Keep on Learning

The process of writing is a life-long journey of learning.

There are many ways to learn about the craft of writing. Online writing courses, books, critique groups, participation in a local group, talking with other writers, and yes, even conferences, retreats, and seminars -- if you are open to learn, you will be able to take away a nugget from any of these situations. If you aren't open to learning, you can spend a lot of time and money and not get any benefit from any or all of these activities.

See, I think continuing education is a lot like meal preparation. We start with the meat and potatoes of a story. We have some characters, a setting, maybe even a time period. We start cooking our ingredients together, hoping to come up with something delicious at the end.

Okay, so here is where continuing education comes in: learning new things about our craft of writing is like opening a cook book and getting a new recipe for cooking chicken. Sure, you could take your pieces of chicken and do what you always do with it. Or, you can take a recipe from a book and add a few extra ingredients, and come up with a wonderful dish your family asks for again and again.

In the same way, you can take your characters, your setting, your time period, string them together in the same old way, and come up with a book nobody wants to read. Or, you can open a book on writing, go to a critique group, attend a writer's meeting, buy a tape from a conference -- and add a dash of expertise, a teaspoon of craft, a pinch of grammar and style, and come up with a book that has your readers asking "When is the next one coming out?"

Continuing education, in all its forms, will spice up your writing, will make the process go faster and easier for you, and will open doors to editors. Learning more about the craft of writing will improve your plots, make your characters more believable, and will garner you faithful readers.

So whatever form of continuing education you choose, start out with a desire to be better at what you do, to wisely use the gifts God has given you, and to have a teachable heart, intent on being the best you can be.

One Thing Leads to Another

It is with pleasure that I welcome Mary Davis back to the blog rotation. She is now serving WWW, the Colorado Springs chapter as treasurer.

The conference debate. Do I go to this conference or that conference? Or not at all.

~~After all I haven’t had anything published.

~~I’m between contracts.

~~I don’t have anything to show an editor or agent.

~~I’m not ready.

These and many other excuses keep writers from conferences. I don’t know that anyone is actually ready for their first conference. I know I wasn’t. I don’t know that you can be ready for a conference until you’ve been to one to see what they’re about and get a feel for them.

Going to a first conference prepares you for the second which prepares you for the third and fourth and so on. At each conference you learn and are more prepared for the next one.

Conferences are more than just about going to workshops to learn and hunting that elusive contract. They are about connecting with people. Connecting with other writers, making new friends. Friends that make you do things you may not be ready for.

My trip to conferenceland started with a friend who made me take the first step to get us in a crit group. One thing led to another and I was in another crit group with someone who told me about a conference.  I was so green and unprepared to go to a conference, but I went and met a woman who told me about better conference that she said I had to go to. I went. I was still very green and didn’t know much.

My new friend was there and sat at a table with a particular editor that she knew I needed to talk to. Then she abandoned me. I was scared to death. Somehow I managed to say enough intelligible words that the editor told me to make an appointment with her. Eventually that editor gave me a contract for my first book.

Conferences aren’t always about writing either. Some conferences I’ve been to the Lord has taught me some life and spiritual lessons. Sometimes going to a conference is about reaching out to another person with help or encouragement.

You never know what road the Lord will lead you down, what twists and turns there will be on your journey, but if you don’t journey, you will never get there.

So ready or not, go for it and see what the Lord wants to teach you.

2009 Peak Writing Conference

I know that a couple of people have already posted about this recently but I’m excited about our chapter hosting this event and I don’t want anyone to miss it. It’s this Saturday, February 28th, doors open at 9 am to begin check-in. If the weather is bad, we’ll make a determination and let you know if we have to move the conference to our snow date of March 7th.

We have three awesome speakers who will teach and inspire us in our writing, author Donita K. Paul, author Lisa Tawn Bergren, and agent Beth Jusino. We are planning to record the session, but I’m in charge of that and I’m about as untechie as you get. I could give you a list of a dozen people or so who will verify this but I won’t bore you with that. You’ll just have to trust me.

Anyway, I’m going to get together with a tech person at my church this week to learn how to do all that. When I have succeeded (I have to have confidence), then we will make a CD of the sessions we get permission to record and offer that CD for sale. So whether you attend the conference or not, we are hoping to have the CD available for purchase.

Besides our authors and the CDs, we will have paid critiques you can sign up for to be completed via e-mail at a later date. You can pay for the critique at the conference and send in the selection to be critiqued later. We will not be doing any critiques at the conference.

We have autographed books to give away and other freebies. Anyone attending the conference who would like to sell books at our book table is welcome to do so. Download the form and bring it with you. Let Tiff know if you will be bringing books so she can have a space for you.

We will also be announcing our speaker line-up for next year.

Then to end the whole event we will have a book signing. This will include the speakers as well as any attendees who want to sign their books for people.

We do have limited space and limited food, so if you are planning to come and plan to pay at the door, let us know so we can hold a spot for you.

I look forward to seeing you there! :-)