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By Wade Rouse

“There’s no straight line for a dream,” Wade Rouse told writers in a poignant keynote talk to close the April 4-6 Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop.

“There is no timetable. Every story deserves to be told. Every voice deserves to be heard. The only thing holding us back is fear: It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else. I have that Erma quote on a plaque over my writing desk. The only things you need to succeed you already have inside of you: A history. A story. A unique voice. And a heart to guide you.”

Read his full address.

Rouse is the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of five memoirs and 12 novels. He writes fiction under his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the Ozarks seamstress whose sacrifices changed his family’s life. Writer’s Digest has named him “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (he was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson).

The next Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop is March 26-28, 2026.