Judy wishes there was an answer to, "What is voice?" There is no answer. You just find it.
She says that it never gets easier. The only thing that gets easier for her is that she knows how do it now. But "it" doesn't get easier. Her notebook is her security blanket. She never has to face a blank page or blank screen because of what she has in her notebook.
"The first draft is finding the pieces of the puzzle. The next draft is putting the puzzle together."
You come to a conference like this to find inspiration. There can be so much that it can be overwhelming. Judy thinks if she was a new writer here she would be over-stimulated. She suggests to go home with your notes and then forget them because the inspiration will be inside you and just write.
Judy suggests that when hearing advice on what to write or what not to write, don't take it. "When it hits you inside, then it's right. You write it."
In the beginning, Judy says, writing not only changed her life but saved her life.
TIGER EYES will be coming out in theaters. Judy says it might be more emotional on screen that in the pages of the book. (Wow, that's rare. Can't wait to see it.)
About writing dialogue:
"It's the only thing I like to write. I hate the rest of it."
"I like knowing what they're thinking versus what they're saying."
"Dialogue writing is what comes to me naturally and spontaneously. I hear them."
In regard to censorship, Judy mentions getting the censor off your shoulder and not too worry about it. She says, just write and you can think about it later.
She doesn't want to the session to be over. Neither do we!
"I would have killed for an SCBWI when I was starting out. A community. To not feel alone."
Judy Blume's heart-felt thank you to Lin has her choked up, and the rest of us too.
*hearts float all about the huge ballroom*
Awesome, awesome, awesome!! Wow! She's like the first author I ever really got into as a kid.
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