Tag: RWA

Thursday Thirteen: LB&LI

 

13 Online Virtual Workshops

 

Romance Divas had their own Not-Going-To-Conference Conference last week during RWA Nationals and there was a lot of good information to be had, but I also found out Lynn Viehl hosts her own virtual workshop deal (Left Behind and Loving It) on her blog PaperBack Writer. Lots more to explore there! Here’s some of the highlights from the workshops that I enjoyed last week. Even more are listed at the end of the PWB workshop posts.

Lynn Viehl’s workshops:

1. VW#1: Power Plotting
2. VW#2: Eff the Editing
3. VW#3: World-Building I & VW#4: World-Building II
4. VW#5: Styling
5. VW#6: Brand Me
6. VW#7: Writing Life

Lynn Viehl’s LB&LI 2008 e-book containing her workshops from this year is available to read online, download and/or print on Scribd here.

Other Left Behind & Loving It workshops on the net included:

7. Worldbuilding with a Wiki by Sandra Barret — “Architecting your world using a free wiki.” This workshop explains how to use TiddlyWiki (the one I use as well) to keep track of interrelated links between information for your world.

8. The Anatomy Of Sex Scenes by Jaci Burton — “Writing sex can sometimes be the most uncomfortable part of writing the book. But it doesn’t have to be. A few key pointers that may help charge up your sex scenes and drag the writer out of their ‘discomfort’ zone.”
Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Q&A

9. Creating Great Beginnings – the Why and How by Sherryl Clark — “If your beginning works, the rest will follow. We’re going to look at why it’s crucial, what is the contract with the reader, Dos and Don’ts (and why/why not), story questions vs hooks, situating the reader, and writing backwards.” Sherryl also invited readers to send in their first 200 words for feedback.
Day One – Day Two – Day Three – Day Four – Day Five

10. Writing Effective Description by Karen Duvall — “A week of workshops on how to write vivid description using all the senses, covering one for each day of the week.”
Sight – Smell – Sound – Taste – Touch

11. WRITING PROCESS: Conceive, Develop, Write by Jamal W. Hankins — “An overview of my writing progress from story concept to actually writing a story.” — This one looks like it will continue at a slower pace over a longer time period. I’m definitely following this one with interest. I’ll try to remember to update with new links as they’re added.
Overview – Story Concept – Chapter Summaries – Character Development –
Organization Development

12. Balancing Motherhood and Writing by Dawn Montgomery, Kim Knox, and Michelle Hasker — “How to write a 1000 words in the zen of toddler meltdowns. Motherhood is a full time job and holding a family together is only half the battle. How do you find *your* time to write without losing your mind?” — I hope this one comes back. I really enjoyed it and it was down when I wrote it.
Day One – Day Two – Day Three – Day Four – Day Five

13. When Only the Right Word Will Do by Shannon Stacey — “Using word choices to add humor, help you show instead of tell, strengthen your voice and heighten characterization in deep POV in your second draft.”
Intro – Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1 Nicholas 2 On a limb with Claudia 3 SandyCarlson
4 Tempest Knight 5 Nina (Things in General) 6 marcia@joyismygoal
7 Jennifer McKenzie 8 Gwen Mitchell 9 Stephanie Sullivan

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Home Alone

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge

Ok, not quite alone, but it seems like everyone’s gearing up for the RWA National convention in San Francisco this week. And I’m not actually going to be home all week either. We’re going camping with the Cub Scouts again this weekend — only two left! This is going to be more like “extreme picnicking” as we’re going to the Naval base on Coronado Island. It might be 90oF up here where we live, but it’ll be a balmy 70oF on the beach. Seems to easy to be camping.

So what am I doing between now and then? Taking advantage of all the online workshops that have sprung up. I know I’m going to be checking in on The Divas’ “Not Going to Conference Conference” and Lynn Viehl over at Paperback Writer is sponsoring a “Left Behind & Loving It” set of virtual conferences on the presenter’s blogs. Great week to be a craft geek.

So, other than my lame excuse of camping with my family, why am I not going and why haven’t I joined RWA after a year of being a writer wannabe?

Good question. I’ve learned so much this year, but I still feel I’m a long way off from doing this as more than a hobby. I don’t feel justified spending the money on myself that way yet. I regret that I can’t go to meet all the people who have been so great at RD (especially Bria, Jodi and Jen), but I’d rather focus on getting something finished to take in the future rather than to go empty handed.

Also, on Sunday, Suzanne Enoch and Teresa Medeiros are doing a joint signing in town. I don’t want to miss that either. Why does everything have to happen at the same time?