A writing retreat pays big dividends, and it doesn’t have to take a bite out of your wallet. Do you have access to a cabin, a condo, or a room over the garage? You could sign up for a Costa Rican retreat with daily writing, critique, and personal coaching sessions at a couple of thousand dollars per person. Or. . . create your own retreat for next to nothing! That’s what my critique group did. Share the Load One member generously offered her time-share condo for the weekend, another made sure we had enough snacks to keep us going, and two members provided meals. Everyone was responsible for their own…
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Rewrite? You’re Kidding!
You’ve spent hours on your writing project. Spellcheck hasn’t underlined any errors, and you’ve said what you set out to say. Before your teacher even looks at it s/he says to rewrite. What? Why did you put all that time in you wonder? But hear me out. Your teacher has a point. First drafts are rarely ready for prime time. Revising involves more than punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors. You also want to look at sensory details, sentence flow and variability. Sensory Detail You may think you’ve already included all the necessary sensory details. My rule of thumb is to incorporate at least three senses in every scene. In our…
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Critique Partners
Last month I talked briefly about the importance of networking. Today I want to dig a little deeper. Your critique group or partner is probably the basic building block of your writing network. Goldilocks Principle Critique partners are ‘first eyes’ on your work. They become trusted partners in your writing process. So how do you find them? If you’re a student, it can be as easy as tapping a fellow classmate. But be careful. Your goal is to find someone who is unafraid to make suggestions that will improve your work. Like Goldilocks you want to find a partner that is just right. You don’t want your critique partner to…
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Monthly Goal Sheet
In order to be productive, a writer must set goals. I know I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating. In addition to word count and project goals, a writer needs to set revision and submission goals. Think about making a monthly goal sheet. Mine is divided into three categories: creative, business, and networking. Creative What do I include under the creative heading? Weekly flash fictions and blog posts, projects under development, and continuing revision on a Middle Grade manuscript are on this month’s goal sheet. I post it on the bulletin board in plain view then mark through with a green highlighter when I complete a task. At…
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Good writers are consistent
Good writers are consistent. They follow the rules, proofread, and take time to revise. Lack of consistency can fail a beginning writer especially in point of view. Consistent POV Point of view lets the reader know who is telling the story. When your main character is telling the story, the pronouns I, me, and my show first person viewpoint. Third person point of view is when the narrator refers to the main character by name, he, or she. Why is this important? Well, in the revision process it’s important to maintain a point of view, otherwise you confuse your reader. Example: She looked like she was tapping out Morse code on…
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Sensory Detail in Revision
You’ve spent hours on your paper. You’ve checked spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You rearranged sentences to maximize readability and harness sentence flow. The next item on your list is to insert sensory detail to liven up your text. Wordscape The five senses are: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Landscape painters capture the colors, textures, and essence of a particular place. Gourmands combine color, texture, taste, and smell into a fine dining experience. In the same way, great writers use all five senses to create a wordscape. Okay, I just made that word up. My point is, in order to put your reader in the character’s shoes you must use…
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Revising for Sentence Flow
With no sentence flow, Dick and Jane are dull as tofu. But that’s how I learned to read. It’s a wonder I ever developed a passion for it. Most sentences are two to six words long. See Spot. Spot is Dick and Jane’s dog. There’s a limited word list—this is Dick Jane Spot run house— you get the idea. It begged to be read in robotic monotone, and who wants to listen to that? Repetition may help you learn to hit a baseball, but Dick-and-Jane-style repetition just makes you want to throw up! Structure Luckily, I was exposed to other great literature: A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Grimm’s Fairy…
