Author Readings with Babies, Camp Nanowrimo, and More!

Last weekend, I was able to participate in a couple author readings. (More like tag along with more experienced and established authors like Gayle Irwin  and Shauna Murray, who are very talented and oh so sweet!). The first event was at the local library with these cute little people.

I always gain a lot from these experiences, and I'm really grateful when I can participate. You learn a lot by watching other authors and just seeing how kids react to the books and presentations. This is one of the many reasons I'm glad I self-published on my quest to becoming traditionally published - getting practice reading my book aloud and interacting with kids and fellow authors is an invaluable experience!

The second event was at a book shop in a neighboring town. Because it was a bit of a drive to get there, I got to bring this little sweetheart along.  I have to admit, I was slightly nervous about how it would go,but she was a happy little snuggle bug while I read... and I kind of love this picture! Hehe :D

In other writing news, I recently discovered CAMP NANOWRIMO, which is this awesome, FREE program where you sign up with other authors in a "camp" and create a writing goal to complete by the end of a set deadline. I found out about it late in the game, so my goal was to write two short stories totaling 1400 words within a few days. When I reached my goal, I was declared a "winner" and was awarded the right to post this picture. Wooohooo!

It was GREAT motivation to have an official goal and other "campers" as a support group. I highly recommend other authors signing up for the next round, which I believe happens in July.
 
That's it for now, but stay tuned for more soon! :) 

Random Writing News

Thought I'd post some updates on my writing life, since it's been very busy lately:

• My motivation meter has gone up a great deal these last few weeks. I’ve created five new picture book manuscripts, four more poems, and an essay to submit to a magazine all in the last month or so. It’s been so fun to create completed projects! I’ve also been reading a lot of great writing websites and have been picking up so many good tidbits. (Let me know if you want to know which sites have been particularly helpful). 

•  A few of the said “learned tips”: if your goal is to publish a book, it’s good to have some credentials under your belt for when you start querying. Try getting published in any way that you can - by a magazine, as a part of an anthology, or by a smaller publishing house. Try entering your works in a local or national writing contest. Take some writing classes, attend online webinars and go to writing conferences. All these little awards, classes, and publications show agents that you are a serious writer and they will look good on your query letters.   

• So, here’s me following my own advice: I’m going to start submitting more of my works to children’s magazines. I’ve submitted a couple already, but hope to make this a new trend! I have found a couple smaller publishing houses that look like a good fit for a couple of my manuscripts, so I plan to submit soon! I’ve been entering several different writing contests lately and am always on the lookout for more ways of getting my work out there (a great way to hear about contests is joining an online writing group for your area – they usually list legit contests on their website). I’ve been watching webinars and listening to podcasts at writersdigest.com and SCBWI, and am really excited to participate in a local writing conference hosted by my state-wide writing group this summer.

• One of my new year’s resolutions is to stay off the computer while my kids are awake. So far, it’s been a great change and I feel like it’s helping me to be a better mom and writer by focusing on one thing at a time. (You'd be surprised how much you can do in just a couple hours of no distractions). Hope I can keep it up all year long!

Here’s to an exciting new year of creating lots and reaching goals!

Why every writer needs a writing group

This is a picture of my writing group. I love these women! Just looking at this picture makes my heart happy. These are my girls. They are amazing and I don't know where I'd be without them. Yes, we are a pretty small group, but don't be fooled. It only takes a a few talented writers coming together to create a highly productive, incredibly helpful, and completely awesome writing group.

You may ask yourself: what is a writing group and how does it work? Well, every writing group probably does things a little differently. But basically, it's this:

You team up with other writers in your area and say: "Hey, lets meet every week, (or every other week, or once a month) at such and such place". Before you all meet, each group member sends out something they've written via email so the whole group can read it beforehand. (Note: It's important to have a maximum number of pages to send out so that the group isn't overloaded with 500 pages to read in a 2-week time period). Each group member will edit the writings and make notes for each author. When the group meets, everyone will take a turn to get what they wrote critiqued by the entire group. The author can ask any questions and get feedback on how they could improve on what they've written.  You can also discuss any related topics, like querying agents, marketing strategies, and whatever you want really.

And that's that! So...

Are you a writer with goals of turning your stories into something more than they are now? If the answer is yes, my next question is: Are you in a writing group? If not, then you should be! And here's why:

1. If you want your writings to be the best they can be, YOU NEED CRITIQUE! No matter how good you think your writing is, there's components of it that you just can't see need to be changed on your own. You need a new pair of eyes and a fresh brain to read it over and point out what may be obvious to everyone else but you. Is is intimidating to put your writing out there for others to edit? YES! But that's why you invite nice people into your group, who will tell you the truth (extremely important that they are honest) but in a nice way. :) And hey, getting advice doesn't mean you HAVE to change your story, it's just incredibly helpful feedback - and you should get as much of it from as many people as possible if you want your writing to improve.

2. Writing groups keep you MOTIVATED TO KEEP WRITING! Even if you think you write pretty often already, being in a writing group forces you to keep it up on a regular basis and gives you incredible motivation to FINISH projects. For example, my writing group meets every other week and we each are expected to have written something new each time. How motivational is that! Are you working on a novel but stuck in a writing slump? What about an idea for a children's book that you just haven't got around to putting on paper? Not finishing writing projects is what happens to 90% of wannabe authors - making any dreams of publishing impossible. In a writing group, having to have new material written every two weeks FORCES you to at least get something down on paper, even if it's not perfect. And after a few months of this, you'll be finishing that book in no time!

3. Writing groups connect you to amazing people who will increase your opportunities and skills! In writing groups, you'll meet other artists, other creative minds. People with great ideas who can help inspire your work. People with skills that you may be able to learn from - knowledge of other writing clubs, classes, or resources. Maybe someone in the group knows how to use Photoshop really well and you need to learn that to create a successful book cover. Maybe someone has connections with the local library and can help you get an author reading day set up there. Maybe one is an illustrator and can help you illustrate your book or give you information on someone else who can. Collaborating with other authors helps you find out about local author events, gives you other authors to split table costs with at the craft market when you sell your book, helps you find out about writing conferences or helpful websites, or other books that relate to your work (which is helpful in finding the right agent for you). If you are all writers with similar goals who are all researching ways to get your books out there - then you are all bound to learn and gain something valuable from each other. 

4. The Support is just the best! Being in a supportive group of other authors, cheering each other on, buying each others books and helping to spread the word for each other, having friends to go to writing conferences with or just to talk about writing with in general, having that support - emotional and physical - is just priceless. It makes all the difference. It keeps you going. It encourages you. It makes writing FUN. It's seriously like a party every time you meet. But then again, make sure the members in your group are nice, like mine...;)

5. You can meet in your PJ's and bring cookies. I think that pretty much speaks for itself. It's awesome. 


So I know it might be a little intimidating, but trust me, being in a writing group is SOOO much better than trying to figure everything out on your own. It may get you out of your comfort zone, but for those serious about writing, believe me, it's what you need. And hey, maybe you aren't really serious about writing and it's just something that gives you joy and you don't really have any goals for your works. In that case, a writing group can still be for you! If you just have a desire to share what you are writing or to just get free grammar editing, or just positive feedback, let the group know, and if they're nice like mine, then they'll be more than happy to oblige. :)

So, ask around. Find out who likes to write just like you do. You'll be surprised at how many people do! Try to find those who are truly talented and passionate writers, who will be honest - people who will inspire you and help you rather than be TOO nice to give you any critique. And then organize a writing group with these people. Even a group of two or three is better than one. If you can't find anyone you know , look up groups in your community - they are all over the place. And when you do, let me know how much your writing is improving and how much you are loving it! Because I know you will!