Posted on

In Case You Don’t Hear From Me

… It’s because I’m getting ready for this:

http://saltcaywritersretreat.com/about-the-salt-cay-writers-retreat/You might think “getting ready” means sit-ups and squats and tanning salons. And, based on my natural skin tone and the number of blueberry muffins I eat in a year, that would be a good idea. But, sit-ups hurt and squats threaten my sciatica and I don’t tan. Indoors or out. Call me Scottish, call me Irish, call me Freckles and Burn. Besides, that island holds more than beautiful skies, clear waters, and walks on white sand (though, that would certainly be enough).

In late October, it serves as the hub for the Salt Cay Writers Retreat, a retreat I am lucky enough to attend. What this means is

  1. I’m in shock. I never imagined I’d be attending a week-long writing retreat, or a writing retreat with such amazing faculty on the agenda, or a retreat to the Bahamas (!). This means so much to me as a writer, but as a Mother and a Wife with a day job, it presents plenty of challenges. I owe lots of thanks to some key folks. If you don’t know who you are, just wait until your name shows up on the acknowledgements page in that novel I plan to finish.
  2. Speaking of said novel, I’ve got to get my manuscript in better order. When I silently prayed a while back for a real kick in the butt, I had no idea….

So, I’ll be cracking away at a rewrite for the next month or so, but I won’t be lagging behind on blog posts. There’s a ton in store for you, including a few book giveaways:

  • September 11th: Q&A and giveaway with Amy Sue Nathan
    author of The Glass Wives.
  • October 2nd: Q&A with Stevan Allred,
    author of the short story collection, A Simplified Map of the Real World.
  • October 16th: Guest post by Trish Ryan,
    author of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.
  • October 23rd: Q&A and giveaway with Susanna Daniel,
    author of Sea Creatures.

There’s more, but those are the biggies. I’m excited to spotlight each one of these authors, and their books.

In the meantime, I could use all the good vibes you can send my way as I tackle this manuscript and prepare to break in my passport.

Me, with a passport. That really is funny.

Tell me, what’s kicking you into gear this fall?

Posted on

Study Fiction to Write Creative Nonfiction

file000845471725“[T]rue stories, well told.” That’s the definition of creative nonfiction, Lee Gutkind says (in this brief radio interview), as he admits he loves to read fiction–even as he is the founder of one of the biggest nonfiction literary magazines, Creative Nonfiction.

Gearing up to teach my workshop on Flash Nonfiction in two weeks, I came across this interview with Gutkind in which he reminds writers that reading across genres enhances our skills as storytellers, especially when it comes to fiction and non.

All of us need to learn a lot more about the world than we ever did in the past, and the way in which we learn is through story. We don’t just learn by someone throwing information at us. We learn because people tell stories, and the stories are learning experiences. . . . Who can tell a story better than a fiction writer?

The interview is less than four minutes. You can’t finish your a cup of coffee that fast (if you can, holy cow). And, if the topic–of how studying techniques in fiction can enhance your nonfiction skills–piques your interest, consider joining us on August 24th for more about FLASH nonfiction, where we’ll discuss two major challenges in this sub-genre: Space and Telling the Truth.

Registration is easy. The hard part? Choosing the perfect pen and notebook to bring to class.

* Photo credit: imelenchon on morguefile.com

Posted on

Growing Your Readership (and Mine)

Tfile000401942226his week, Jane Friedman posted a video of her talk from the 2013 Midwest Writers Workshop on Audience Development. In the video, she shares her experience with starting a website: the quiet beginning, the learning curve, and the principles of cultivating readers “over the span of your career.”

Jane Friedman has over 180,000 (180 THOUSAND!!) followers on Twitter and tens of thousands of hits on her website daily. If you’re interested in readership and author platform, this video is worth the twenty minute investment of your time.

What I love most about her talk, besides her honest and humble perspective on how this all works, is her approach to any new (or ongoing) professional project, two simple words that I view as the underlying current in my work and writing:

Incremental improvement.

Writing as a craft is similar to audience development in that it grows or improves inch by inch. Page by page. On those days when I get caught up in (what seems to be) a lack of progress–on a story or on the novel–I need only look back on the last few months to see that I have been moving forward. In tiny increments.

As usual, it’s all about perspective.

And speaking of incremental improvement….

I’m also progressing to a new way for subscribers of this blog to receive email notifications when new posts go live:

MailChimp_Logo_NoBackground_Dark

After Google Reader fell to the wayside, I turned to WordPress’ Jetpack plugin for readers to sign up via email. In the last several months, though, Jetpack has been letting in suspicious email subscribers–with login names like “puzzledhelp” and server tags like “topsandal” and a few risqué logins that might fit in better if I wrote erotica. Mmm hmmm…shady, if you ask me. The logins, that is. If you write erotica, more power to you. But, I digress….

While I love seeing my numbers rise, I don’t like thinking some tech worm has wiggled its way into my site. So, from here on out any subscriptions to this blog will run through a MailChimp campaign. I’ll be able to manage subscribers with a little more ease and comfort, and you’ll be able to manage your subscription with a little more control as well.

If you’re already subscribed, you don’t have to resubscribe. But, I do ask two things of you:

  1. First and foremost: if you receive more than one notification from me next week, please accept my apologies. I’m hoping, as I deactivate Jetpack and transfer everything over to Mail Chimp, everything will run smoothly and you’ll only see one email from me. But, technology isn’t always my friend.
  2. Should you receive more than one email from this site, feel free to unsubscribe from the email that does NOT include the MailChimp electronic stamp. If you have any trouble with this, contact me.

Incremental improvements. Little by little. Your patience is greatly appreciated.

(If, by chance, you’re not yet subscribed but would like to, MailChimp makes it easy. Just click the link on the sidebar.)

Are you able to see the progress–little by little–on your own projects, writing or otherwise?

* Photo credit: FlyingPete on morguefile.com