Goal Setting and How to Grow as a Writer in 2015

Hello! I hope you had a fantastic Holiday!

Back to work, right? I woke up this morning to -24 (with windchill). Which means it’s hard to get my brain moving.

Good thing I already wrote my blog for today – you’ll find it over at http://www.acfw.com/blog/a-new-perspective-on-goal-setting/. Just my thoughts on how to have a more satisfying 2015 goal-setting experience.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking of…FLORIDA. More specifically, the 2015 Deep Thinkers Retreat! (Check out the deets here)

Why? Because if you want to grow as a writer in 2015, this is a fantastic, one-on-one coaching experience to help you deepen your storytelling and wordsmithing skills. We have just a few spots left, but if you’re thinking of going, I didn’t want you to miss out.

We change it up every year – just to keep the teaching fresh. We might tackle some of the same topics, but we so it with a fresh perspective, application and learning style.

I’m super jazzed for this year! One of our BIG changes – small group teaching! While we’ll still have our main morning teaching time, we’ll split into smaller coaching groups in the afternoon for application, writing time, critiquing and specific help with wordsmithing and even brainstorming.

Have you met our coaches?

Rachel Hauck – Award-winning, best-selling multi-published novelist, Rachel is our MBT Chief Therapist and is super skilled at helping pull out those deep themes and symbolism that makes a novel so powerful.

Beth Vogt – Carol finalist, and author of one of PW’s TOP books of the year, she’s multi-published, and serves as our MBT Skills Coach. Her superpower is taking new novelists and helping them put a riveting plot together using the MBT Book Buddy as her sidekick.

Susie May Warren (that’s me!) – Founder of MBT, best-selling, award-winning multi-published novelist, Susie excels in helping novelists create powerful characters, and their corresponding inner journeys.

Some of our NEW topics for this year!

The Story Equation. Did you know you can plot your ENTIRE story with one powerful question? That question leads to a powerful equation that helps you lay out the external and internal plots, the story theme, the backstory and even your premise. Based on Susie May’s upcoming writing book, The Story Equation, learn it FIRST, and in-depth here!
Discover the 4 Act story! I know I’ve been a proponent of 3 Acts for years, (and I still am), but we’ll be diving into a plotting concept that helps develop a powerful Act 2 by pulling into 2 parts. A game-changer for me – and for writers struggling to shore up Act 2!
What Voice is yours? Ever wonder how to write in 1^st person present/past, Standard 3^rd, Deep 3^rd ? In this innovative session, you’ll learn the difference between these voices, and how to write in each, with hands-on practice. You may even discover a new – and more powerful voice!
Dissecting the Inner Journey. We cover this every year, but this year we’re shifting on our axis to take a look at the EMOTIONAL journey – the connecting glue for the External/Internal (spiritual) journey. Yes, that includes some new ideas for getting EMOTION onto the page.
A DAY of Scene Makeover. Submit your scene BEFORE the retreat, get feedback from your coaches, then using our powerful SCENE Equation, you’ll learn how to dissect your scene and rebuild it from the inside out. Rewrite – and get more feedback you can take away to apply to every scene after.
Become your own Book Therapist. We’ll end our week with an overview of what to look for in the Macro/Micro/Wordsmithing phases of your editing. Learn how to self-analyze, self-diagnose and repair your novels.