10 Tips for Attending a Writers’ Conference In 2015

Whether you’re new to the writing industry or have already authored several books, writer’s conferences are a great way to educate yourself on the up and coming trends of the writing industry, craft and technique tips, networking with other writers, meeting with agents, editors, and publishers. The list could go on and on. Attending just one writer’s conference could make the difference between being an unpublished writer and a published writer.

General Information

Conferences run anywhere from one to five days. They generally include workshop classes, manuscript make-overs, critiques, agent pitches, and book signings. Register early as classes tend to fill up quickly. Most conferences offer an early bird discount. You’ll also want to schedule appointments for critiques and pitches when you register so you have the best chance at meeting with your top picks. Some conferences will let you sign up for critiques on the opening day, if time and room allows.

Make your hotel arrangements as soon as possible, too. Most conferences will hold a block of rooms for attendees at discounted rates. Big conferences tend to sell out long before the conference begins. Some meals are provided, but sometimes not all. Getting a room with a fridge and a microwave will help you save on extra expenses.

The Craft of Writing

Writing conferences are filled with speakers, published authors, editors, agents, and publishers who want to teach you how to become a better writer. The only way you can learn from their expertise is to be where they are, and that’s at writing conferences. Classes abound from the basics of grammar to creating page-turning plots. All genres are discussed from traditional writing and publishing, to freelance writing for magazines, to screen-writing plays or movies, and of course, online.

Connecting With Other Writers

Writing conferences give you the opportunity to meet other writers. Writers tend to be introverts who love the peace, quiet, and privacy of their own homes where they can lock themselves up in their office and tap out words on a keyboard for hours at a time. Only other writers can understand the writer's mind. Who else can you compare rejection letters with? Only other writers can appreciate how tumultuous the writing process is.

Research, Research, Research

It's all right to be choosy when it comes to picking the best conference for your needs. Know who the speakers are and what they’ll be teaching. Study the genres in which they’ll present. If you write poetry, but the conference faculty doesn't include any poets, that conference won't be beneficial to you. Do you have a manuscript ready to present to an agent? Make sure there's an agent present for you to pitch.

Networking

Networking is one of the main reasons to attend writer’s conferences. This is your opportunity to surround yourself with like-minded people. Writers who are informed and educated on how things work in this industry have a better chance at getting published. Peel your introvert-clothing off and open up. Most conferences have a reception or two for participants to mingle and get to know each other.

Pitch Your Book Idea

Editors and literary agents attend conferences looking for their next best-selling author. Check out the websites of the many conferences offered to see which editors and agents will be attending. If you don't live in a metropolis filled with big publishing companies, pitching agents at conferences could put you on the fast-track to getting your work published. Most pitches last 3-10 minutes so make sure you’re prepared. Do not bring your manuscript to the conference. If an agent is interested, they will ask you to send it to them.

A word of advice, never approach an agent or editor in the bathroom in reference to your book. Don’t laugh, it’s happened.

Tax Deductions

If you’re still having doubts on whether to attend a writers’ conference, know that you can claim your expenses on your taxes. The conference fee, airfare, rental car, hotel, meals not provided by the conference, and even your mileage are deductible.

What to Bring

You’ll want to take lots of notes so bring plenty of pencils, pens, paper, even your laptop. A small tape recorder is recommended as sometimes in taking notes we can miss things. If you’re published, some conferences allow you to bring and sell your books.

Bring comfortable shoes. You’ll do a lot of walking getting from one class to another. But when you meet with an agent or editor make sure you aren't too casual. You only get one chance to make a good impression. Bring your camera—there will be published authors in attendance! Not to mention the new friends you’ll make. Bring business cards. This will help people remember who you are when the conference is over. Make sure it includes your name, email, phone number, and website.

Thank You

Once you return home from the writer’s conference, send a thank you note to every editor, agent, and publisher you had the opportunity to speak with. Send a thank you to those who provided you with a manuscript evaluation and/or critique.

Writer’s conferences are a great way to put yourself on the right track to getting your work accepted and eventually published. For a list of conferences, check out Shaw Guides or Newpages. 

Ten Ways to Tighten Your Writing & Hook the Reader

Image via CellarDoorFilms W.A.N.A. Commons 

This article is re-blogged in its entirety from:  https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/ten-ways-to-tighten-your-writing-hook-the-reader/

When I used to edit for a living, I earned the moniker The Death Star because I can be a tad ruthless with prose. Today I hope to teach you guys to be a bit ruthless as well. Before we get started, I do have a quick favor to ask. Some of you may know that I practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so I’ve taken on our dojo’s blog to see if we can try out new and fun content and am using the moniker Dojo Diva.

I posted about how hard it is to begin and the fears that can ever keep us from starting. The way others try to stop us from doing anything remarkable. I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories, so I hope you will stop by and get the discussion going.

Click the word “Comments” and a box should appear. This is new, so working out the kinks. If you don’t appear, I may just need to approve you.

To prime the pump, so to speak, anyone who comments on the new blog will be drawn for a separate contest to win 20 pages of Death Star Treatment (rigorous edit from ME). This means a lot higher chances of winning. Also, the first ten commenters get double entries.

Been bragging about you guys, so I really hope to see you there!

Moving on…

Time is our enemy. Most people don’t have enough. This is why our writing must be tight, direct and hook early. Modern audiences have the attention span of a toddler hopped up on Pop Rocks and Mountain Dew. We can’t afford to let them drift.

Drift=Bad juju

I’ve edited countless books, many from new authors. I see a lot of the same errors, and this is to give you a basic guide of what to look for in your writing. Be your own Death Star. Blast away this weak writing so that once you do hire an editor, it won’t cost nearly as much because the editor won’t spend precious time (charged often by the hour) to note or remove these basic offenses.

I love doing my 20-page contest, namely because I act as an intermediary. When I run across excellent writing I do try to connect it with an agent who might be interested (with the author’s permission, of course). Yet, many of the samples I get are infested with these basic oopses that tell me the writer is not yet ready.

So I hope you can use these tips as a guide to reveal the pearl that is your story.

Tip #1—Use Other Senses. BTW, Sight is the Weakest

A lot of writers (new ones especially) rely on a lot of description regarding what a character sees, and while this isn’t, per se, wrong it can be overdone. Also, of all the senses, sight is one of the weakest, thus it lacks the power to pull your reader into deep POV (point of view).

***Just know I am riffing off these examples. Some people love detail, others love minimalism so I am not doing anything other than providing quick illustrations. Ultimately, tailor these suggestions to your particular voice.

Smells are very powerful. In fact, it is the most powerful of ALL the senses.

Jane stopped short. She stared at the blackened walls and peeling paint that testified to the fire that took twenty young lives.

Okay, pretty good. But maybe try this.

Jane stopped short. The sickening sweet of cooked flesh stole her breath. It was all that remained of twenty young lives extinguished in flames.

Taste is also very powerful.

Fifi tucked and rolled as she dove out of her captor’s van. The ground came up hard, harder than she expected.

Not bad, but maybe try…

Fifi’s face met the ground, hard. At first, all she noticed was the bitterness of grass mixed with sand that crunched against her teeth. A moment later? The taste of old copper pennies gushed into her mouth, making her gag. Blood.

Try to use a combination of all of the senses to close the psychic distance. To rely solely on what a character sees will keep the reader at a distance. It will make her a mere observer and not a participant. Also, y’all might have noticed novels are pretty long so adding in other senses will broaden your emotional palette.

Tip #2 Don’t Coach the Reader

When we are new, we tend to think through stage direction, and that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean it should end up on the page. Readers aren’t dumb, so we don’t need all the details.

He raised his hand and struck her across the cheek.

Um, duh. We know he raised his hand to strike her. Otherwise, that would be a serious trick. Jedi mind powers, maybe?

He struck her across the cheek. Hard. Stars exploded in her vision.

We don’t need the character to step up on the curb or reach for the door handle. If a character makes it from one room to another, we fill in the missing (and boring) details. We also don’t need cues for emotion.

Tip #3 Don’t State the Obvious

She slammed the door and cursed in anger.

Unless this character has spacial issues and Tourette’s? We know she’s angry. We don’t “need” the “in anger” part. We’re sharp. We get it. Really.

Tip #4 Can We Have a Name, Please?

This can happen a lot when the writer is using first-person. We go two, three or ten pages and still don’t know the main character’s NAME.

Tip #5 Don’t Introduce Too Many Characters Too Quickly

This is the opposite of the last problem—too many names. I can’t tell you how many writing samples I’ve received that make this mistake. If you have ten named characters by page one? I’m done. In life, we can’t keep up with that many names all at once, and when reading, that doesn’t change.

Too many names will confuse us and muddle who the protagonist is. We get lost, so we’re frustrated and we put the book down…or toss it across the room.

Tip #6 Limit Naming Too Much Anything at Once

This can happen in science fiction and fantasy because we are world-building. Just remember that if we name characters, places, prophesies, weapons, technology, dragons, creatures, ships, robots etc. it can overwhelm the reader. Stories are about people and if the people get lost because of the world-building, that is problematic.

Jezebel gripped the Kum-Rah in her bleeding hands. Panting, she stopped just short of the Uf-Tah’s altar. Tomorrow the Gil-Had would sacrifice another Fluff-Tun.

I’m being a tad silly here, but maybe try something like…

Jezebel gripped her sword in her bleeding hands. Panting, she stopped short of the ornate altar. Tomorrow the Gil-Had would sacrifice another member of her family.

We still get some world-building without our heads exploding trying to keep up with names and figure out who is who and what is what. Later, as the story progresses, we can learn that the bad guys are the Uf-Tah, the henchmen are the Gil-Had and the victims are the Fluff-Tah. We can eventually learn the names of particular weapons.

Tip #7 Give Us an “Idea” of Who a Character Is and What He/She Looks Like

Don’t feel the need to bog us down too much, but by page one, we should know at least some basics about a character. Few things get weirder than reading about a character for five or ten pages and then realizing they are another race or gender.

Whaaaa??? He’s a black dude?

Tip #8 Strive to Give Us a Sense of Time and Place

Again, a few details are helpful to orient us where we are. Whether it is the smell of horse manure, the rattling of carriages or the whir of computers, we need to get grounded quickly to become part of the world and fall into that fictive dream.

Tip #9 No Secret Agents

We are introduced to who we assume is the protagonist. Unless something cues us otherwise, we assume he/she is alone. When another character suddenly starts talking?

Jarring.

Also, tell us who this person is in relation to the character. Yes, you (the writer) know who this character is, but we don’t.

Gertrude awoke with a start. Her alarm clock hadn’t gone off, and panic gripped her. This was her first day at the new job, and being late could get her fired before she even started. She nearly fell as she scrambled out of the bed sheets and bolted for the coffee maker.

“I thought you’d be gone by now,” Ted said as he watered his Bonsai trees.

“Me, too. Hey, why didn’t you come wake me up?”

Okay, who is Ted? Brother? Husband? Boyfriend? Friendly home invader? We need to know. Maybe not right away but at least on the same page or pretty close to it.

I see this all the time. A name, some dialogue but no introduction, so no sense of who that character is. We are book-readers not mind-readers.

Tip #10 Tighten the Prose

The biggest red flag to me as an editor is an infestation of the word “was.” This is a major indicator of weak writing and passive voice. If a writer does this on page one? Fairly safe to assume the trend will continue.

Do a Was Hunt. See too many of those buggers together? Time to kill.

It was barely dawn and Lulu was sitting on the couch. She was waiting for her father who was already hours late. This was unusual for him. He was always punctual. A crack that was deafening made her scream and moments later the door was kicked in by the police who barked orders for her to get down on the floor.

Instead….

Predawn light spilled into the room where Lulu sat, waiting for her father to be home. He was never late. Ever. A deafening crack made her scream. Police kicked in the door and ordered her to the floor.

There are a lot of other ways to tighten the writing, but these are common offenders and a great start. We all do this no matter how many books we write. It’s why we need revision. We can spot this stuff and clean it up and make it presentable for the public.

What are some of your pet peeves? What loses you as a reader? Do these tips help? Do you see maybe some of your own bad habits? Btw, I did ALL of these at one time, so we are all friends :D .
I love hearing from you!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of APRIL, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

Also, for more help on how to use characters to ratchet anxiety to the nerve-shreding level, I am offering my Understanding the Antagonist Class on April 18th and YES, it is recorded in case you miss or need to listen again because this class is jammed with information.

I LOVE teaching this simply because our antagonists are pivotal for writing a story (series) readers can’t put down. Yet, too often we fail to harness characters for max effect. I look forward to seeing you there! I also offer the Gold level for one-on-one. Maybe you’ve hit a dead end. Your story is so confusing you need a GPS and a team of sherpas to find the original idea. Instead of wasting time with misguided revisions, I can help you triage your WIP and WHIP it into fighting form :D .

For those who need help building a platform and keeping it SIMPLE, pick up a copy of my latest social media/branding book Rise of the Machines—Human Authors in a Digital World on AMAZON, iBooks, or Nook.

Final Thoughts on AWP 2015 in Minneapolis

I had anticipated a survey of some sort following the AWP15 Conference, but so far nothing has arrived in my inbox. Over the past few days I've had a lot of time to reflect on the conference and my thoughts and feelings from what I personally experienced.

As with any part of my life, I seem to live on a roller coaster of emotions. Ups. Downs. Sharp, unexpected twists and turns. I had the joy of meeting Sue Silverman and getting her autograph, which was definitely the highlight for me. Writers, no matter how famous one may become, are still human and sometimes that's a good thing to remember.

The one thing that surprised me was the number of panels I attended that made me cry. Back in my hotel room, that is! A lot of emotional topics were discussed, but always in a positive tone. And even in a way of teaching those eager to learn.

AWP's Bookfair took on a new meaning for me. A meet market, a craft show, a flea market, or just crazyville! I felt horrible walking up and down the aisles and passing the friendly faces as they waited for someone to come talk to them. I didn't want to talk. I was in awe of the place. Almost everyone was hollering out, "Here, take one. It's free."

In the first hour and a half, my AWP bag was so heavily filled with swag that I had to go back to my hotel room to empty the bag before returning to the bookfair. I had to do this three times and only made it through half of the bookfair.

I bought too many books, one out of sympathy. The author was right there and volunteered to sign the book for me. How could I look into that face and tell them no? I couldn't. I swear a quarter of my bag was filled with just candy that I didn't need, but ate anyway!

The rest of my days were spent in panels or at the hotel because I found it cheaper to eat an $18 Caesar salad for lunch than to re-enter the bookfair whenever I wasn't in classes.

And with anything good, you know there's bound to be some bad. My biggest issue with the panels were the descriptions of what each class would be talking about. Admittedly, part of the problem was me. What I thought a panel was going to talk about, and what they actually talked about, were absolutely not what I had expected. Vague descriptions had people leaving the rooms over and over throughout each panel I attended, both the ones I got what I expected and those I didn't.

I couldn't help but wonder if those people were walking out because of the same reasons I would have had I not been sitting near the front. In one such class I assumed the panel would discuss more personal issues within truth writing, but it seemed the panelists were more interested in discussing the broader topics of their memoirs.

Memoirs are constantly being criticized as Me-moirs or misery-moirs, and therefore harder to get published. And yet writers like myself continue to write them. Not to bring focus on our lives or our own pain, but with hope that our stories will one day help someone else who's going through something similar. At least that's my hope.

In one of the panels I attended, all of the panelists had written at least one memoir so I was shocked when a woman asked a 'legal' question and not one of them could answer her. So I did. The question: Can I write about something a guy did years ago and now he's a big politician? I asked her, "Is the topic public knowledge?" No. Then the answer is no.

Just because you say something is true, that won't necessarily hold up in the law if you're sued by this person. In another post I will share what I've learned from two different intellectual property lawyers on this subject and more. This is one example where the truth will not set you free.

In closing, my husband asked me if I would ever go back to another AWP Conference. Immediately, I told him no. Never again! But as the days have passed, I can't deny the good I learned-and not just meeting Sue Silverman. If AWP is ever in Minneapolis again, yes, I will go. Or if I ever have a book published and want to sell it in the bookfair and speak on panels, again, yes, I will go.

How was your experience with AWP 15?

AWP in Minneapolis 2015 Day 3

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference came to a close Saturday, April 11, 2015, but I'm still reeling from all the information I took in. As my husband likes to say, "I was drinking from the fire hose."

I sat in on three panels, all revolving around memoir and telling the truth in our stories. Since I write both Women's Fiction and Memoir, these were smart panels for me to attend. In a panel called Writing Into the World, Honor Moore said, "Where would the history be without those sharing their views?"

Take The Diary of Anne Frank for example. Where would our knowledge of what the Jews suffered be had she not written her personal experience? What if the others had also remained silent? How would we know the history that took place before we were born? Our stories will lend a hand to those who come after us.

"Make something beautiful out of your grief," Alysia Abbott said. Ask yourself what is the larger story that needs to be told. This can be said for memoir or writers of fiction.

Waiting outside a room for the next panel to begin, a gentleman asked me, "Why did you come to this
conference?" To see Sue Silverman! And I did, and I got her autograph on her book I Remember Terror Father Because I Remember You. As soon as the doors opened, I headed straight for the front row and dropped my bag on the chair. Sue signed my book and someone took our picture.

But what happened in that panel had me regretting the front row seat.

Ann Hood stood and told the audience about the days before her young daughter died. I fought with everything within me to not get up and run out of the room. In 2012, I lost my sixteen-year-old daughter Michaela to a treatable fungus called Histoplasmosis. You can read Michaela's story here if you so choose.

As soon as the panel was over, I didn't run out or run up to Sue Silverman. Instead, I walked over to Ann. Her memoir about her daughter is called Comfort. I've already purchased it and am waiting for it's delivery. "Memoir has two characters on the page. The girl you were, and the woman you are," Ann said during her speech. No matter how old you are in your written story, there's always going to be the you before and during the trauma and the you after the trauma.

Write your stories, your truths, your insights, but always remember to keep the reader in mind. You aren't just writing for yourself, but for a world who needs your story at any given time. You never know what's going on with that person who's sitting in the front row of your panel.

AWP in Minneapolis 2015 Day 2, Part 2

Making my way through row after row in the Bookfair the day before, I purchased two books by authors I didn't know but were sitting in front of me saying, "I'm the author. If you buy a copy, I'll sign the book for you." How could I say no. I couldn't. There's no worse feeling than sympathy buying. And I did feel guilty. Guilty that I didn't know the author. Guilty that I didn't have the guts to turn him/her down. Guilty that I knew if I have a book to sell someday, that author could be me. So the best recourse going forward was to avoid, avoid, avoid.

I sat in on a panel called Other People's Privacy: Secondary Characters in Non-Fiction. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, we all draw our characters from real, living, breathing people. Even though some of those real characters may have died, they at one time did live. In fiction, we can paste a disclaimer in the front of the book saying our characters are a figment of our imagination and bare no resemblance to real life people. But that's not entirely true.

Sitting in the front row of one class was a woman with orange and blue hair. I don't know her, but someday she may become a character in my book just based on her looks.

But what do you do when you are writing about real people?

I've written a memoir about a two-year period in my life in which very real people are very vivid characters. "Other people's privacy is sacrificed for art," Debra Monroe said. "However, there are no pure villains and there are no pure heroes." In other words, we must give our antagonists empathetic and sympathetic qualities.

Just as in real life, we see in the news murders, rapes, abuse, etc. Rarely do the reporters share personal facts. Take the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that happened December 14, 2012, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed twenty children and six adults. What he did was horrible, indeed, but while I disagreed with his method, I understood his anger. He felt his mother cared more for the kids she taught at school than she did for him.

There are no pure villains.

I haven't villainized my antagonist in my memoir, but I have, to a point, in my novel. In the ending chapters I round my character off and show their heart, but after attending this panel, I will go back into the story and share those endearing qualities earlier.

The second panel I attended was Secrets, Shame, and Memoir: Women Writers on What it Takes to Tell the Truth about our Lives. And shame was the bull's eye of conversation. As a woman who survived childhood, shame has followed me into adulthood. I want to tell my stories, some days. Others, I think, "Who will care?"

'They say' you have to write with the reader in mind. This is true, but I also think it's important that you write with you in mind. That doesn't mean hold back. In fact, I mean just the opposite. Grab those reins and take yourself for a ride and hold on tight 'cuz it's gonna get bumpy. Linda Joy Myers with the National Association of Memoir Writers says the first draft is for you. Write everything down. Then you can go back and change things.

I agree with this on the most part. I say write everything down and during the editing process only prune what needs pruning. Leave your shame and denial on the page. Leave your heart and your tears on the page. Leave your courage and bravery on the page.

Shame is what keeps us quiet. Tell your stories without shame, but with courage and acceptance. Give yourself permission to tell your truths.

Day two at AWP hit home in ways I hadn't expected, but my writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, will be better because of the panels I attended.