In March we again enjoyed the cozy meeting room at the Downtown YMCA. Our main subject of discussion was continuing education for writers, and Carol shared some excellent resources with the group. Carol writes romance, and there is agreement within the writing community that romance writers and organizations provide their peers with some of the most helpful and plentiful information, and most of it crosses over seamlessly into other genres. Carol herself is dedicated to learning as much about the craft as she can, and she was able to give us some first-hand recommendations for resources:
Organizations
Horror Writers Association
Romance Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Sisters in Crime doesn't actually have a section for writer resources on their website, but they do have a page with a listing of books on writing by their members, some of whom are big names in the genre
Courses, lectures & workshops
Lawson Writer's Academy
Low Country RWA workshops
Mary Buckham's lectures (Carol recommends these highly)
Romance University
Writer University
General Resources
The Harlequin Community section has a lot of information that's worth checking out, but start with the Craft Archives thread in their forum, and their Write for Us section.
Writer's Digest is a great resource. Subscribe to their newsletter and enjoy a wealth of information on topics ranging from the craft to getting published to industry news.
Social Media, Blogs & Podcasts
If you are already on Twitter and Facebook, search for and follow your favorite authors, agents and editors working in your genre or well-known for their informative posts, and publishers and markets you undoubtedly already have your eye on. Their feeds can be full of good information and fun at the same time. Some to get you started are Elizabeth S Craig (@elizabethscraig), Anne R. Allen (@annerallen), and Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn).
Check out your favorite authors' blogs too, they often talk about writing and you can learn a lot from those on the front lines. The more well-known authors will have sections on their websites dedicated to FAQs for those interested in writing (Janet Evanovich's and Margaret Atwood's sites spring to mind), the relative newcomers will be talking more about the day-to-day challenges, so follow both.
Some of the best podcasts out there are Writing Excuses, which focuses mainly on the craft, and I Should Be Writing, which primarily deals with the emotional part of the writer's journey.
Our book of the month for March was Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. It was first published in 1965, and it shows particularly in the examples the author uses to illustrate his points and in the language, which can be quite dense for the modern reader. Despite all this the book is worth reading if only for the discussion on Motivation-Reaction units and how to build your story using them. Another member of ours, Audrey, said that Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson examines this and other subjects in a manner that's more accessible for our contemporaries, so if you prefer to not deal with the challenges of Dwight Swain's language you might want to check it out instead.
In April one of our topics of discussion is going to be the future operation of CWW, so if you plan on attending the next meeting, or if you won't be able to make it but want to weigh in anyway, here are the questions we'll be addressing:
- Whether to move the day and time of our regular meetings, possibly to a weekend time slot
- Where to advertise our group in the media and online (any connections/introductions would be welcome)
- We still have 5 months with no discussion topics assigned. If you have a particular interest in a topic or two please let us know, and we'll add to the agenda.
You are welcome to send a message either using the form in the side-bar or via e-mail chattwomenwriters@gmail.com
Hope to see everybody at the end of the month!
