Reflecting further on the University of Wisconsin Writers’ Institute I attended in early April, another workshop that made an impression on me provided a second “I wish I had known that before I wrote 100,000 words” moment. Angela Rydell did an excellent job of presenting “Enticing Openings: Hook Readers (and Editors) from the Start”. Since the first …
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Writing is a journey of discovery, self-actualization, revelation, and I’m sure a bunch of other stuff to a bunch of other writers. For me, who comes to the craft relatively late in life and without formal training (i.e. – English Major, degree in Creative Writing, or similar) learning to write comes with its share of …
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I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 22nd Annual Writers’ Institute last weekend at the beautiful Madison campus. What follows are some of my general impressions. I may comment on some specific workshops and speakers in a future post. Overall impression: Well organized, informative, good pacing and scheduling, excellent value–$250 cost for Friday-Saturday all day, Sunday …
“If only I had more time to write, then I’d be able to finish my (novel, memoir, short story, non-fiction proposal, etc.). ” Who of us aspiring writers has not had that thought at least once a week? Most of us have day jobs, families, social lives, obligations, and other interests (which often give us …
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I was fortunate that a planned visit to my father and stepmother’s coincided with the dates of the Festival, March 12-13. Since Dad didn’t have any special plans due to having had cataract surgery a few days earlier (successful, I’m pleased to announce), I spent two busy days at the University of Arizona campus, soaking …
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When prepping a manuscript for submission, whether for an agent, editor, publisher, or even a critique group, I prefer to have my submission as clean and perfect as possible. I was inspired to become a better proofreader and revisor by the Agatha Award-winning book Don’t Murder Your Mystery http://bellarosabooks.com/dontmurderyourmystery/ by Chris Roerden http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ChrisRoerden . She’s a well-know, highly-respected …
I hit a milestone the other day: my first positive response to a query letter I sent out for my novel. An agent read the first chapter, which I enclosed with my query, and immediately requested the first 50 pages! Be still my beating heart! I was excited to say the least, and spent all morning …
Little did I know what I was getting into when I started writing my novel. All the stuff you have to do besides actually write: study the craft, get critiqued, critique others, read blogs, learn about the publishing business, agents, editors, writing conferences, pitch slams (huh?), etc., etc., etc. Then there’s querying. Ugh! Hours and …
1. The business of writing is diametrically opposed to the art of writing. 2. I’m not nearly as bad a “serious” writer as I thought I was. The corollary: I’m not nearly as good a “serious” writer as I think I am. 3. Modern technology makes writing, editing, revising, evaluating and preparing manuscripts incredibly easy. …
I thought I knew what editing was all about based on more than two years of belonging to critiquecircle.com, submitting almost 50 pieces of my work (mostly chapters) and giving well over 300 critiques of other writers’ submissions. I’m pretty good at placing commas, catching typos, and recognizing ungrammatical sentences. I learned much more from …
