THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601090071
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
Kathleen Brehony had yearned to write a book since she was 12 years old.
Until recently, though, writing a book was a dream that eluded her.
But it wasn't for a lack of trying. She read just about everything she could find that was published on becoming a writer. She purchased several word-processing programs to help her ``practice'' her craft.
But time and again, this Norfolk woman would sit frustrated in front of her computer, trying desperately to find the words to express her feelings. In the end, Brehony, a clinical psychologist, settled for putting together what she calls ``safe'' articles for professional journals, pieces in which she ``just rehashed facts.''
``It wasn't the sort of writing I wanted to do,'' she said.
Unlike Brehony, Karen Jones never has had any trouble finding the words to fill pages. A reporter and weather anchor for WVEC-TV, Jones always has considered herself a writer, even as a child. But for various reasons, Jones kept putting off tackling the one project that intrigued her the most, writing a novel.
A couple of years ago, she decided it was time to stop dreaming and take action.
``There comes a point in your life when you look at yourself and say, `Let's do it.' It was a challenge to myself,'' Jones said. ``But I had no clue how to get published. It's just a jungle out there.''
Lured by the promise of some writing inspiration and a few foolproof techniques for getting published, Brehony and Jones decided to take a series of writing seminars offered through Old Dominion University's continuing education program. But instead of a temporary fix, the two women discovered a writing guru who has changed their lives permanently.
Two years after taking the seminars with author Tom Bird, both are well on their way to realizing their dreams. Brehony's first book is due out this spring by a prominent publisher, and Jones has snared a top-notch literary agent - no easy feat - to market her work.
They're not alone among Bird's former students who have successfully turned his writing method into success. Al How of Virginia Beach has completed his first novel and is working on a second. Some 25 literary agents have expressed interest in representing him.
Other Bird-inspired writers in Hampton Roads - such as Anne Bleicher, Evelyn Misok, Steve Celmer, Phyliss Stewart-Ruffin and Bill Smith - are knocking out novels, short stories, poetry and works of nonfiction that are regularly making the rounds of literary agents and publishers.
Dozens more literary wannabes who have taken Bird's seminars at colleges and universities throughout the country have been phenomenally successful at getting their work published or accepted by literary agents.
Members of the Hampton Roads ``Bird Group,'' who meet monthly, contend their writing coach has discovered the secret to success ... and he's eager to pass it on.
``Tom really knows his stuff,'' said Jones, who has finished her first novel and is working on her second. An agent with the prestigious Dorothy Deering Literary Agency now represents Jones and currently is shopping her completed novel, tentatively titled ``Blood and Heart,'' to publishers.
``He gives you practical ideas to realize your dream,'' Jones said. ``Everything he says to do is right. It really works. I'm just astonished at the depth he gives you.
``Taking his class was one of the brightest things I've ever done.''
Bird's seminars were also just the medicine Brehony, 46, needed for her ailing psyche. Her first book, a nonfiction work titled ``Awakening in Mid-Life,'' is due to be released this spring by Riverhead Press, a new imprint from Putnam.
Brehony is already at work on a second book, tentatively titled ``Ordinary Grace.'' Another nonfiction work, the book examines human spirituality, virtue and other ``family values'' based on a series of personal interviews.
She credits Bird with giving her the confidence to silence her internal ``weenie.''
``He unloosened some things for me,'' Brehony said. ``He really encourages this unconscious, right-brain, listening-to-the-muse kind of thing. He trusts there's this voice in everybody. You just have to access it.
``And Tom is such a cheerleader. He's a very spirited speaker, and he has a ton of information about the publishing business and how to get published. But he's very honest. He doesn't say something is good if it's not.''
A former publicist with the Pittsburgh Pirates who sold his first book at age 25 to Harper and Row, Bird knows all too well what his students are going through. Starting out, he read books on writing; he attended university classes in creative writing. He talked to other writers. He got nowhere.
``People walk out of my seminars knowing what I wish I had known,'' said Bird, 39, who in addition to being a writing coach has written 10 books and some 50 articles in nationally known magazines. In addition to books on writing, Bird has written about Baseball Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Ernie Banks, and American POWs in World War II.
``It's so frustrating to have a dream and not have a mode to achieve it,'' said Bird, a Pennsylvania resident. ``I was seeking to become a writer for 12 years until I sold my first book. I was very frustrated by that time, I got down on my hands and knees and prayed to God to help me. Four months later, I got an offer.''
Elated with gratitude, he made a promise to God to pass along to others what he had learned. So, for the last dozen years, Bird has devoted about 15 percent of his professional time away from writing, traveling the university and college circuit, preaching his method of writing success.
``I'm self-taught,'' he said. ``I learned everything I know through trial and error. Many of these lessons I learned a dozen times before. I call it the Floyd Patterson style of writing. I got the hell knocked out of me, and I kept going down ... but I kept getting up. And I won the fight.''
In his seminars, he speaks to other aspiring writers, from the heart.
``I use no notes; I wing it a lot,'' he says. ``I don't feel anyone should teach you writing from a book.''
But his message is clear: Follow these ``foolproof'' steps, and you'll can get published, too. He said he has even put in counterbalances to keep his students from failing.
Bird believes that ``everybody has a book within them.''
Amazingly, he has drawn all sorts of books from his students. Bird figures some 90 percent of his former students have had their work accepted by at least one literary agent - a step that practically guarantees a sale to a publisher, he says.
``Becoming a writer is such a delicate road to take,'' Bird says. ``If you step a little too far to the right or a little too far to the left, you'll fall down the cliff, and it's hell climbing back up. I try to save them from the bumps and bruises, the nicks and scrapes I went through. If they follow the system, step-by-step, they'll succeed. It really works.'' MEMO: The next session of Tom Bird's Writer's Success Workshop series at Old
Dominion University is set for Feb. 2 and 3. For times, fees and
registration information, call ODU at 683-4423.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by VICKI CRONIS
Lori Lawson, center, discusses her work with fellow writers Alfred
How and Evelyn Misok during a meeting of the ``Bird Group.''
Tom Bird
He'll be back at ODU in February
by CNB