The author of the novel “The Butterfly Lady” shared writing tips and advice with faculty and a few students on Oct. 22 during a virtual reading event.

Dr. Danny Hoey, AACC’s assistant dean of English, literacy and communications, told a group of 52 faculty and alumni to have faith in their own writing ability.

“You have to have some faith in yourself because … the world is going to be hard,” he explained. “This novel got rejected so many times and if I didn’t believe in myself for the work or what I was producing, then I would have been defeated.”

“The Butterfly Lady” won the bronze INDIES award for gay and lesbian adult fiction from Foreword Review in 2013.

Hoey is working on a second novel with a backdrop of the 1966 Hough riots in Cleveland.

Dr. Susan Cohen, the coordinator of AACC’s creative writing program, said she was pleased by the large turnout for the virtual event.

“We think it’s important to expose college students to writers, and to be able to ask them questions and to hear their poems, their stories [and] their plays,” she said.

Jason Holiday, a former student of Hoey’s, said attending the virtual event taught him a lot about the creative writing process.

“One of the biggest things that I struggle with right now is doubting my abilities and knowing who I am,” Holiday, the associate director of the Gator Success Center at the University of Houston-Downtown, said. “And having someone that is very accomplished tell you … ‘You have to kind of believe in who you are’ is something that’s really amazing.”