Creative writing

gstatic images

This is the year,” I said. The year I will attend a writers conference. Certain I’d walk away with valuable knowledge and new friends, I circled the dates, in red ink, on my calendar. Instead, life happened, reality set in, and the conference became a repeat item on my wish list. Some conferences were too costly, too lengthy, too far away, or personal and family obligations got in the way.

I turned green listening to other attendees talk about their experiences, and the authors and agents they met. I wanted to garner their newly acquired wisdom and enthusiasm for my own.

As much as I believed in the value of conferences, I realized they weren’t the only resource. So I developed a backup, my own lists of resources to utilize as my own home conference. Here are my top five.

Conference from Home: The internet provides a treasure trove of writing resources. Written by agents, authors, and writers, of all genres, they are, with the stroke of a key, available to everyone. Articles, instruction, workbooks, checklists, critiques, podcasts, online classes, and free downloads are yours for the taking.

Live Write Thrive – C.S. Larkin’s website rates top on my list. She offers a wide selection of articles and focused series aimed at helping writers succeed. Her most recent series is 12 Key Pillars of Novel Construction. In addition, you can download a number of items including, Fiction critiques and First-page checklists for novels. Two excellent examples.
Write Better Stories – Jennifer Blanchard offers an array of articles and services, including free downloads for her new guide and workbook, How to Write Better Stories. Her First Plot Point Worksheet is also available.
Writer’s Village Academy – In easy layman’s terms and with an array of examples, Dr. John Yeoman is a tremendous source of succinct information on writing. Currently, Dr. Yeoman is offering the first four weeks of his Master Course in Creative Writing – FREE!
Women on Writing is an awesome site with numerous articles, classes (paid), and referral sites. Here you can find a smorgasbord of resources from classes like, Writing a Novel with a Writing Coach: One-on-one Instruction to sections on Character Research and Books for Writers. WOW, also sponsors one of my favorite contests.
Udemy Online offer classes and courses on a variety of subjects, including writing. The courses are often discounted and sometimes free, as in the case of the course I’m taking, Outlining Your Novel: The Hollywood Secret Exposed (all about outlining a whodunit-mystery-novel).

gstatic images

While not the hands-on conference I aspire to, I find these the next best thing, providing me the opportunity to hone my craft from the comfort of home.

I’d love to spend a few days at a writers conference, but until the stars align and I can, I’ll utilize the resources at my fingertips.

What about you? What do you do in lieu of conferences?

November is a huge month. We select a new President and a slew of writers of all levels will take on the challenge of NaNoWriMo. Starting November 1st, participants all over the country will write a complete 50,000-word novel in one month. Oh, how I would love to sign on for the challenge, but the truth is I don’t have the guts nor the time and I’d have be in the land delusion to even try attempt such a feat.

As much as I strive to have a structured time and place for writing, life happens. Over the last year or so many of you have read my resolutions to write a certain number of words per day and each time I gave it my best shot, but for the most part, I fell short. Things haven’t happened the way I planned. Why? Simple, life happens. I’m not the only person in my universe.

As I read through some of my favorite blogs the other day, I found a number of them to be on the same issues: How to overcome writer‘s block, become more inspired or tricks and prompts to keep you writing. I read each one with the intention of using their best advice offered. It didn’t happen, life did.

Instead of being productive, I became frustrated. I couldn’t keep up with all the reading, weekly prompts, tweets and blogs, my own writing, writer’s group and family responsibilities. I needed an attitude adjustment.

Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn gives three tips on how she keeps herself from being distracted.

1. Diary scheduling – days scheduled for nothing else but writing.

2. Working out of the Library

3. Setting a timer for ninety minutes -broken into four sessions, per day.

The first one would take an act of congress, divorce, giving my dogs away, or moving out of the country, but occasionally it happens. The second one works, and I’ve been stealing a couple of hours away from home to cut down on distractions. The third one, I’m trying this week. Emails, twitter, and research have a tendency to suck the hours out of a day and I get lost. The timer will be good for me, as long as I don’t reset it.

Life does happen to all of us. It’s unavoidable. We must learn to roll with the punches. It was easier when I was younger and a great multi-tasker, but that was then.

CJ Lyons in her blog No Rules Just Write, offered the best advice. She said there is no secret recipe to writing a good book or story and no one can tell you the right way to write. Her own secret was “as simple as ABC: APPLY BUTT TO CHAIR”.

Sounds like good advice.