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.

This Just In: Writers CAN learn while Comatose

I’m guessing many of our readers are making their way back from ACFW National Conference today. I’m not one of them. I couldn’t go this year but was excited to see updates on Facebook and Twitter and to follow the live blog of the awards ceremony.

I imagine that advocating continuing education to those returning from national conference is preaching to the choir. After all, it’s one of the best writing conferences. Some of us might argue the best. You can’t NOT learn from the experience.

Well, maybe that isn’t true. Maybe one day you woke up a zombie, stumbled downstairs in search of yummy brains for breakfast, and through a series of mystifying events ended up in a conference room with only your tattered, moldy clothing as fortification for the day.

That happened to me this weekend.

Somehow wires crossed, the stars fell out of alignment, and I found myself with a birthday slumber party and a Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference planned for the same weekend.

Ten boys, ages six to ten, invaded my home on Friday night. In a display of sheer insanity, I spent all day Friday cleaning for the occasion. I’ll never do that again. I mean, really, only the village idiot tidies her hovel for the approaching Viking horde.

Aside from the noise and the mess, the party went well. My husband, the sainted Kory of Denmark, took over the party at 11 PM, knowing I had to wake up at 5 AM to drive to Denver for SCWBI. Unfortunately, a lightsaber battle broke out shortly after I’d gone to bed. My husband must’ve been quickly vanquished because the young warriors ended up in my bedroom, fiercely battling and oblivious to the maiden trying to sleep.

The maiden got out of bed and kicked them out. The battle raged on until 2 AM, when Kory the Long-Suffering resurrected and decreed that the army must make camp or DIE!

Shortly thereafter, the zombie maiden rose and walked among children’s book enthusiasts.

In all honesty, caffeine kept me vertical but didn’t do much for my learning receptors. I tried to listen to speakers, tried to apply their advice to my writing, tried to network and smile and form coherent sentences. But how could I absorb anything with the mushy head of cauliflower I had for a brain?

You’d be surprised. The good thing about cauliflower is that it has sponge-like properties. On the way home from Denver yesterday afternoon, Mom and I talked over our last session with children’s author Linda Arms White. I mentioned that I liked Linda’s concept of having a bank of words for her picture books. She only has around a thousand words in her bank and must decide how to spend those words wisely. She allows herself only two adverbs per story. In my mind, those adverbs equate to splurge purchases.

Mom said something to the effect of, “See, you did learn something.”

And she was right. Despite my limited brain function, lack of coordination, and occasional drooling, I did manage to absorb several good tidbits of information, and I’m glad I went. My point is, there's no excuse for not benefiting from continuing education. You can always learn something new. Even if you are undead.



Evangeline Denmark co-authored The Dragon and The Turtle (Waterbrook Press, 2010) and The Dragon and the Turtle Go On Safari (Waterbrook Press, 2011). Evangeline also enjoys writing adult fiction and has perhaps allowed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to go to her head.

Continuing Education

Oh my, I see we're doing really well on posting this month. Well, at least Paula was on time! LOL Our topic this month is on continuing education for our writing. And yes, I missed my regular time to blog. And since I'm technically the "leader" of the pack, I'll will take the blame for us being a little lax this month.

I've long been an advocate of constantly learning more about the craft of writing. Since I was very young, I enjoyed writing. Even those many, many essays in high school and college! And I enjoy teaching writing/self-editing whenever I get a chance. And I promote conferences, like the Colorado and Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers conferences, the ACFW national conference (which I am missing this year . . . sigh), and other conferences.

But . . . true confession time . . . I am an online writing class junkie! LOL I'm permanently signed up to the course loop ACFW offers their members. Why not? It's free. And I can hit the delete button as well as anyone on the months I'm not interested in the topic. But usually I keep or copy or print the lessons the "teacher" presents and try to go over them when I get a chance. I don't usually have time to keep up with what people post in response to the assignments, unless the topic really interests me (i.e. is an area I really need help with).

This month is a discussion on including the faith factor in our writing—how much is too much; how much is enough; what is too little, etc. And of course those answers vary as to who we perceive our readers to be and the purpose we write. Sharon Hinck is leading the class, and I consider her one of the best in seamlessly incorporating faith into her books.

Also this month, I'm taking a course from Writer University on pacing in novels. Mary Buckham (co-author with Dianna Love of Break into Fiction) is leading the class, and I'm finding it challenging and extremely helpful. I'm behind, but already I've seen how the beginnings of my current wip (historical mystery) and the revision of my amateur sleuth mystery can be redone to start the stories out at the right pace. Good stuff.

I've also taken courses from Writers Online Classes and Beau Monde and the Orange County RWA chapter. Usually they run about $30 for a month-long class, a little more for Masters classes. For various reasons, this is the first class I've taken online this year, but I've taken many over the past several years.

As for the impact on my writing and editing, I can't begin to put a value on these classes—only that they are worth much more than I pay as far as the information and skills I've acquired as a result. Check out some of these places that offer classes in various formats and choose what looks best for you and your pocketbook.

Happy writing!

The Storycrafter's Seminar in Denver!

The Storycrafter's Seminar
Featuring Susan May Warren
RITA Award Winning Novelist and Writing Coach

Saturday, November 13th, 8:30 am - 4 pm
Graystone Castle Event Center
I-25 & 120th Avenue
Thornton, Colorado
Registration check-in and continental breakfast begin at 8:30 am. Seminar begins at 9 am.

Come with an idea...leave with a story!

Have you always wanted to write a story but didn't know where to start? If so, the Storycrafter's Seminar is for you! RITA Award-winning author and writing coach Susan May Warren will teach you story structure, go step-by-step in the character creation and plotting process, then show you how to apply it to your story. She'll brainstorm your idea, share essential secrets of storytelling, and finally, you'll take home a plan that will act as a map for your novel. With time for writing, as well as learning, it's a day for writers of all levels that will jump-start your novel onto the road to publication.

Registration

Early-bird registration is $89 from July 1st - September 30, 2010. Registration is open to both ACFW members and non-members. Those who register by September 30th will be entered into a drawing to receive a $50 cash refund on their registration fee. One winner will be chosen. Drawing to be held on day of seminar. Prices will increase to $109 October 1st, and space is limited, so register early! Registration ends November 1, 2010.

The event will be held in Thornton, Colorado, 12 miles north of downtown Denver and 30 minutes from the airport, in the Graystone Castle Event Center. Admission to the event includes:

* Storycrafter's workbook
* Continental breakfast
* Deli lunch buffet

For registration instructions, click here.

ACFW members, please enter discount code "ACFW" to receive a 5% discount. Membership must be current. Discount available for early-bird registration only.

Speaker

Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of twenty-five novels with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill. A RITA winner, as well as a four-time Christy award finalist, she's also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Book of the Year. A seasoned women's events speaker, she's a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer's workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com , a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at her website.

Schedule

8:30 am - 9:00 am Registration check-in and continental breakfast
9:00 am - 10:15 am Session
10:15 am - 10:30 am Break
10:30 am - Noon Session
Noon - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:15 pm Session
2:15 pm - 2:30 pm Break
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm Session/End

What is Humor?

This question reminds me of a deep, almost transcendent, questioning of the universe that I witnessed in junior high. We were all sitting around eating lunch, when my brother’s friend, Shawn, paused with his spoon hovering over his pudding cup. With brows scrunched over bewildered eyes, he looked from his dessert to his lunch companions and uttered this thought-provoking inquiry:

“What is pudding?”

Now I’m positive that Shawn knew the ingredients that constitute pudding. He’d surely seen it made a time or two, perhaps even made it himself. And, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, Shawn was more than capable of reading the nutritional information on his Snack Pack. But despite all that concrete information, Shawn retained a capacity for wonder at the odd, not-quite-liquid, not-quite-solid, creamy, thick, wobbly, tasty substance dubbed “Pudding”.

Like pudding, humor can be dissolved into components. We can talk about set-ups and punch lines, witty banter, and comedic approaches such as ‘it’s funny because it’s true,’ but the fact remains that there is something unquantifiable about humor. After all, who hasn’t been caught up in a moment of pure hysterical laughter that to the outside observer looks an awful lot like insanity? If said concerned observer asked for an explanation, the humor would be lost in translation.

This happened to me the other day when I tried to explain how and why my husband and I had a discussion about a fictitious woman married to a taxidermist who made her purses out of whole preserved ducks and Easter dresses out of bunny pelts.

See. Not funny. But in the proper state of lunacy, well, it was hilarious.

So how does this all apply to writing? My point is that we can and should study the techniques of comedic writing. We should know the ingredients. For instance, we should be able to craft a witty comment to lighten some heavy dialogue or bring a character into a scene for a bit of well-timed slap stick. We should be armed with sufficient vocabulary to nail a reader’s funny bone with just the right word.

But there will always be a certain element of magic when it comes to humor. It can take you by surprise, wiggling into the back of your mind and congealing there like warm milk, cornstarch, and sugar. As you edit or read through your previous chapter in preparation to write a new one, check to see if humor might be oozing onto the page. Go ahead and let if flow. And, like Shawn, you will be filled with wonder as you contemplate something not quite explainable.


Evangeline Denmark has storytelling on her heart and in her blood. The daughter of novelist, Donita K. Paul, Evangeline grew up living and breathing good stories. She has co-authored two children’s books, The Dragon and the Turtle (available now) and The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari (available 1-11-11) and also writes adult fiction. Evangeline is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers, serving as chapter secretary. You can find Evangeline online at her blogspot Breath In Breathe Out and at
www.dragonandturtle.com