At the beginning of a novel, a character starts out in his identity – who he thinks he is. By the end of the story, if you’ve developed the story correctly, he ends up in his essence – who he really is.
What’s The Advantage of A Writers Retreat
I’m in sunny yet sometimes rainy Destin, Florida at the 5th annual Deep Thinkers Retreat.
Seventeen writers (all women at this event) gathered to learn the craft of writing a novel.
There’s laughter, fun, frustration, confused looks, pondering, break throughs and friendships being forged.
A writers retreat like Story Crafters and Deep Thinkers is the pressure cooker of learning craft.
You can’t escape. It’s all around you!
Everyone is talking, breathing, sleeping STORY!
So how do you know if a writers retreat is right for you?
It is a commitment of time and money.
Are you really ready to invest in your writing journey at the retreat level?
Maybe you’re asking what’s the difference between a retreat and a conference.
Eavesdropping At A Writers Conference
I’m at the Deep Thinkers Retreat in Destin, Florida and it’s beautiful. We come to the beach every year in February and I help facilitate the conference for the week. My main job during the conference is the care and feeding of the attendees. But I’m also watching, listening … and yes, sometimes I hear things.
Today I wanted to share some of my observations:
Eat Well, Write Well. Sorry, a steady of diet of chocolate chip cookies and malted milk balls are not conducive to clear thinking and well developed plot lines. Although they do help stabilize emotions, at least at the moment. When all else fails, have a malted milk ball instead of a melt down. For the record, I resisted the temptation this year and only succumbed to two. (Although we have two more days to go!)
Battle Uncertainty. I’ve heard, “I thought I had my story down, but now I’m not so sure.” It’s so easy to doubt yourself and question the validity of your writing.
How To Manage Manuscript Feedback
Well, it’s contest time and with that, unpublished writers often get some sort of feedback.
Feedback we want. But often it’s harder to digest than we think.
So, what are you to do with input from readers, judges or critique partners?
Digest it.
Consider it.
Pray over it.
Reread it.
Chew up the meat and spit out the bones.
Not all feedback is good. You have to know that, right?
But how many of you immediately dismiss the good things said and focus on the negative things?
Yeah, I see those hands waving in cyberspace.
One Thing Marketing: Pieces of a Marketing Plan Part 2
We’re taking a look at the various pieces to include in the marketing portion of your novel proposal. Last time we talked about including a brief intro to your marketing plan and then a list of publications. If you missed it, you can check it out here.
Today, we’ll cover two more sections: Media Appearances and Networks.
Media Appearances
Following the Publications section of my proposal’s marketing plan, I included a list of all the local TV and radio stations at which I’d seek out coverage. I had a little bit of an advantage here because in my day job I work with the media quite a bit. But simply showing your potential agent or publisher you’re informed about your local media and willing to make an effort at grassroots is just plain smart.