Heart of Dixie Online June Workshop: Okay... I Confess....

Another fun Heart of Dixie Online Workshop. Learn how to make money by doing the things you love to do!

Okay... I Confess: Watch TV, Shop at the Mall and Surf the Internet to Make Money

June 6-20th

Marilyn Puett

Cost: $20

www.heartofdixie.org

Course Description:  While it may sound like an infomercial for a get rich quick scheme, Okay… I Confess offers information and tips on how to create a source of outside income by writing short stories for the confessions and romance magazines.  This two-week workshop is geared for writers who want extra income while waiting to sell their first book, are between royalty checks or simply want an extra income stream.

This course takes students step by step through writing a confession.  It begins with learning the market, developing hooks and compelling story lines and structuring a story properly.  By the end of the course, students should have a story ready for submission.

Additionally, participants will be given the opportunity to submit the first few pages of a story they start during the class and have the pages critiqued by published writers.  Two stories will be selected toward the end of the class to receive a full critique.

Instructor Bio:  Marilyn Puett has sold over thirty-five stories and a half-dozen short feature articles to the confessions and romance magazines.  Her other writing credits include Bylines Writers’ Desk Calendar, stories on the Long and Short Reviews website, and an article called “Short Shorts – Not Just a Fashion Statement” was featured on the Writing for Dollars website.  She is a three-time NaNoWriMo winner, and Harlequin SuperRomance requested a partial for the book she wrote for NaNo in 2008.  Marilyn is a member of Heart of Dixie RWA and has served RWA on both the local and national levels.  A founding member of The Writing Playground, a website for aspiring writers (www.writingplayground.com), she lives in her empty nest in north Alabama and dotes on her granddaughter.

Heart of Dixie Workshop: Pitch, Pile, or Public: Three Paths to Publication

It's not too late to sign up for another Heart of Dixie Online workshop. This month's class features three of my favorite people: Kira Sinclair, Kimberly Lang, and Lynn Raye Harris. They are my chapter mates at the Heart of Dixie.These ladies are dedicated to helping all of our members achieve our goal of becoming published. I've been fortunate to learn first hand how they reached their goal to become published authors. Now they have developed a fabulous, collaborative online workshop to share their knowledge with more people. I personally use Kira's pitch method for all my editor/agent appointments, and I always received requests. Kira's a published author now with BLAZE, but it all started with her pitch. When I met Lynn she was a Golden Heart contest finalist and had just won an editor for a year with Modern Heat. Two years later she has 8 books published with Harlequin Presents. And finally, Kimberly Lang is the Queen of Querying. She sold her first book straight from the slush pile just before I met her in 2008.

If you want to learn how to use all the opportunities you can to get your own manuscripts taken seriously, don't miss this workshop. 

PITCH, PILE, OR PUBLIC:  THREE PATHS TO PUBLICATION

Dates: September 13-27, 2010

Instructors: Kira Sinclair, Kimberly Lang, & Lynn Raye Harris

Cost: $20

Sponsored by: Heart of Dixie, RWA

Register at: www.heartofdixie.org

Summary:

There is no one path to publication; no one way to get an editor or agent’s attention.  In this workshop, three authors draw on their own experiences to prepare you for success on the three most common paths to an editor or agent’s desk.

The Pitch:  Kira Sinclair’s pitch led to a request, then a sale.  Kira will go over the basics of how to craft a short, informative pitch designed to showcase your book’s best bits and leave the agent or editor requesting more.  Kira now writes for Harlequin Blaze.

The Pile:  Kimberly Lang is a slush pile success story.   Since your query letter is the first thing an editor or agent reads, it needs to be the very best it can be. We’ll build on what we learned from Kira’s pitch lessons to build a query letter that encourages the editor or agent to read on. Kimberly is a USA Today bestselling author for Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern Heat.

The Public:  Lynn Raye Harris got an editor’s – and the public’s – attention in a big way when she won the Harlequin-sponsored Instant Seduction contest.  Lynn will share her tips on how to make your first chapters pack the punch needed to get judges, editors, agents (and eventually readers!) wanting to see what happens next. Lynn is a USA Today bestselling author for Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern.

Class format includes lectures and Q&A.  Some students may have the opportunity to have their pitches and/or query letters critiqued by the instructors for the benefit of the participants.

For more information contact online@heartofdixie.org

My Friend Mary Blogged about the Workshop We Attended

I'm heading to Birmingham to meet my CP.  But I've got a treat for you over at Romance Magicians.

Read all about the fabulous workshop Mary and I attended in Georgia. Mary Buckham and Diana Love led the Georgia Romance Writers of America and guests on a great learning journey during this workshop.

Read all about it on the Romance Magicians blog.

See you tomorrow!

Off to the Workshop-- Hooray!

I am so excited. Today I leave for Atlanta with my writing friend. It's about a four hour drive, and the BRAVES are playing this weekend, so we're heading out early to beat the crowds and traffic. She should get here around 9AM, and then we'll load up for our road trip.

Oh glorious day! Four hours with a writing friend where we can talk to our hearts' contents about our passion without worrying about boring the listener. This is my favorite thing to do (well I DO have a few other favorite things--but that's romance research LOL).

Here's what I am bringing for the trip:

*wine
*clothes
*toiletries
*chocolate
*lap top
*a book
*jammies
*my workshop homework

I had to print out four different parts of my current MS in Revision. Sounds easy, right? Not really. First I had to export the various scene info out of Scrivener and into WORD. Always a minor snafu when I do that--next time I meet my CP in Birmingham I will get a tutorial from her. Then I had to look at the stuff I wanted to bring with my own critical eye and redo it to the best of my ability. And I can tell you that rewriting stuff with the knowledge that Mary Buckham or Diana Love will critique it is, well, *gulp* very motivating.

But I managed to churn out a reasonable stash of homework pages. I have my 150 word opening, my approximate 100-150 word setting scene bit for deep POV analysis, my sagging middle scenes (help me please! I have to figure out if these even are the middle part!), and my scene to check for hooks in general. Most of the homework I am bringing is taken from the first 15 pages of the current WIP. Only the mid-section is not.

Before I could even determine what to bring for the mid-section, I had to finish my structure outline/label scene cards in order for the WIP. I worked solidly for 2 hours to wrap up that work. Then I analyzed the number of scenes, calculated the word count necessary for each story Act, and I approximated where the major plot points should fall.

You know what? I am pleased to say that I have a clear set up, a clear ending, solid dissecting plot points to break the 1st Act and 2nd Act as well as the 3rd Act from the 4th Act. Now only the MidPoint is nebulous, but it is within striking distance in the mid 40-44 scene range. I also have a pretty darned good idea about the PINCH POINTS (Larry Brooks Story Structure) in Acts 2 & 3. In working on the resolution/Act 4, I realized I had introduced new information, so I quickly marked it, changed it to reflect the way the Act was supposed to flow and voila, brainstorming occurred that would affect the rest of the book in a positive way.

The MAJOR issue I have is TONE. I'm still working on lightening the tone without losing the emotional elements I feel are necessary for my WIP to come to life.

Getting ready for this workshop deadline has helped me focus on my overall story structure. But I know that what I learn in this workshop MIGHT force me to reevaluate my PLOT. Or, if I am super lucky, the workshop will CONFIRM my plot's direction and give me more fodder to support the structure. Or maybe it will lead to my realizing how to fix the mess regardless of the outcome/analysis.

Stay tuned! I'll keep you posted about my writing adventures in Atlanta.

(PS--I see some of my fellow bloggers on blogspot have lovely links to other pages and the blogs look like web pages--any information about that would be greatly appreciated)

Procrastination Anyone

Well I guess the wind blew out of my sails pretty hard when I didn't final in the GH. I've blown air into them a few times and managed to read through the MS, and work on my character workshop. Other than that, I've spent the majority of my time trolling through blogs, playing on facebook, reading taglines on websites, planning business cards, and fritzing around.

I simply haven't been focused.

I know that it is okay. That down time is fine as long as I inject some effort into the actual process of writing. But I am in a bit of a limbo as I am waiting to hear back from my CP about the last 80 pages of the book and I am in a class in which I have only focused on one character.

What to do about it?

I think I will impose the timer rule.

1 hour on writing and half an hour off for the rest of the day until 4pm. I have company coming for dinner, the usual household chores and cleaning to do, baking, and more that I want to accomplish. The writing will be my work, the other stuff my "break."

This will be in place till Monday. Then I will have to start working on the global fixes in my book.