Blogathon ATX

Saturday I'll be at Blogathon ATX. I'll be on an Author/Blogger panel from 10 a.m. To 11 a.m.

We'll be talking about blogging, online book reviews and guest bloggers/reviewers.

BlogathonATX is an annual day-long event facilitating blogging, collaboration, tech support and roundtable discussions led by Austin’s brightest blogging experts and social media enthusiasts. All levels welcome! Experienced Blogger? Come join your blogging colleagues and share information on the latest trends. New Blogger? We have a staff dedicated to helping you with technical questions as you ease your way into the blogging waters. Blog curious? Come see what all the fuss is about. While many people come to BlogathonATX to write, just as many come for all the other activities and great socializing.

If you live in the Austin area, come by Tech Ranch Austin for BlogathonATX:

9111 Jollyville Road, Austin, TX 78759

Twitter: @BlogathonATX
Hashtag: #BlogathonATX

Why Go?

I've always found conferences to be inspiring and rejuvenating. But, I think you need to know your goals before deciding to attend a convention, conference or workshop.

When clients ask me which one they should attend, the answer is: It depends.

Let's look first at the differences I see between a workshop, a conference, and a convention, as they pertain primarily to an aspiring author.

To me, a workshop is a hands-on, intense learning experience. I would go there with paper and pen and expect to be taught something and receive lots of handouts. The workshop might be taught by one person (if only a couple of hours long) or several people (if days long). My goal in attending would be to learn something, with a secondary purpose of networking. Therefore, when choosing a workshop, I would look at what the topic is and who is leading the class.

I see a conference as being longer than a workshop, first of all. Secondly, while it may have an overall theme, such as "craft of writing" or "agents" or "writing the romance" or "nonfiction," I expect it to have multiple tracks of lectures or mini-workshops on subjects related to the overall theme. And thirdly, it will have more people in attendance. Once again, I sign up for the conference because it deals with a subject I'm interested in, but, just as important, are the speakers and attendees. In choosing, I would consider what stage in my career I'm at: Do I want help in the basics of writing? Am I at the point where I need an agent? Do I want to learn about a particular genre? Am I searching for directors, producers, or other screenwriters? But the theme of the conference isn't always the deciding factor. I may feel I've moved beyond the basics of writing, but a certain conference with that as its theme has several speakers or attendees with whom I really want to network.

And, finally, conventions, to me, are huge deals. Lots of people, lots of talks and panels. These are networking heaven. Yes, you can go to hear writers or agents talk on subjects you're dying to learn about, but your primary goal in attending a convention is to meet people, exchange business cards, make contacts and friends, tell people about your book or manuscript, and have fun. (I'm talking the kind of fun where you meet favorite authors or laugh at dinner with other writers and their agents -- not the kind of fun where next year you see Writers Gone Wild videos of yourself dancing naked on the beach.)

So, what conference, workshop or convention you should attend depends on what you are looking for and want to get out of the experience.

Incidentally, I maintain a weekly-updated list of events for writers, ones that I find or ones where others send the info to me.

Do you have a favorite - workshop, conference or convention - that you like to attend? As an aspiring writer, what do you gain from going? If you're already published, do you still go to workshops, conferences or conventions? If so, why?

The Synopsis as a Class

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Thank you to all service men and women, past and present, who have served this country so valiantly.

I’m back from College Station. Had a good time at the Brazos Writers’ conference. One of the benefits of attending a conference is getting to meet other writers. All the members of the Brazos Writers group weren’t at the conference of course, but I met the ones who were – and they were enthusiastic and fun. I had about 40 people in my workshop and they, also, were enthusiastic. Great questions, interesting comments. And like any conference, those people who “work” the conference, setting up tables and chairs, readying the lunch and snacks, manning the book table, doing the nametags, work hard and are often not thanked. So, thank you to all the members of the Brazos Writers for asking me to speak and for making it a great conference and thank you to all the attendees for making it a great workshop.

I’ve done this workshop on The Synopsis: Four Steps the Ultimate SALES Tool before and each time I wish I had more time. I can present all the information in three hours and have time for Q and A, but it would be nice to have more time for individual and partner writing and more time for sharing and discussing the exercises. I could easily see this as a three or four week class.

Don’t know how many takers I’d get. The synopsis is usually a subject writers try to avoid. After this past weekend, I hope that’s not true for the people who came to the workshop.

Resources for Writers

I’m teaching a workshop, The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool, this weekend in College Station, so, I’ve been reviewing my notes and getting ready.

I decided to add a handout of resources for writers. That means going through my books on writing and also finding sites about agents and writing. I used to maintain a website of over 50 pages. A lot of those pages housed the archives for my e-newsletter, Doing It Write. About seven or eight of the pages were links. When I re-did my website, I cut those pages out. Going from over 50 pages to about eight pages sure made the site more manageable. It also meant that before I put some of those sites onto a resource list, I had to check to make sure they were still viable.

Even when I still had the links on my website, they were constantly changing. Sites disappear, URLs change – most of the time I didn’t know a link was broken unless someone emailed me. I definitely appreciated it when visitors to the site let me know. I had literally hundreds of links, too many to keep up with.

So far I’ve got about three pages of resource sites, as well as books. I’ll need to quit tonight, print it out and take it to Kinko’s in order to make copies to take with me on Friday. The other handouts have already been sent to Mark Troy at Brazos Writers to be put into attendees’ packets.

Then, hopefully, I’m all set to teach the workshop. Yea! Who wouldn’t be excited about three hours talking about writing the synopsis and using it as a selling tool for your book?

Whether I Can Stay Awake is a Mystery

Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Sometime after midnight we got a lightning/thunder/rain storm. That set off our dog. She’s scared witless of storms. She woke me up with her whimpering, whining, panting and carrying on. I gave up and put her bed up into my bed, then propped pillows around it to try to block out the lightning flashes. Did little to calm her. She crawled out and lay next to me, a panting, vibrating mass of fur. I moved her under the covers, then kept lifting the covers to get air to her.

I was beginning to drift off when the phone rang. My daughter. She’s living with us for about four weeks until she moves to San Francisco. She was down at the entrance to our area after getting off work. I should mention here that we live in a subdivision that has one way in or out. And it’s over a low water crossing which floods every time we get a big rain. She, needless to say, was stuck on the wrong side.

I threw on clothes and jumped in the car to check out the water level. It was at one foot, too high for her low Toyota. As I watched, the water kept rising and debris raced across the road in the fast moving stream. Within seconds it had risen so much I couldn’t even see the numeral “one” anymore. About that time she called again and I gave her the bad news that even my slightly higher Rav4 couldn’t make it. We debated what she should do. I suggested a nearby hotel or a friend’s house. She preferred sleeping in her car until it went down. In the end, I reminded myself she’s an adult, not a child anymore, and left it to her.

Couldn’t get back to sleep, though. Wanted to call and find out what she’d decided but didn’t want to do that if she was trying to drive in the pouring rain. Finally, about 2, I made the call. She was in her car waiting it out at the entrance to the area.

Around 4 she called again. The police had shown up at our area. I was surprised it took them so long to check out the crossing. But I shouldn’t have been. Frankly, we’re a low density neighborhood and don’t have nearly as much pull as the big subdivisions with so many houses, they’re close enough to shake hands without leaving their bedrooms. More people, more pull, more attention. Anyway, she was calling to say she’d decided to go to a friend’s house. She asked me to text message her when I got up and checked the crossing.

So, about 6:30 I drove down to the crossing and found water still going over, but it was passable. I stayed long enough to see a car go over, although the school bus was waiting it out.

Now, what is this all leading up to? I plan to go to the first of Karen MacInerney’s classes on How To Write The Mystery at the Barnes & Noble Westlake tonight. If I’m still awake by 7. If you’re interested in mysteries, the class is tonight, tomorrow and Friday. It’s free. It’s open to the public. It’s being taught by an Agatha nominated writer. And you can just show up without registering and can come to one or all of the classes. Hope to see you there. Poke me if I nod off.

Choosing a Conference or Workshop

If you’re new to this blog you may not know I do an e-newsletter called Doing It Write! that comes out every week. Been doing it for eight years now. (If you want to sign up, it’s free.) It has consistent sections in it. For example, it always starts off with a Hot Topic Column. Every issue there are new listings of a contest and an event for writers. There are websites for writers, and so on.

For the contests and events, I, of course, try to find legitimate ones, but I can’t guarantee anything. That’s why I look for ones that have websites or addresses so subscribers can check them out themselves and make their own decisions. So far, knock on my wooden noggin, I’ve had no complaints.

I do sometimes get questions about whether someone should enter a particular contest or go to a conference or workshop. They might wonder if they should enter a writing contest that’s in its first year. Or they ask what they should look for in a workshop. The answer is usually, “it depends.” And what it depends on is the person doing the asking, the one thinking of entering the contest or going to the event.

An event that’s perfect for person A may be totally wrong for person B. You have to first of all figure out what you’re looking for, what you want to get out of a workshop or conference. Do you want to learn craft? Are you looking to network? Hoping to find an agent? Want to meet your favorite authors? Looking to get advice while still having time to write and explore? Desperate for quiet time to write on your own? Wanting instruction on marketing your book? Are you looking for a workshop specializing in a particular genre?

You have to figure out what you’re looking for. You may find several that fit your needs. Then you look at who are the instructors, the speakers, the attendees. Maybe you recognize the names, maybe you don’t. If you don’t, then do some research.

For example, a friend of mine just did a workshop out in Alpine, TX, on marketing your book and how to get it into Barnes & Noble. You may have never heard of her – Jo Virgil. If you haven’t, then you might have crossed it off your list. But if you’d done your research, you would have learned that she knows her stuff – she works for Barnes & Noble and she knows marketing because she’s a Community Relations Manager at one of the Austin stores. She is, in fact, a fabulous CRM and probably one of the hardest working CRMs at promoting authors.

Another thing to look for is location. Some people look for conferences in exotic locations like Maui. Some want something close to home. It’s cheaper if it’s in your own city. But some are willing to fly or drive and stay at a hotel in order to get particular classes and teachers.

There are a lot of other factors like whether you’re looking for a half-day workshop or whether you can commit to an eight week class. Who’s running the conference? Have they done it enough times to be organized and have all the kinks worked out? Are they new enough to still be excited and trying new things?

What it all boils down to is you. You know what you want and need.

Cutting Characters

As I work on more synopses from students in last month’s The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool, I’m coming across writers having a common problem. Their books are so full of interesting characters, each with their own story, and interweaving story lines, they’re having trouble cutting the story down to one or two pages. The synopsis will sound almost like a laundry list of characters and so many story lines, you can’t understand it all.

Of course you can’t! If you take 300 or 400 pages and condense it into two pages, you’ve got to kill characters and story lines. For such a short synopsis, focus on the protagonist, the opponent or antagonist, the main story line (protagonist’s problem), and one or two supporting characters. To get just this much in while making it read like a mini-me of your book both in story and voice, that’s all you’ll have room for.

And don’t forget to tell the ending. You don’t tell the ending in the query letter, but you DO in the synopsis.

Synopses

Last month I taught a workshop called “Writing the Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool” for the North Texas Professional Writers Association (and I’ll be teaching it again next month for the Brazos Writers’ This Business of Writing Conference). Attendees to the workshop in Bedford could send me their up-to-3-page synopsis and I would look at it for them. I’m starting to get some of them now.

Writers tend to dread writing a synopsis. When they do write one, it often reads like a dry piece of toast. No flavor. It’s a listing of events that take place in the story. Even a book that’s exciting and a real page-turner can seem drab and lifeless if only the major events are presented like a paragraphed grocery list in the synopsis.

I can tell that the people sending me their synopses paid attention in class. They’re working to make the synopsis read like a “mini me” of their book. Put flavor into your synopsis. The voice of your synopsis should be the same as the voice of your book. An agent or editor should be able to read the synopsis and know exactly how the book will sound.

There is so much that goes into producing a “good” synopsis, but if there’s one key element it’s the voice of the synopsis.

Synopsis Workshop in College Station

For those struggling with writing a synopsis for your book, I’ll be teaching my workshop, The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool, again next month. I’ll be at the Brazos Writers This Business of Writing 2007 Mini-Conference in College Station, Texas.

The workshop will take you step by step through your synopsis -- how to make the process less intimidating, what to put in the synopsis, and how to use the synopsis as a selling tool. The odds are that sooner or later you’re going to have to write a synopsis. By learning the tools, you’ll feel more comfortable with writing a synopsis -- whatever length an agent or editor asks for – and using it to create your query letter copy ad and your pitch.

Also at the conference will be Mike Farris and Susan Morgan Farris of The Farris Literary Agency. There will be a reception Friday night then the conference on Saturday.

So if you missed the workshop last month, join me in College Station May 25th and 26th.

Synopsis Workshop

I’m back in Austin after driving up to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to lead a workshop at the North Texas Professional Writers’ Association’s mini-conference. Had a great time.

Friday afternoon started off with Doris Lakey, president of the NTPWA, taking me to see her office. Via email, she had been describing it to me. I was anxious to see if it lived up to what I envisioned in my mind. It did. Big room, lots of windows for light, ample flat desk space, storage galore, and personalized with all kinds of pictures and mementos.

Later, the NTPWA Board took me out to dinner. It was an opportunity to sit and talk and get to know each other. The NTPWA is a group focused on their work and careers. You have to apply to join. And judging by everyone I met at dinner and at the conference, a great group of writers.

Saturday morning I was first on the line-up. Had a full room of writers, from beginners to multi-published authors. All of them with great questions and a few with really wild imaginations. Everyone was eager to participate. My topic was The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool. We discussed the basics of writing a synopsis, took time to do some work on synopses, then moved into ways to use the synopsis to promote and sell your manuscript.

I had two and a half hours, but this could be a full day workshop, easy. The time goes by quickly, especially with such a fun topic. And everybody knows what fun writing a synopsis can be! If you don’t, then come the next time I teach this workshop – in May for the Brazos Writers in College Station.

The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool

It’s interesting how much time it takes to prepare to lead a workshop, even one you’ve done before.

You have to research to make sure you’re up-to-date on your information. You try to get new examples to share with the attendees. All of that, of course, causes changes in your handouts so those have to be re-worked then printed out.

For the workshop on writing the synopsis that I’ve been preparing to lead at the North Texas Professional Writers Association this weekend, the examples include different books, so I’ve been going through some of my novels. That takes a while, especially since my books have been in flux, what with a lot of them still boxed up in the storage room, and others scattered or hidden away while we’ve been building the bookcase in my office closet. Then there are current magazines and publishers’ catalogs to gather.

Plus, I did a new evaluation form to hand out. I like to have feedback so I know what to change or work on, and so I get an idea of what writers are looking for when they attend a workshop, such as topics and participation.

I’ve been doing something just about every day for the last month. Of course, it gets more intense as the workshop date gets closer. Today I ran to Kinko’s and made copies of the handouts. Wouldn’t you know it – I forgot to copy the evaluation form. Guess I’ll do that here.

And of course, when you’re going to be talking for two to three hours, you have to practice. Every time I do that, I change things around, which means changing my talking notes. I’ve printed out my notes for the last time today – maybe. I put it into a bigger font so I won’t have to squint at it. Hopefully, I won’t have to look at it too often, since I have no idea if I’ll have a table or lectern.

Even though it takes a lot of work to prepare for a workshop, I always look forward to leading one. It’s fun to meet writers, hear what they’re doing and what questions they have, and hopefully make new friends.

If you’re coming to the workshop this Saturday, I’ll see you there!

Websites and Workshops

This week has been really frustrating for me. Over the weekend I lost email, then yesterday, my website disappeared. I’ve tried everything I know how to do to bring it back up. If I knew how to delete the current site and put up a new one, I’d do that. My next choice is to change hosts to one that has tech support.

So, the last couple of days have been consumed with reading Dummies books and manuals, searching Help, and banging my forehead on the keyboard.

Isn’t it amazing how we can get distracted from what needs to be done? My to-do list has gone by the wayside. And I’ve got nothing to show for it.

I think I have to set the website aside for today, let my boil drop to a simmer, and work on other projects.

I’ve heard from some of you that you had trouble finding out more about the workshop, The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool, I’m doing in Bedford (near Dallas/Ft.Worth) on March 24. Apparently the link I gave proved troublesome for some folks. If you’re having a problem, go to the North Texas Professional Writers Association home page (http://www.ntpwa.org) and click “visitors.” That’ll take you to the page about my workshop.

For those of you who live more toward southeast Texas, it looks like I’ll be doing the Synopsis workshop in College Station in May. I’ll give details about that when it becomes definite.

And if you’re knowledgeable in Dreamweaver, email me. Oh wait, I can’t get email, at least not through my domain. Email me at mermaidhel@gmail.com. But you’ll have to speak English. I went to the Dreamweaver Forum and discovered that I don’t speak tech and they guys there are so advanced they don’t speak bumbler.