writer’s resources

Archive for the 'writer's resources' Category

Jul

Guest blogger Patricia W (sorta)

By writerds 6 Comments

Categories: blogosphere, for writers, romance, writer's resources and writing
Tags: do's, dont's, guest blogger, monday, Patricia W, writing, writing classes

I was over at Patricia Woodside’s blog and found a post that made me say yes, YES, YESSS! I teach a fair amount of writing courses, and I’d never seen a post anywhere that helped potential online participants (a) decide on which course to take; (b) how to behave once you sign up.

To Patricia I say, thank you, thank you, first for writing the post and second for allowing me to post it here and to feature it on my for writers page.

For more sage advice from Patricia, vist her blog. For now, enjoy her post on writing workshops.

Online Writing Classes, Do’s and Don’ts

I don’t know that anyone has ever published etiquette or guidelines for behavior related to taking online classes but I thought someone might find my observations and experiences helpful. So here’s my take on this:

First, the Don’ts:
Don’t take a class if you don’t have time for it.
Sure, you can get and print out the lessons but why not wait for a later time when you’ll be fully engaged? You and your fellow partiicipants will gain more from your full involvement. And, if there is limited class size, you won’t be taking up space that could be used by someone who’s ready to learn.

Don’t take a class and then share all the handouts with all of your writing buddies and critique partners.
Yes, the material was great and you just know all your writer friends will think so too. Encourage them to take the class. What did it cost you, 20 bucks? Support the instructor and class sponsor by encouraging others to enroll.

Don’t be afraid to participate.
You may find yourself in the company of other published writers, or at least a whole lot of folks who seem to know a lot more about this writing thing than you do. Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated! Sit at your desk, in your most comfy pjs, and jump right in! Ask questions, engage in discussions, and lend your support of the other class members, many of whom feel just like you.

Don’t take a class and assume you are now an expert on the subject.
This one can be difficult, especially if the material really resonated with you. Perhaps you really do have a deeper understanding of the subject mattter. Put it to work in your writing so that you can truly master it.

Don’t allow the class to overwhelm with what you don’t know.
Some of the classes are short, maybe only a week or two. At the end, you may feel no more enlightened than when you started. Keep studying until you hit the nugget of truth that helps you to get it.

Don’t assume what you just learned is the only way to approach the subject matter.
Writing is like baking a cake. There are many recipes, all of which result in delicious eating. If something doesn’t resonate with you, don’t bad mouth it. Realize you still got something out of the class. You learned what doesn’t work for you.

Don’t take the class as an opportunity to posit your own theory on the subject matter.
This is the instructor’s class, not yours. Input is certainly welcomed but don’t take up the instructor’s time nor that of your classmates, challenging every point the instructor makes. If you’re not truly interested in learning the subject matter as it’s being taught, or quickly discover that the class is not for you, simply bow out. Don’t try to hijack the course and change it into what you need it to be.

Now the Do’s…

DO seek class recommendations.
DO research the class and instructor before signing up.
DO register before the deadline.
DO devote reasonable time to the workshop.
DO complete the assignments.
DO engage in class discussions.
DO ask questions.
DO keep up with the pace of the class so your questions are timely.
DO network with other class participants.
DO use digest to manage the message volume.
DO print out or download the lessons and handouts.
DO soak up as much information as you can, keeping what will be helpful to you, and graciously discarding the rest.

Most of all, keep writing!

One last point. I find the majority of online classes are offered between January and September, with July being an “off” month due to the RWA convention. Plan accordingly.

Peace & Blessings,
PatriciaW
Stay focused. Move Forward. Believe.

Jun

Ooops (upside the head, or otherwise)

By writerds 0 Comments

Categories: mystery, romantic suspense, writer's resources and writing

Forgive me folks. It’s been brought to my attention that there is a little confusion involving the class I’m teaching this summer. Apparently in the body of the post it stated that class began the week of May 19, though the schedule for the class lists the first lesson will be posted the week of June 30th. Obviously, that doesn’t jibe and May 19th has already passed, so that can’t be right. Unfortunately, I had intended to give the class in the spring, but that didn’t work out, which accounts for the May 19th date that I forgot to change. Many apologies for that.

So, if you were thinking about taking this course, no you haven’t missed anything. Class doesn’t start until June 30th. Registration is open until the Friday before the first class. Just in case, here’s the complete, revised announcement.

National bestselling, Emma-award winning author for Romance Suspense Deirdre Savoy will be facilitating this month-long workshop set to begin the week of June 30. This workshop is for authors wanting to learn the basic craft of writing romantic suspense or those seeking to add a bit of dramatic spice to any novel.

Course syllabus:

June 30: What is suspense–how do you achieve it and how do you use it:
Jul 7: Dark suspense vs. light suspense–how to create the effect you want
July 14: The devil in the details–making suspense believable.
July 21: Love on the run–how to use suspense to heighten the romance and vice versa.

Each week, a lecture and assignment will be posted. Completion and posting of assigned work for peer review is not mandatory but advised if students want to get the most from the class.

Who should take this course:

–first time R/S authors looking to learn the basics
–R/S authors looking to hone their craft
–any author interested in taking their writing to new levels

How to register: Apply for group membership here. You will receive an e-mail telling you how to make payment. Once tuition is received, you will be added to the group.

Tuition: $25.00 (plus a $2.00 administrative fee).
BONUS: FREE SYNOPSIS CRITIQUE FOR THE FIRST FIVE STUDENTS TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION!

May

The Roof, the roof, the roof is on fiyah

By writerds 0 Comments

Categories: in the news, mystery, writer's resources, writing and wtf?

Normally, I pay no attention whatsoever to Fifty Cents (I refuse to debase myself to call him Fitty or whatever). However, the story of his house burning down with his baby and baby mama inside just couldn’t be ignored. Already law enforcement is calling it suspicious, and as baby mama tells it, he vowed to kill her. Now I don’t know whether that’s true but, like many other things, this event reminds me of the writing of crime fiction.

Please folks, if you are plotting a novel, or arson for that matter, let’s make the onlooker have to guess a little. I think one major flaw of young crime writers is not making it hard enough for readers to figure out whodunnit or if they are supposed to know whodunnit make the motivation a little difficult for the reader to comprehend. Every reader wants to work just a skosh for that satisfying ending. Something. That’s what makes the ending satisfying (and one of the reasons I’m teaching my class on suspense).

Law enforcement, on the other hand, likes a quick and easy resolution, so Fifty–or whatever name he might possibly be indicted under–might want to try being a bit more mysterious (or hard to find) as the case may be.

May

Up to no good

By writerds 2 Comments

Categories: writer's resources

Actually, that’s a bit of a misnomer. I’ve been up to a lot of good things but updating this blog regularly hasn’t been one of them. Anyhoo, I have to apologize to all those folks kind enough to post in April and be part of the contest for the Amazon certificate. So instead of $10. the lucky winner will receive a $15, gift certificate.

And the lucky winner is . . .

Chicki Brown. Chicki please let me know what email address you want me to send the certificate to.

And in another note, I have officially become the last person on earth to create a myspace page with an actual layout–please visit my page and be my friend.

May

Summer Suspense Thing Writing Workshop is now accepting students!!!

By writerds 2 Comments

Categories: mystery, romantic suspense, writer's resources and writing

Course syllabus:

Each week, a lecture and assignment will be posted. Completion and posting of assigned work for peer review is not mandatory but advised if students want to get the most from the class.

Who should take this course:

–first time R/S authors looking to learn the basics
–R/S authors looking to hone their craft
–any author interested in taking their writing to new levels

How to register: Apply for group membership here. You will receive an e-mail telling you how to make payment. Once tuition is received, you will be added to the group.

Tuition: $25.00 (plus a $2.00 administrative fee).
BONUS: FREE SYNOPSIS CRITIQUE FOR THE FIRST FIVE STUDENTS TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION!

Feb

Poke it with a Fork

By writerds 0 Comments

Categories: blogosphere, writer's resources and writing

Maybe your manuscript is done and maybe it isn’t. In deciding I usually follow the Cantstandit litmus test. When I can’t stand even the sight of the manuscript anymore, then it’s time to send it in. Either that or my deadline is up. But I found an article in the blogosphere to aid those not quite as circumspect as I.

Big Bad Book Blog’s post begins thusly:

Forget all that business about checking a publisher’s submission guidelines before you send your manuscript in. The most important consideration when you’re preparing to take a project to the next level is whether your work itself is ready, fully conceptualized and mature. Who cares about typeface and font size if the content is half-baked? There’s no setting for “masterpiece” on my egg timer, but these guidelines will help you know when to call it done.

To find the six ways to tell if your book is done visit here.

Jan

Writing Workshops Worth a Look

By writerds 0 Comments

Categories: writer's resources

Wine Country Romance Writers February Workshop
The Language of Liars
Instructor: Lucinda Schroeder
2/4 - 2/29

Registration Deadline: 2/3/08
Cost: $25

It has been known for a long time that criminals lie in a specific
way. Federal agents and local cops are trained to recognize these
signs and use them against their suspect. In “The Language of Liars,
you’ll learn what they know. This is a fascinating course on the
detection of deception and how to make your character an authentic
liar. You’ll also learn how law enforcement cracks the lie for the
sake of justice and how a specialized technique called SCAN is used.

Instructor Bio:
Lucinda Delaney Schroeder has a BA in Criminology and is a retired
federal agent who during her thirty-year career conducted numerous
undercover investigations and was the only female member a
specialized undercover unit. She has taught undercover techniques to
other agents at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in
Glynco, GA and continues to train law enforcement officers through
her private business “Bulletproof Covert Identities.” She lives in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lucinda is the author of “A Hunt for
Justice,” (Lyons Press) a true story of one her undercover cases in
Alaska, in which clever deception was her only protection.

Registration information available online at:
http://winecountryromancewriters.com/workshops.htm

PITCH PERFECT with Janet Wellington
January 14 - February 10, 2008

Enrollment Information: http://www.occrwa.com/classes_January.htm
<http://www.occrwa.com/classes_January.htm>

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: January 12, 2008
Moderator: Kitty Bucholtz at kittyrosebucholtz@yahoo.com
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ssNotices/post?postID=hziraU-Zk52X0-knkqA\
H6qsjuSUiiTY4SSDsAPQWziIhMjY-lbV_eSPijwlZxUJUep8y33MGKVVfUMxdTSG5N5pHgQ>

ABOUT THE CLASS:

Pitch Perfect: Getting to the Heart of your Romance Novel or Women¹s
Fiction Story (for pitching and for querying)

Everyone needs to learn how to pitch. Okay, maybe everyone except those
few heavy hitters who have the luxury of only having to share a vague idea
about a story with their editors because their stuff always sells well (we hate
them, but let’s move on…).

So, the rest of us need to be able to present our story ideas within query letters, synopses, and during frightening agent and editor appointments at writing conferences!

Can you use a 3-word phrase to describe your story? How about in one sentence?
Can you capture the essence of your tale in 25 words or less?
When your listener wants to know more about your story, do you know what to say and, more importantly, what NOT to say?
Do you know the biggest benefit of having an agent or editor appointment at a national or regional writing conference?

The main goal of this class is to help you understand the different types (and lengths) of pitches you need to prepare, and for you to learnseveral ways and styles of organizing your pitch (that you can utilize in query letters as well as agent/editor appointments).

What do you get? If you read and comprehend all the lectures plus complete all the assignments, you will create your very own pitch that you can utilize for query letters, synopsis blurbs, and/or as a verbal pitch to agents and/or editors at conference appointments. Or, this process will clearly point out where you need to do some more work on your story. It
might be a painful awakening that you have some serious revising to do, but it will be time well spent.

Either way, you’ll have gotten to the heart of your story.

About the Instructor:

After much hard work and the help of many other published and unpublished writers, Janet Wellington sold her first romance manuscript in 1998. Now, in addition to her own writing, she also teaches writing workshops at conferences and online. And she believes in giving back to the writing community and coaches other writers on craft and how to navigate the
publishing maze through her business called Wellington Word, where she offers line-editing and manuscript critiquing.

Her favorite mantra is: If you’re going to dream, dream big…and do it! And she adds, “Getting published is a miracle achieved by four things: (1)Courage, (2) Perseverance, (3) Luck, and (4) Talent…usually in that order!”

PITCH PERFECT with Janet Wellington
January 14 - February 10, 2008

Enrollment Information: http://www.occrwa.com/classes_January.htm
<http://www.occrwa.com/classes_January.htm>

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: January 12, 2008

For more information, please see the website
http://www.occrwa.com/classes_January.htm
<http://www.occrwa.com/classes_January.htm> or email moderator Kitty
Bucholtz
at kittyrosebucholtz@yahoo.com

Heart of Dixie Online Workshop:

Inside the Minds of Serial Killers and Those Who Track Them Down
Instructor: Greg Moffatt

Date: March 13-17, 2008

Cost: $20

Questions? Email online@heartofdixie.org online@heartofdixie.org

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Want to write the spine-tingling mystery that has been in the back of your
mind? Need to learn more before digging in? Then this course will give you
the much-needed look behind the scenes, so you can add key elements to your
book.

This course will address the process of homicide/violent crime profiling.
It will cover how serial killers think, what motivates them, how to identify
signature, and it will address the specifics of how profiling works. Among
topics to be addressed will be crime scene analysis (i.e. photos, blood
patterns, staging), assessment of autopsy information, witness statements,
and police reports and how these aid profiling and cold case study.
Finally, the class will address the many mistakes that crime scene
investigators make that create problems for profilers and cold case
investigators.

INSTRUCTOR BIO:
Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D., LPC is a counselor, college professor, and public
speaker.

Dr. Moffatt has been in private clinical practice for nearly twenty years.
During that time he has worked with individuals, families, couples,
adolescents, and children. For over a decade he has been a regular lecturer
at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia and he has consulted with
Delta Airlines, U.S. Airways, Westinghouse Corporation, Johns Manville, law
enforcement agencies, and numerous other businesses and schools. He has
assisted law enforcement in the investigation of unsolved homicide cases and
specializes in the assessment and prevention of homicidal and violent
behavior. He currently is a regular consultant and profiler with the Atlanta
Cold Case Squad.

Dr. Moffatt is the author of three books on aggression and violence.
Blind-Sided: Homicide Where it is Least Expected (Praeger Publishing, 2000)
and A Violent Heart (Praeger Publishing, 2002) both address violent
behavior, the development of aggression, homicide, and homicidal profiling.
His book entitled Wounded Innocents and Fallen Angels (Praeger Publishing,
2003) addresses child abuse, sexual abuse, child abduction and child
neglect. It also addresses aggression committed by children - homicide,
sexual assault, vandalism/arson, and paricide. Find out more at
http://gregmoffatt.com/ <http://gregmoffatt.com/>

Sep

I’ll take famous quotes for a thousand, Alex

By writerds 2 Comments

Categories: writer's resources and writing

On my personalized iGoogle page there is a section of quotes for the day where I found this:

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.

This quote comes from Stephen King and I might agree with him if it weren’t for two things. The older I get the less I believe in absolutes such as this never is, this always happens. Never do this that or the other. There are always exceptions–especially since the older I get the less likely it is that I remember which exact word I want to use. Sometimes I need the jolt of looking something up to remember not to use the word obfuscate when I mean obdurate (or maybe to remind me that I could say “confuse” or “hard-headed” instead).

And the idea of turning folks away from using reference books to enhance their writing just doesn’t seem right to me. As always, you are free to make up your own mind.

Jul

Reminder–Summer Sizzler Pushed Up

By writerds 0 Comments

Categories: romance, romantic suspense, writer's resources and writing

In case you didn’t know, the FictionFolks Summer Sizzler workshop was rescheduled to start on August 5–so there’s still time to sign up if you haven’t already. Here’s a description with the new timeline.

Summer Sizzler Writing Workshop is now accepting students!!!

National bestselling, award winning author Deirdre Savoy will be facilitating this month-long workshop set to begin the week of July 16. This workshop is designed to help you bring that certain sizzle into your writing:

Course syllabus:

Aug 5: Biology of sexual chemistry

Aug 12: Making the most of the 5 senses

Aug 19: Euphemisms Anonymous: Ridding the purple from your prose

Aug 26: Slow burn to quick sizzle and everything in between

Each week, a lecture and assignment will be posted. Completion and posting of assigned work for peer review is not mandatory but advised if students want to get the most from the class.

How to register: Apply for group membership here. You will receive a student questionnaire and told how to make payment. Once tuition is received, you will be added to the group.

Tuition: $50 (plus $2.00 processing fee)

BONUS: FREE SCENE CRITIQUE FOR THE FIRST FIVE STUDENTS TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION!!!

Jul

There’s intimate and then there’s intimate

By writerds 0 Comments

Categories: romance and writer's resources

I got the following e-mail from Deatri King-Bey, one of the hard-working women putting togther the Slam Jam in Chicago.

Romance Slam Jam 2008 Conference registration is OPEN!

Come mix and mingle with your favorite authors of Black romance.

The readers said they’d like additional opportunities to hang out with their favorite authors of Black romance and the committee heard you. At RSJ 2008, we are adding Intimate Sessions with the author of the hour.

INTIMATE SESSIONS
Intimate Sessions are your opportunity to have a more personal setting to hang out with your favorite author(s). These sessions will be conducted in a Presidential Suite and light hors d’oeuvre will be served. Intimate Sessions are limited to ten attendees for each author of the hour.

We are doing first come first serve with the Intimate Sessions for people who have registered for the conference. So register early. To give as many people as possible the chance to attend an Intimate Session, we can only allow one Intimate Session per attendee until the slots are full.

Intimate Session Authors:
Alice Wootson, AlTonya Washington, Beverly Jenkins, Deirdre Savoy, Donna Hill, Evelyn Palfrey, Gloria Mallette, Gwyneth Bolton, Gwynne Forster, Kim Louise, Marilyn Tyner, Mary B. Morrison, Seressia Glass, Shelia Goss, Wayne Jordan

See you at Romance Slam Jam 2008!

Spread the word!

If you haven’t been before, please consider attending.


Get into your most comfortable reading chair,
take off your shoes,
turn off the phone
and let Ms. Savoy's incredible talent take you away.


  --Debra Ross,
     Romance in Color

A skewed sense of humor has kept me sane through 10+ years of teaching and almost as many writing. I invite you to come in and look around. Leave a comment if you like. My goal is to leave you with a smile on your face and a few new thoughts to mull over. If you like the blog, please tell your friends. If not, tell your enemies.