Writing Retreat Opportunity

Here's a great opportunity presented by my friend and fellow writer, Jennifer Sander. She's the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published (Alpha Books).

Women’s Writing Retreat Weekend at Lake Tahoe with the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published

“A room of one’s own,” Virginia Woolf once famously suggested, is what a woman needs to get any writing done.  Alas, even if you have a writing room in your house, the rest of your house is still there to interrupt you when you sit down to focus your creativity… Wait! Did you remember to start the dishwasher this morning?  Better get up and check.  Oh, is that the doorbell?  Look, a neighbor has arrived to chat.  And did you ever return those phone calls from yesterday? Better do it now before you forget.   Finally, a moment arrives when you can get back to your thoughts and really dig in… my, but how the time has flown and now you’ll need to get dinner started.

Sound familiar?  Instead, why not spend the weekend in Lake Tahoe in a quiet room at “Write By the Lake” with other women writers, lots of wine, and wonderful food?  I’ll be there too – Jennifer Sander, of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published and some fifty other titles.  A former Random House editor and long time book packager and publishing consultant, I’m happy to build a cozy fire and chat all night long about the trials and tribulations of the publishing world. 

Other than drinking wine, what else happens on a Women’s Writing Retreat Weekend?  The schedule looks like this:

Friday: Arrive late afternoon for introductions, socializing, and weekend goal setting. Dinner will be served at 7:30

Saturday: Breakfast before 9, private writing from 9 until 12.  Lunch break and a short walk to the lake, afternoon writing time from 1:30-5.  Dinner at 7:30.

Sunday: Breakfast before 9, writing from 9 until 12.  Lunch break, another bit of leg stretching, another round of goal setting, and then writing all afternoon until it is time to head back down the hill. 

$345 fee includes all: a private room and all meals and drinks.  I hold this small event a few times a year at our South Lake Tahoe house, with a maximum of three writers each time.  This is your chance to get started on a new project, finish up an old one, or just sit quietly and let your thoughts and creativity surprise you.  Let me know if you are interested, I’d love to see you there!

Jennifer Basye Sander, co-author, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published, founder, Write By The Lake, A Writers’ and Publishers’ Retreat.

New dates for Fall:  August 27-29, Sept 24-26,  a midweek retreat from Sept 20-22, and Oct 1-3.  If any dates work for you, book now, they do go fast!  Contact Jennifer at basyesander@yahoo.com, or 916-791-2101. You can also find us online at www.writebythelake.com.

The Book Cover

The book cover for Headwind is ready - almost. This morning's post covers some of the details of the process. How important is a book cover? It's important. Covers can make the difference between picking up a book or giving it a pass.  This is an area where self-publishing needs some serious guidance. I've seen some covers out there that curdle the blood - garish, off-putting, or just plain blah - some of these covers make me wonder if the book is worth the trouble of skimming the first few pages to see if the author can write. It's painfully obvious from the get-go that some of these folks are color blind and shouldn't be let loose with the clip art function.

So, what makes a good book cover? Readers have come to expect a certain type of cover for each genre (category). Here are two easily recognizable types of novels with their easily recognizable covers.

Romance

Romance novels generally feature some skin (or a lot of skin) along with bosomy females and muscular males. Thse folks can be in a liplock, serious level embrace, or she may be hoisted up in his capable arms.

Westerns

Horse. Rugged cowboy on horse. Athletic woman on horse. Rugged cowboy and athletic woman on horses. Galloping. Stetsons. Crimson sunset. Rail fences. Mountains and plains in the background.

Art through Time

Pulp fiction is a great resource for studying cover art. Think gumshoes, rich women in trouble, gats, hard liquor, smokes, and danger. Some of these covers were downright lurid and often didn't have much relationship with the story or the characters in the novel. Their purpose was to grab your attention and they did it well. Nice to know they're having a resurgence.

My Cover

The cover is nearly done. We've changed Katrin's coat from dark blue to red and lightened the image. All that's left is to add the title and the wraparound information. Here's what the final version of the art looks like for Headwind: The Intrepid Adventures of OSS Agent Katrin Nissen.

We wanted the cover to have a noir aspect and yet show determination and hope. Next time, I'll share the finished product and load the trailer. Happy reading everyone!

In Defense of Adverbs

Adverbs have been demoted as a valued part of speech - sort of gone the way of Pluto as a planet. It's too bad, actually, as adverbs definitely have their place in the language. Mostly, their demotion is confined to dialogue tags, those parts of conversation peppered with "he said" and "she said." According to the industry standard today, writers are to use said as opposed to chortled, snarled, argued, growled, burbled, and a host of other verbs that indicate state of mind. The thinking is that readers tend to expect said  and pass over it as they read, while more energetic verbs cause readers to pause and digest your verbiage instead of plowing relentlessly onward through your characters' conversations.

Times change. Tom Swift, hero of a previous generation, liberally interspersed adverbs throughout. Tom Swifties became so much a part of the culture that people enjoyed bantering them about. Anyone out there have a favorite Tom Swiftie to share?

Anyhow, adverbs as a part of speech (there are eight of them, if you still remember your 8th grade English), have been relegated to the back shelf. I am violently opposed to the current practive. Definitely opposed. If this were a conversation, I'd state that over and over again.

Seven People You Meet at Writers Conferences (II)

Welcome back to the continuing saga of Seven People You Meet at Writers Conferences.

Characters

Writers are always looking for characters to populate their novels and the best places to find these creatures are where people congregate. Some good places to do people watching are coffee shops, airports, cafes, and Writers Conferences. For some reason, writers are some of the most interesting characters you'll ever meet, and if you do your people watching at these get togethers, nobody is going to even notice you're observing and recording, because everyone is walking around with notepads and pens and laptops. It's a golden opportunity. To illustrate, here are just two characters from the last conference I attended.

The Woman in the Parrot Hat

Writers go to conferences for a variety of reasons - networking and agent catching are the two principal ones. I believe this lady fell into the second category.She was determined to be noticed, and noticed she was. She was the only person wearing an oversized yellow straw hat adorned with a multi-colored stuffed parrot glomped onto one side and a smattering of gaudy feathers artfully cascading off the rim and tickling her shoulder. To say she was a conversation piece doesn't do this trooper justice.

For four days she wore this hat, accessorized with a pastel rainbow broomstick skirt. She was a credit to her genre. The headache she nurtured must have been of gargantuan proportions and yet she plowed ahead, a Carmen Miranda d'une certain age.

Was she noticed? You betcha. Was she a character? You bet your pinfeathers. I spent some time thinking about her and speculating. There's a character there, for sure.

The Balding Man in the Green Sateen Cape, Tennis Shoes, and Long, Gray Beard

In the interest of gender equity, this gentleman did himself proud. He was a tad scary, and if I were an agent, I might have been a bit reluctant to listen to his pitch. However, he soldiered on, cape and all, like a Green Hornet closing in for the sting. I don't know if he was successful in snagging an agent, but he definitely got their attention.  I believe his genre was fantasy and it was clear he was living the dream.

A character? Most certainly and one that had the potential for going in a variety of directions.

Me

I was the only completely normal person there, with my 1940s cloche hat, rhinestone brooch and earrings, and evening dress. I don't understand the reason for the second looks. Must have been an inner beauty thing. 

Seven People You Meet at Writers Conferences (I)

For any writer, but especially for writers who want to break into the market, a writers conference can be the best investment. There are about a gazillion of these affairs held at various times during the year, so finding one that fits your wallet and your schedule isn't all that difficult.

The Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) holds their annual conference in Seattle in July and I highly recommend it. I've been attending for about three years now and each time I connect with more fascinating people (writers are a neat bunch of folks) and learn more about the craft of writing. So, what can you find at one of these shindigs? Plenty!

Writers

Writers are nice people, and by and large they're willing to share everything they've learned along the path to publication. It's easy to strike up a conversation while you're standing in line (and there are lines beaucoup), having your morning cuppa, in the elevator, parking garage, the hotel lounge, corridors, and so forth. Every place your set your feet, you will find writers. They're easily identified by the name badge hanging around their necks.

PNWA conveniently lists the genre (category of writing) each person works in, so don't limit yourself to talking with people just in your area. Branch out! You'll learn much more about the craft and the process of getting published if you cast a wide net early on in your career.

Business Cards

Have a bunch of these to hand out to everybody who is breathing. If you don't have any yet, start collecting what other writers share with you and see what kind of information you need to have on these cards.

Here's my card for Headwind and I handed out over 200 of the creatures at the conference.
It's got the cover, my name, the ISBN, and contact info for me, along with the first line of the book trailer. A great source for business cards is Vista Print (www.vistaprint.com). Check them out!

Doing Everything at Once

When I first began writing, I expected the process to be a linear one. I'd get an idea, make some notes, mull them over, write a first draft, do a few edits, and be on my way to fame and fortune. Reality intruded early on in this process and so I'll share the actual journey with you. It's turning out to be much more complex and interesting than I'd thought when I started.

Today's Activities

I returned last night from Seattle and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference - my head full of ideas, possibilities, and potential plots. Today, I'm sitting at the computer, researching and writing on the work in progress (wip), answering mail, and exploring publicity venues for the completed novel, Headwind: The Intrepid Adventures of OSS Agent Katrin Nissen, that's scheduled for release this coming September.

All those neat and tidy ideas have been scrawled on three separate legal pads and the scraps and pieces of my mind have begun to litter my sewing room that doubles as my office when I'm writing. The room is getting messy, and that, I've discovered, is when my ideas take off. I can't write when stuff around me is neat and orderly. A clutterbug by nature, I'm at my best in a landfill.

Going back to work now. More shortly on the Conference and the process of writing.