I had a rare treat a couple weeks ago. While Sally was slugging away on her manuscript, I felw out to LA to tape a talk show – (It airs on the fall *to see pictures, of the fun day, check out: http://www.susanmaywarren.com/scribbles-blog/)

Part of that fun was spending the day with one of my favorite authors and writing teachers, James Scott Bell.  A casual conversation about writing all day lead to me furiously jotting down his brilliance in my hotel room later that night. Jim Bell is an expert in the writing craft, has penned a number of fabulous books by Writer’s Digest (Plot and Structure is dog-earred on my shelf!) and I was thrilled to hear that he has an advanced writing seminar he’s presenting this year around he country!

Since I am at the Blue Ridge Christian Writer’s Conference this week, I asked him if he’d stop by and share a little about what he’s doing with his Next Level Seminars.

PS – here’s a pic of Jim and me standing at Charlie Chaplin’s Booth at a restaurant in Hollywood – sorry for the vampire eyes, I don’t have an editing program on my travel computer!

From the mouth of JSB!

Every now and again I hear some successful writer with a snooty way of talking say, “You cannot learn to write, dear one. Don’t waste your time taking workshops or reading books on writing. Just write.” 

Which strikes me as making as much sense as saying, “Don’t waste your time studying brain surgery. Just cut open heads and go!” 

Uh-huh. Excuse me if I show a preference for a sawbones who has studied under the tutelage of experienced surgeons! 

The writer I know best – me – absolutely learned to write. I had been fed the bunk that “writers are born, not made” while in college, and I bought it, in part because I took a course from Raymond Carver and couldn’t do what he did. (I didn’t know at the time that there was more than one way to “do” fiction. I thought everybody had to pass through the same tunnel.)

When I finally decided I had to try to learn to write, even if I never got published, I went after it with a club. I started gathering books on writing, read Writers Digest religiously (especially Lawrence Block’s fiction column), took some classes, and wrote every day. Living in L.A. it was required that I try screenwriting first, so I wrote four complete screenplays in one year, giving them to a film school friend, who patiently read them and told me they weren’t working. But he didn’t know why.

Then one day I read a chapter in a book by the great writing teacher Jack Bickham. And I had an epiphany. Literally. Light bulbs and fireworks went off inside my head, and I finally got it. Or at least a big part of it.

So I wrote another screenplay, and that was the one that my friend liked. The next one I wrote got optioned, and the one after that got me into one of the top agencies in town.

All because I refused to believe the lie that the craft of writing can’t be learned. 

Then I started to teach it, and found out I could help others learn. Many of my students have gone on to get contracts from traditional publishers. And are doing very well. 

So that’s what I love to do. Teach others to take their writing to then next level because I know it can be done.

Susie Here: Thanks, Jim!  I heartily agree!  Check out Jim’s amazing seminars at: http://www.jamesscottbell.com/styled-12/index.html.

I promise, it’ll change your writing forever.

Hey, and if you are the Blue Ridge Conference this week stop by the MBT Table and say hi ! Have a great writing week!