-about/