Loads of Writing Fun at ScrivCon 2024 Writers Conference
November 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M Colby, writers life, Writers' ConferenceI just came home from the ScrivCon 2024 Writers Conference that was held in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This is the first official large scale conference by Scrivenings Press, who happens to be my publisher. I loved being able to meet my publisher in person and be able to meet fellow authors and build a camaraderie with them. I also thoroughly enjoyed all the sessions.
Great Speakers At ScrivCon Writers Conference Means Active Learning
Angela Hunt gave the keynote, as well as our early-bird session. She shared many of her tips and experiences through her forty years of publishing. I especially liked her Plot Skeleton. It’s a simple way to figure out your basic plot and outline of your new novel. She also discussed her different drafts and what she accomplishes during each one. Now that I’ve published a novel, I feel like this content hits differently for me and is something I can relate to and apply to future manuscripts.
She’s produced several small booklets including one on the Plot Skeleton for writers. Others include Creating ExtraOrdinary Characters, and Evoking Emotion. Take a look. There are others. They may be a great new resource for you. It was super cool for me to connect the dots that she wrote the Tale of Three Trees. One of my kids favorite books we would read at Christmas and Easter.
Other topics at the ScrivCon 2024 Writers Conference included dialogue, productivity, setting, software, book marketing, and so much more. My brain is overflowing.
Fellowship At ScrivCon Writers Conference Builds Connection
Scrivenings Press holds monthly zoom meetings, which has been a great way to meet and learn about other authors and their projects. But meeting them in person has something zoom can’t provide. It was fun to meet face to face, share about our writing, discuss struggles, and brainstorm during the genre breakout one night.
A banquet was held on the last night, where awards for editor of the year, best book of the year, as well as the GetPubbed and Novel Starts contest winners. A fabulous way to celebrate a year of hard work.
Explore and Learn About History
I love National Parks and Hot Springs has one of the smallest national parks in it. It’s related to bath houses and the natural springs that bubble up hot water. It was fun to walk on the promenade, explore the museum, and have a root beer float made with the natural spring water. There is also a gangster museum since Hot Springs is where Al Capone would go to hide out sometimes. Hot Springs apparantly has some baseball history as well, with several signs marking the spots for a walking tour related to the sport.
I can’t wait to jump in and utilize all that I’ve learned from this conference. And I look forward to staying in touch with all my new writer friends as well.
Denise loves to share about her writing journey (see all her posts here), including her word of the year (this year it is GROW), her debut novel When Plans Go Awry, and all the things in between. You can visit her at her website and blog at www.denisemcolby.com or on her facebook or instagram. Please note: some links include Amazon Associate links where Denise can earn from qualifying purchases.
0 0 Read moreBook Two is Finished, Here’s What I learned This Go Around
October 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as learning, romance, writer life, writingI wanted to call this post ‘Writerly Thoughts about Writerly Things’ because my mind is all over the place after focusing the past three months on finishing book two. But as I let my mind write out my thoughts, they all circled around the idea that book two is complete and I learned a lot this go around.
Writing a book on deadline is a completely different experience
I just completed and submitted my second ever manuscript to my publisher. I had to be organized, set a writing schedule, and keep going even when I wasn’t sure what I should write next. My original rough draft was messy and even though I felt solid about the characters I had flushed out, I had written it years ago, before I published book one. And book one had changed—a lot. Which made many scenes in book two unusable. But I had to read through it all again before I figured that out. Once I let go of my old writing, I was able to write a different story, one that I believe was better.
Book two would not be finished without my critique group
There honesty and encouragement kept me going. They asked questions, pointed out inconsistencies in the timeline, and held me accountable to my characters. Would she really say that? I don’t think he would respond that way. I’m just so thankful for them. It makes this entire journey more enjoyable and fun.
I was able to meet them in person at the Faith, Hope, Love, Writers Conference in Phoenix at the end of September. We do pretty well with email. Having an opportunity to talk live about writing and our stories was an extra special treat.
I could not have completed my manuscript without writing sprints with other authors
There’s a group that started them back in July and I joined in to help me be focused and write. It did that and well. (So well, I gave myself tendonitis in my arms from too much typing between writing this book and my day job – but that’s another story). The group still meets and I’m so glad to have this focused time for my writing. I don’t like getting up early in the am for it, but it helps to know there’s people on zoom and I want to be there.
Knowing there’s another book in the series still to come
The decisions I made for these first two books impact what I can do in the next. Things like choosing names. For some reason I was sticking to last names that started with m, and had similar sounds. It was important to catch that now before going to print, so I didn’t regret it when I write the next story. It was actually my critique group that helped catch that for me.
I’m having fun writing in this story world I’ve created
One of the things that helped me this time around was talking with readers about my characters from book one, When Plans Go Awry. They shared with me their favorites, and what they liked and had questions on. It really stayed at the front of my mind when writing book two. In my rough draft, Bert, my crazy rooster, didn’t exist yet. But he has by far stolen the show in book one and being able to write more of him in book two was so much fun. I hope my readers think so too.
What comes next after finishing book two?
Working on deadline and writing an entire book is no joke. I had to say no to several things, ignore my family a bit, and work hard at not getting distracted by home stuff, including the dog. Now I’m playing catchup on things at home, mentally jumping into the projects we need to finish in our yard and house.
I like the new schedule I have and want to keep that time for anything writing related (like writing this blog). It’s amazing how fast time goes by. Besides writing books, as an author I have other writerly things to do including working on my website, posting on my author social media, writing blogs and newsletters, and brainstorming for the next book. I’d love to create a VIP section on my website for my newsletter subscribers. And continue building my word of the year pages—something near and dear to my heart. This year my word is grow, and I think I have definitely done a lot of that.
So many things, but some will have to wait as I have another deadline early next year for book three.
0 0 Read moreHow We Grow As Writers
September 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as focus word, Growth, writers lifeHow do we grow as a writer? Or a better question is how do we track that growth?
I’m not talking about sales numbers or something easily trackable. I’m talking more about goals for our inner selves.
My word for 2024 is grow. And I have had a hard time finding things related to that word to motivate me specifically in my writing. Quotes or examples of that word playing out throughout the day. Last year was change and that was no problem. In fact this year could’ve been change, too. And there are so many more quotes related to change, than there is grow.
Yet change is what helps you grow. And when I took this picture, it occurred to me how much I have grown. It’s just difficult to see it.
Stacks of paper can show how we grow
This past week, I cleaned out a large stack of papers. What would seem like a very easy toss was not. It represented the entire set of printed papers of all the different versions my story went through before it became a published book.
Twelve years worth.
I don’t need them anymore. But when I look at this stack I see where it all began and what it then became.
When I started this writing journey I had no idea what I was doing. I read a lot of books and had story ideas, but how did you actually write one?
I started out by joining a writing group that held workshops every month and online classes. Then I joined a few more and took more classes. I printed out scenes. Had writing friends review. I then worked on sections during these online classes. I entered contests (a lot) and printed out all the feedback. Some was hard to accept, but I’d come back stronger and try again.
I’m not sure what drove me. God, definitely. He never gave up on the story He wanted me to write. I also wanted to follow through with what I started.
How far I’ve come
To read some of my early early scenes helps me see how far I’ve come. How I wrote scenes over and over again to find the words people would want to read. I also found some gems in side notes that came from those classes (I did save a few of those).
I most likely won’t print out pages like this with future books. Or if I do, I toss as soon as I’m done. I trust myself and what I’m doing more. But I won’t have this huge stack to remind me of all the work and change and growth that went into writing my story.
It’s now time to say goodbye to this stack, but I took a picture to remind me that anything worth doing is a journey. A process. I’m really thankful for all of it. I don’t think I’d change a thing.
Denise’s first novel, When Plans Go Awry, published June 4, 2024 and can be purchased on Amazon, both in print and digital formats. She has a section on her website where she shares about her Focus Words or you can see past articles by Denise here on A Slice of Orange in her archives.
0 0 Read moreMid-Year Review of my Focus Word GROW
August 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M Colby, focus word, Growth, writers lifeGROW is my focus word this year and I haven’t spent as much time with it as I’ve wanted to, so I figured it was time for me to do some reflecting on my word GROW from a writing perspective. Like a mid-year review of my focus word GROW.
I try to write in a journal once a month about my word. I use Bible verses and quotes as a starting point to dig deeper into that word. Here are some themes that are starting to sprout out (see what I did there – lol).
The word GROW can be synonymous with plants
When I typed in the word grow, several graphics and quotes had plants in them. What’s interesting is that in order for a plant to grow, you need patience, time, & continuous love and care. This is exactly what we as writers need in order for our books to be written.
We don’t grow without being watered. We need feul and we need rest. If we want to grow as writers, we need to think of ourselves as plants and take care of ourselves. This is something I’m still working on. And since this is a mid-year review, I know what I need to focus on for the rest of the year.
I love that his graphic has a butterfly on it. Each butterfly is unique and first starts out as a caterpillar. And I love this Bible verse:
Plant goodness, harvest the fruit of loyalty, plow the new ground of knowledge.
Hosea 10:12
Taking chances, making changes help you GROW
As writers we have a lot of decisions to make for our stories. What names to use, what ages, hair color, and so much more. Sometimes I feel stalled and I have to remember to just try something and move forward with it.
I’m in the thick of it right now as I work on book two. So many little decisions about our characters personalities that add flavor to our stories. I want to be better in this area of decision-making so that I can move on with writing additional stories.
The same came be said with putting ourselves out there with social media or podcasts. Post something a little more personal so your readers can relate. Figure out how to connect with them. After the launch of my debut novel this year, When Plans Go Awry, I have learned and found additional things to talk about and share with my readers.
Synonyms for GROW include evolve, develop, produce
This is what we do in our stories. They evolve, we develop them, and produce them. So we are manuscripts are growing all the time. It may not feel like it, but every 100 words we write is advancing our story. Stretch yourself to keep moving forward.
Because I’ve now published a book, I now know what’s expected after you write ‘the end’. I’ve learned how to edit more with my original writing and I know how I want to story to be. When I first started, I didn’t know any of these things.
I also am learning how to think like a published author. Building my author brand, interacting with readers, paying attention to websites such as BookBub and my author Amazon page that you can’t do when you are not published.
I have been talking about my focus word every year now for several years. I’ve been slowly building pages on my website to highlight the quotes, verses, and learnings about each word (and I have more to do), so if you decide to choose that word, you have a reference point. Check out my GROW page on my website.
I’ve also done something new this year. I created a sticker that I can hand out or sell at reader events for my word GROW. I love how this came out. I hope to make more of these from past words soon. I’d love to know what you think of this.
So I guess I could say I have grown a lot this year already, which is a great so far this year. Here’s to five more months to continue to Focus on my word GROW.
Check out my post from the January 2024, when I first began with the word GROW.
0 1 Read moreA Month of Happily Ever After
July 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as debut novel, Denise M. Colby, romanceWriting a romance is all about the happy ever after. As a reader, I love the “ah” at the end when the two characters are finally together. Where they learned something new about themselves, opened their heart, and found the one that completes them.
That said, a happily ever after at the end of our novels doesn’t necessarily mean the hero and heroine get married at the end of the book. They could be newly engaged. The couple could decide they are now in a committed relationship. Or they could say I love you for the first time. There are so many options, that it really is the character journey that determines what fits best for our endings.
Personally this past month has been filled with happily ever afters. One fiction, one real life.
The Fiction Happily Every After
The first one was my debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, released in early June. Luke and Olivia’s story is not so much a will they/won’t they (although they didn’t know they would, we did). But the how were they going to figure it out and end up together.
I won’t give away what happens to them at the end, but it’s been so well received and I have found it so much fun to talk with readers about the characters and the town of Washton, like they were real people. Having these discussions has made me feel the happily ever after my characters feel, and that has been so motivating for me as a writer.
Here are several review statements. Also last month I shared information about the launch activities and launch party held in my honor.
The Real Happily Every After
The second example and the real life one, is that my middle son found his happily ever after and married his sweetheart the last weekend of June. A beautiful ceremony, beautiful couple, and a wonderful day filled with love, laughter, family, and friends. With lots of planning before hand, everything came together perfectly.
And I now have a daughter in the family. It’s been so fun to have a front row seat watching them grow and bond as a couple and plan their future life together.
The Magic of Cinderella
As a little girl the story of Cinderella was my favorite. She has a fairy Godmother, she finds her prince (or the prince finds her), and they all live happily ever after. I now know that life is not as simple as that and that those endings are a moment in time where the couple is happy together. But they are still my favorite stories to read.
A story has to end somewhere, why not have it end happy. We all want that hope, love, and joyful feeling when we realize we are in a committed relationship and someone loves us just as much as we love them.
There’s something about escaping in a story where the ending is just that. And that is what I love to read and love to write.
Here’s to many more stories of happily ever afters in our lives. Both fiction and real life.
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