Aug 30, 2010
Aug 26, 2010
RWA Group Grant Success
My face-to-face writing group, WIKS (writers in kinship) recently applied for a grant to have a guest speaker present a writing workshop. We are very thrilled to be able to say our grant was successful!!
We applied to the Romance Writers of Australia Group Grant Scheme: To provide financial assistance on a case-by-case basis to RWA groups for use in advancing the writing careers of their RWA members.
As a result of our successful application, Denise Rossetti is presenting a three hour workshop on synopsis writing, that necessary element of writing guaranteed to elicit groans and moans from most writers (me included). Hopefully, at the end of the session the word 'synopsis' will no longer have us quaking with fear *grin*.
For those of you fortunate enough to have been to Denise's 'Deep POV' workshop at last week's national RWA conference, you'll know wwe are going to have to push up our sleeves and work our socks off for those three hours. But I know it will be worth it. Aug 23, 2010
Aug 20, 2010
RWA Conference 2010
Wow, what a weekend. I've just returned from RWA's annual conference and have to say I've had a ball. Learnt heaps, socialised just a little *wink* and left invigerated and enthused about my writing - what more could you want?
Some things I've learnt:
I'm not supposed to be able to write my GMC in one sentence. Nuh-uh. If the GMC guru herself, Deb Dixon, can't drill it into me, no-one can. I can write a goal, and a conflict, and a motivation. But I cannot for the life of me write it in that neat little "character wants goal because motivation but can't because conflict" sentence. - But I also learnt that it's okay if you don't do it that way, and Deb showed us the way she does it, which isn't a little sentence but a detailed table - now that I can do *grin*.
To write a dominant impression for your character (again Deb Dixon). That is, an adjective + descriptive noun. For example, Hans solo is a cocky smuggler and Princess Leia is a royal rebel.- That I now view Pretty Woman through very different eyes after Melanie Milburne's From Bin to Bestseller session. Melanie used Robert McKee's five story parts to demonstrate why Pretty Woman works - and in doing so how to apply it to your own ms.
- Denise Rossetti's key to deep pov: you (the author) are in the character's head looking out their eyes, hearing what they hear, feeling what they feel (and that verbs are your friend).
- Any would be muggers need to beware because thanks to Ray Floro I now know how to maim and kill an attacker - and how to turn anything into a weapon. There should probably be a lot of scared husbands around the country right now, lol.
Thanks for an awesome event, RWA, and I can't wait for the 20th anniversary conference in Melbourne 2011.
Aug 16, 2010
Aug 12, 2010
Post in Absence
But tonight is the e-list dinner, where those of us attending conference who are on the RWA Romaus e-loop get together so we can chat face-to-face, often for the first time. So tonight it will really feel like conference is starting. Then tomorrow it begins. I can't wait.
It's actually going to be a busy conference, because I have organised the First Time Conference Attendee's program, and am helping with the Silver Lunch fundraiser for Ovarian Cancer.
Highlights to look forward to are hard to pick, but I think Deb Dixon's GMC/Heroes Journey workshop, the Harlequin cocktail party (because I love my costume) and the awards dinner where I'm nominated for the Lynne Wilding Award (for meritorious service) probably have the edge.
It goes without saying catching up with all my writing friends and being immersed for a weekend with other romance writers is also very exciting.
Next week I'll report back on how I found RWA's 2010 Sun, Surf and Sizzle conference. I'm sure I'll have loved every minute.
Aug 9, 2010
Aug 5, 2010
Perfect Present for a Writer
Now I just need to get used to typing on a standard keyboard again.
Aug 2, 2010
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