Written by member Diane O’Neill

I first met StoryStudio Chicago people at a table at the 2009 AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference, my very first writing conference. I’ve attended other conferences, but all related to my profession in the field of disability rights. The setting was similar: a hotel with vibrant plush carpeting and chandelier lightings, concurrent forums, tables with brochures aplenty, representatives of different organizations. But this time, instead of panels talking about independent living or provisions of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) or how the Internet can be made more accessible to people who are deaf or blind, I squeezed into rooms to hear people with publishing credits that steal my breath away talk about YA fiction or the ramifications about writing about your family or literature as a force for social justice. I was in a candy store, and the rooms with tables upon tables of publishers and writing organizations was like stepping into a Fannie Mae or Hershey’s factory showroom.

Jill was the StoryStudio rep, and I idly picked up a flier. “Why, this is right in my neighborhood!” I exclaimed, noting that I was an addicted writer but how solitary the profession was.

“Then we’re right here for you!” was her reply.

Since then, I’ve attended writeathons and a couple of one-night classes and an Author Talk presentation by YA authors detailing their road to publication. (I bought and read Simone Elkeles’s Perfect Chemistry and found it to be just that--perfect!) I attended the Beaux Arts party and listened to Molly read the hilarious prologue of her YA novel. But I hadn’t shared any of my own writing and felt a little bit like an imposter--"Sure she haunts writeathons--but can she write?” As a writer with an impressive stack of rejections (including some “good” ones), I love sharing my work, so when Lisa (StoryStudio events coordinator) announced the potluck reading, I immediately signed up. 

On March 22, readers and audience gathered in a corner of the studio, sofa and comfy arm chairs arranged in a circle--with a special chair designated “the throne” for the on-the-spot reader. We munched on snacks, including my homemade Irish bread. Three members read fiction: a YA novel excerpt about a dysfunctional family being televised for reality TV; literary science fiction about a woman who realizes from a photograph that she’s lost a significant memory and consults a psychic/mechanic; and a poetic work, “I am Lane,” about a sociopath, hinting that all of us listeners and readers are, too, sociopaths. I read memoir excerpts about two best friends who have died, hoping to show how their light lives on. Reading about Jennie and Maggie was intense; I found myself shaking afterwards. But what a creative, encouraging group--what a positive experience! (And afterwards, my 18-year-old son celebrated with me at our neighborhood Mexican restaurant!)

It’s only a little more than a year, but I’m glad I attended that AWP conference and walked past that StoryStudio table. I’m hoping that StoryStudio hosts more potluck readings--I’ll bring the Irish bread--and I hope more members join the fun! 

About Diane:
I am a curriculum designer and writer for the Hadley School for the Blind, and my six-word memoir ("The Bobbsey Twins Saved My Life") is in SMITH Magazine’s “It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.” I live blocks away from StoryStudio with my 18-year-old son (who’s getting ready to zoom off to college) and three feline muses. Currently, a friend and I are working on a comedy about hexing exes for Script Frenzy.