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 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 moreBOOK RESEARCH—PEOPLE WATCHING by Will Zeilinger
February 3, 2023 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Book Research, Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as Book Research, People watching, writers, writers life
Researching for a book takes many forms. When it comes to finding unique characters, I love to people-watch. That activity allows me to discover interesting physical characteristics and mannerisms I can use to flesh out some of the people (and animals) who make up the cast of characters. For most of my working career, I was a visual artist, which included being a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, and cartoonist. Most of my projects involved sketching out how an ad or layout would appear. I always carried something to sketch out interesting people or places I encountered.
People-watching is especially helpful when writing a contemporary piece. Fashions (especially among teens) change quite often. Different age groups have certain “uniforms” but it’s best to avoid clichés. In the summer, for instance, older male baby boomers are fond of Hawaiian shirts or silk-screened T-shirts, cargo shorts, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and sandals. While women of the same age can be found wearing crop pants, tank tops or French-cut tees, and thin-strap sandals. Both genders are often found with a “fanny pack” strapped around their waist or slung over their shoulder. This doesn’t apply to everyone in that age group. More artistic women may gravitate to a caftan or flowing broomstick skirt and maybe a load of clunky costume jewelry.
Besides clothing, the way a person wears their hair can give clues about the character you are building in your mind. Do the men look like they get haircuts every week, once a month, or is it shaggy like they rarely ever get it cut at all? Do they get it cut as if they are still in active military service? Hairstyles can tell you if your character is one who is trying to recapture their youth, or if they go to the same salon/barber that their grandparents did.
Watching people can expose you to a multitude of variations. Don’t forget to look at their posture and stance. That can say a lot about the character’s attitude or general mood.
I live near the beach, and although it is not summer at the time of this writing, teens can still be found with a skateboard in hand, earbuds, and, of course, the ubiquitous cell phone.
If your story takes place in the Midwest or in New England, the whole scenario changes.
Some great places to watch people being people are checkout lines at big box stores, sporting events, airports, doctor/dentist waiting rooms, parks, libraries, post offices and other public places. Parents and grandparents are very interesting to watch when they are picking up kids/grandkids from school.
Wherever you choose to observe potential characters, remember to be courteous and subtle. Especially if you are researching children or young people. Don’t make it obvious you are taking notes. Of course, many writers rely on those they know to provide these character clues, but since we all belong to different socio-economic groups, using only those around us can skew your character descriptions.
Be open-minded and have fun looking for characters in the people you watch. It’s a great lunchtime activity—just, don’t stare. We’d all like to see these people in your book.
The Skylar Drake Series Co-authored by Will and His Wife Janet Elizabeth Lynn
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