Collingswood Book Festival bring out local authors
A Maple Shade writer who decided to write about subjects that were less real will be highlighting the Collingswood Book Festival Oct. 3.
Lorraine Agnew spent 18 years working for a local newspaper. Covering feature stories, including stories about weddings, businesses and senior citizens, Agnew said she was always embedded in the community. That paper laid her off in December, and she’s now a correspondent for another local paper, but she said she hopes a career in creative writing will bloom.
Agnew readily admits that she didn’t go to school to become a writer. Having only a “love of writing” as her credentials, she accepted a job as an editorial assistant, on the condition that she would be able to write. Agnew got her on-the-job training, and when she asked her executive editor whether she should go back to college and study writing, the boss told her it was unnecessary — as she’d only have to be retrained anyway.
“It wasn’t until I started writing for the paper that I actually learned how to write,” Agnew said. “I thought I knew how to write, [but] I think people who want to write, but never actually do it, think they can write, and then you hook up with an editor, and the editor starts honing your skills, and you start realizing, ‘Wow, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.’
And that’s why having on-the-job training is so great. Every word that you write, you’re responsible for. Somebody is going to look at it, and change it or agree [with it].”
When she started her newspaper career, Agnew said she had a hard time keeping away from editorializing. Also, she said she was never one for covering hard news, favoring the “featurey” stuff instead. Agnew still remembers the first story to feature her byline in the paper — which needed to be cut in half … and then cut in half again.
It ran on Thanksgiving and was about two friends: one of them needed a kidney.
Agnew, along with her photographer, wound up observing the operation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
“It was an amazing experience,” she said. “It was my first big story, and I was writing a saga,” she said.
A fan of science-fiction movies, Agnew said she’s in the final editing process for her new book, “Inheritors of the Earth.” It’s about aliens, Area 51 and focuses on the thoughts of UFO believers.
Another one of her books, “Random Days,” is also fiction, but a little less so than those who may or may not have visited Roswell. Revolving around a woman who relives some bad days of her childhood, the people in the book are similar to the people in her family, though the names are changed — slightly. Agnew said she did take some liberties with the book, as she can only remember six bad days as a child.
“As my one friend said, ‘I heard all of your whiny stories — I don’t want to have read ‘em too,’ but she bought my book anyway. I think she uses it to hold her door open, but that’s OK,” Agnew said.
Though she said she likes writing community-based feature stories, she said writing books is different. Instead of writing someone else’s story, you’re writing your own story, she said. And while Agnew feels at home covering the local news, she feels at home, hulled away in her office, alone with her thoughts.
Agnew said she’s looking forward to the book festival, and her 10-foot by 10-foot piece of real estate. It’s not about selling a lot of books or making a ton of money, but rather getting out in the community — something she has done for so long.
“It’s just kind of fun when someone says, ‘Oh, I love the way you write,’” Agnew said. “I thought, ‘Wow! Someone actually likes the way I write!’”
The Collingswood Book Festival will be held on Main Street, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the festival and other local authors appearing there, visit www.collingswoodbookfestival.com; and for more information on Lorraine Agnew, visit www.lorraineagnew.com.
Lorraine Agnew spent 18 years working for a local newspaper. Covering feature stories, including stories about weddings, businesses and senior citizens, Agnew said she was always embedded in the community. That paper laid her off in December, and she’s now a correspondent for another local paper, but she said she hopes a career in creative writing will bloom.
Agnew readily admits that she didn’t go to school to become a writer. Having only a “love of writing” as her credentials, she accepted a job as an editorial assistant, on the condition that she would be able to write. Agnew got her on-the-job training, and when she asked her executive editor whether she should go back to college and study writing, the boss told her it was unnecessary — as she’d only have to be retrained anyway.
“It wasn’t until I started writing for the paper that I actually learned how to write,” Agnew said. “I thought I knew how to write, [but] I think people who want to write, but never actually do it, think they can write, and then you hook up with an editor, and the editor starts honing your skills, and you start realizing, ‘Wow, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.’
And that’s why having on-the-job training is so great. Every word that you write, you’re responsible for. Somebody is going to look at it, and change it or agree [with it].”
When she started her newspaper career, Agnew said she had a hard time keeping away from editorializing. Also, she said she was never one for covering hard news, favoring the “featurey” stuff instead. Agnew still remembers the first story to feature her byline in the paper — which needed to be cut in half … and then cut in half again.
It ran on Thanksgiving and was about two friends: one of them needed a kidney.
Agnew, along with her photographer, wound up observing the operation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
“It was an amazing experience,” she said. “It was my first big story, and I was writing a saga,” she said.
A fan of science-fiction movies, Agnew said she’s in the final editing process for her new book, “Inheritors of the Earth.” It’s about aliens, Area 51 and focuses on the thoughts of UFO believers.
Another one of her books, “Random Days,” is also fiction, but a little less so than those who may or may not have visited Roswell. Revolving around a woman who relives some bad days of her childhood, the people in the book are similar to the people in her family, though the names are changed — slightly. Agnew said she did take some liberties with the book, as she can only remember six bad days as a child.
“As my one friend said, ‘I heard all of your whiny stories — I don’t want to have read ‘em too,’ but she bought my book anyway. I think she uses it to hold her door open, but that’s OK,” Agnew said.
Though she said she likes writing community-based feature stories, she said writing books is different. Instead of writing someone else’s story, you’re writing your own story, she said. And while Agnew feels at home covering the local news, she feels at home, hulled away in her office, alone with her thoughts.
Agnew said she’s looking forward to the book festival, and her 10-foot by 10-foot piece of real estate. It’s not about selling a lot of books or making a ton of money, but rather getting out in the community — something she has done for so long.
“It’s just kind of fun when someone says, ‘Oh, I love the way you write,’” Agnew said. “I thought, ‘Wow! Someone actually likes the way I write!’”
The Collingswood Book Festival will be held on Main Street, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the festival and other local authors appearing there, visit www.collingswoodbookfestival.com; and for more information on Lorraine Agnew, visit www.lorraineagnew.com.
