Conference Gems

I love attending writing conferences. I love the networking and the chance to see old friends and meet new ones (often folks I've associated with online but not met in person). The Storymaker conference was in May, and the Indie Author Hub conference was in June. Sometimes I take home only inspiration and energy.

Some years, I hit the jackpot for what I need at the moment!

At Storymaker:

• An inspiring and uplifting keynote from Martine Leavitt - her  intensive where she taught us (Cliff Notes version) what her MFA students learn.
• The Power of Deep Editing by Margie Lawson (I'd love to take one of her longer classes).

TAKE HOME: Emotional hits add power to your story and you do that by powering up the emotion. She compared emotional hits to drink sizes at your local Stop N Go. Save your Big Gulp for that important moment. No more than one or two in an entire book.

• Making the most of your writing time by Tracy Hunter Abramson. 

TAKE HOME: Begin your day with writing something creative, even if it's only a few minutes. It will get your creativity going and fuel you for the rest of your day.

At IAH (this was a much smaller and more intimate setting--it was fabulous!):

• Great keynote and classes by Michaelbrent Collings. He has a great sense of humor and really got into a game.
  

TAKE HOME: "Being an author is one of the hardest and most frightening jobs in the world." - Michaelbrent Collings

 "If I was good at regular life, I wouldn't be a writer." - Michaelbrent Collings 

• Christine Kiersey did a class on doing newsletters. I'm dreadful at them, so I found this very useful

TAKE HOME: Once you have enough books, use a permafree book as reward for signing up for your newsletter. Tell them about it in the front of your other books and then remind them about it at the end.

• The Power of Four by J. Scott Savage. Oh, my heck! This was a class about pacing and just what I needed.

TAKE HOME: You can take your story and break it into four parts. He reviewed what should be included in each of those four parts. I came home and immediately implemented it in the ghost story I was editing. 

I gleaned a lot more at the conferences, but those are a few of the highlights. I feel so armed now and ready to battle on!

I've been critiquing and getting ready for family who will be moving in with us. What did you do for the weekend?

Grammar Thursday and Life, the Universe and Everything

Ever get confused about which to use--who or whom? It's not as complicated as you might think. Ask yourself a simple question:

Who is doing what to whom?

The one doing the action is the subject: who.  The one being acted upon is the object: whom. 

This is where I am for three days. I'll chat about it in future posts. 

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Letting Go

I've learned so much about writing over the past year and even since the beginning of 2011 after joining a couple of critique groups and attending two conferences. I've been trying to consider the comments made in the critiques and as a result I decided to take one suggestion (made by two different readers) and rewrite my ms to follow a slightly different plot line and see how it goes. I finished Part 1 (there are 3 parts) this weekend.

This happens to be WIP #1 for me (I have two others partially done). I hear a lot about how your first book is always a piece of trash and you should just write it and get it out of your system and move on. As a stupid newbie, I'm not sure I agree. Here's what I'm thinking.

1. I love the story. Even if it's never good enough to publish, I will get it formatted and have it printed so I have a copy of it. Because of this I want it to be the very best little story it can be.

2. This manuscript is the one I'm practicing on. It's completely finished, and the plot is solid (as others have confirmed for me). I look at this book kind of like I did when I taught myself how to read crochet instructions. My grandmother had taught me how to do a simple granny stitch, and I'd made several afghans over the years. But I didn't know how to read a pattern. I purchased a book, a thing of crochet string, and a hook of the correct size. I went to work and when I'd finish a certain technique, I'd unravel what I'd done and start on the next project. I did this until I could read just about any pattern. The string had been used to many times it had become discolored and I threw it away. But the experience was incredibly useful.

I'm on edit/rewrite 9 of my ms because I keep learning new techniques and writing pitfalls to watch out for. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time, and from the feedback I've received it's getting better (so hopefully I haven't taken the heart out of it by all my editing).

3. Once I'm finished with this one, I will (I hope) be better trained as I approach completing those other works.

I'm very much the personality type to start something and finish it. I love being able to say I completed a task--and this task I love. I hope I'm not like the old Harry/Hermione shippers--delusional--and hanging on when I should just set this project aside and let go.

What about you? Do you ever wonder if you've hung on too long? How do you decide it's okay to keep going or cut the apron strings?