Over a decade ago, I attended several writing workshops.  I always walked away disappointed and wondering  whether I could have used my time more wisely by spending it writing.

Today, I attended a writing workshop that for the first time brought some clarification to why I have been struggling with my writing  all these years.  

What I learned today is that the scope of my project is ambitious for a first time novelist.  The suggestion from the group was to take it in smaller chunks.  While that would seem obvious to anyone, the obvious becane obfuscated through too much isolated thinking and not enough sharing. 

For years I have been searching on and off for a writing partner. Inherently, I knew I needed someone to bounce ideas around with, to help keep me focused, and to provide the mental support when that inevitable writer’s pause strikes.  My mistake, as Edie Hemingway, today’s instructor, pointed out is not pairing with a writer that shared a similar genre.  No wonder why I cringed when my writing partner handed me a 50 page manuscript of science fiction or 3 pages of esoteric poetry!  I had no interest in reading much less critiquing a first draft manuscript.  It wasn’t my niche.

Another point I found interesting was the show of hands of writers who thought they were structured writers and those who thought they were intuitive writers.  I, of course, stood alone again.  I lean toward left brain, structured approaches to all tasks.   As we each presented our thoughts on a small writing assignment, it was amusing to hear how each one of us interpreted Edie’s assignment. 

Mine was 4 sentences, each about 12 words long.  I thought I misunderstood the assignment at first as I watched others writing away, scribbling furiously on a second page.   Just as too many words is not good, paucity of words is not good either.  My writing lacks that emotional ingredient that stirs up the reader’s passion and loyalty.  I have to learn to share my feelings, otherwise, there will never be a wide audience for my writing.

In any case, I feel motivated again.  This class was just what I needed to jumpstart my 2010 writing goal for the year.  Edie’s workshop breathed O2 into my book.

I wholly recommend Edie’s class, if you are in the area.  She runs workshops from her home in Frederick, MD and teaches classes at Frederick Community College.  http://www.ediehemingway.com/

I love it when I stumble upon a great writing site.  If you are a writer, especially one that is trying to break in the field, this site might get you on track.  Well written, clear and to the point, this site gives you strategies that you can implement immediately. 

17 Reasons Book Manuscripts Are Rejected lets us in on the inside of the editors’ heads as they wade through pages and pages of material.  This site is well organized; each post offered something I hadn’t thought of or am now looking at a topic in a different light.

Don’t forget to bookmark this site, because you will not be able to read all the entries in one sitting.  The title of the blog is Quips and Tips for the Successful Writer

http://theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/freelance-writing/17-reasons-book-manuscripts-are-rejected/

I truly don’t know how anyone gets anything done, if they spend time with all these social media windows open on their computer.  While I see the merits of staying connected, I also know someone’s every move, sharing every feeling with not just one or two seems like too much information. 

And pardon me for being so cynical, but what if some not-so-honest person decides to use the online exchange to help himself to the twit’s belongings because the twit announced that he is driving 40 miles away to  be in a wedding party.  Bingo, the twit just opened his home to thieves.

With Google, you can pop the person’s name and do a search.  You can learn how old the person is, where he works and what’s his position, his college information, how many places the twit has lived.  You can Google his present address and see quite clearly all the locations the individual has lived, how many living there complete with full names.  Google maps can show you the front door, the topography.  Yes, there is very little left for the thieves’ imagination.  And if the person has joined and added a profile on any one of the social media websites, the thief knows much more about his victim than he ever needs to know—thus making his job all the more easy.

Oh and let’s have some computer nerd genius decide that it would be great to develop a software that will track a person’s personal daily time line with behaviors and preferences based on the information in cyberspace.  This would be a thief’s HOW TO book.

The not so nice people could also include rapists, pedaphiles, and scam artists.  There is no telling what other occupations may burgeon from gathering personal information.

While we benefit tremendously from news around the world and personal enrichment from these sites, will the downside outweigh the good?

As social media becomes one of the primary sources for news, will we suffer inaccuracies and purposefully placed lies?

Will politics gain another outlet to galvanize public opinion and perhaps, not in a good way, because there will be no fair and balanced reporting?

Will our children who grew up with technology have another vice that will keep them tethered to hardware and not to people in person?

Will the new generation find themselves even more sedentary because the social media connection is addictive?  Will their health suffer for all the hours on line?

It will be interesting to see how people will use this media.  I doubt this will be a fad, but like everything else human beings need to find a balance.

While most seniors are coasting in the last years of their lives, my mom., Emma-Jean Chu keeps on learning — about herself, technology, and her art.  Now at the age of 80, she has learned how to share her talent with the rest of the world.  I might be biased, but I think she is a damn good artist. 

Take a look at her artwork and let me know what your first impressions are.  http://www.studioej.imagekind.com

If you are new to writing fiction, one of the foundations of writing good fiction is understanding the relationship of how plots are set up.  Many new writers spend hours sifting through books to have this mystery unraveled.  I remember looking for the answer in the 70’s, and I came away more confused as ever.  (I hate to date myself, but there were no Internet resources at the time.) 

Today I read Randy Ingermanson’s blog on Scenes, Sequels and Chapters.  His breakdown and definition were so clear that it was hard not to get an Oprah “lightbulb moment.”   

 This topic generated lots of comments.  Most of them concur that renaming scene/sequel would make the concept easier to understand.  One popular suggestion is action/reaction.

If you are struggling with how to generate the optimum powerful emotional experience (Randy’s term for playing the scene for everything its worth without getting too melodramatic), then as a writer you have to master scene/sequel or whatever you choose to call it.

This is a must read for both the new writer and the seasoned writer: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2009/05/25/scenes-sequels-and-chapters/

Be sure to also check out Randy’s free lesson on How to Create the Perfect Scene.  You won’t regret taking the time to do this, even if you already know how innately. Bringing someone back to the fundamentals enhances powerful writing rather than detracts.

If you thought about it, you could have guessed that the next breakthrough in sharing online is blogging through video.  You don’t have to wait any longer.  You can reach people more personally by video recording what you want to say and uploading it on www.blogtalkradio.com.

You will find that there is someone that wants to talk about almost every topic.  Unlike the written word, seeing the person and watching the mannerisms connects on a deeper level that the written word cannot.

I searched the site for people who spoke on writing.  And voila, there were many people out there sharing their writing insights. 

For busy people, I think reading is faster, but for those who want a deeper connection to personal stories and sage knowledge given, this might be what you have been waiting for.

You can listen to what’s posted or you can start your own talk show.  (How many of us have dreamed of this opportunity, but  never thought we would be lucky enough to reach millions of people.)  Best of all, all this is free.  So, get out your entrepreneur hat.  How can we use this social media outlet to further our writing exposure?  Can we use this on more than one level?

   If you write fiction, everyone tells you rejection is part of the process.  If you were selling a hammer for instance, how is your no name hammer different from the Sears, True Temper, or Stanley model?  What makes yours better?

This is the very same question publishers and agents ask when you submit your novel.  Why this novel and not the next one lying on the slush pile? 

Noah Lukeman is a literary agent in NYC.  He has written a book called The First Five Pages – A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile. 

This is a book for both novices and seasoned writers.  It is about the craft of writing, but unlike Strunk and White’s classic Elements of Style, this book will increase your chances of staying out of the rejection pile.  As a literary agent Lukeman shares with us exactly what agents and publishers look for in a manuscript. 

The First Five Pages covers common manuscript errors, gives solid advice on what attracts agents and editors, and provides writers with the tools to take their craft to the next level. 

The topics range from listening to how a writer puts words together to creating effective dialogue, to designing a more holistic picture of getting all the other elements working together (viewpoint, narration, characterization, hooks, tone, focus, setting and pacing).

What I like about this book is that it is more than just a text defining what constitutes good story telling.  Lukeman isolates the problem, illustrates and defines the writing technique and offers a better solution.  He adds exercises at the end of each section to help the writer identify weaknesses.

Yes, I am guilty of breezing through exercises without doing them.  However, Lukeman’s suggestions were different.  He didn’t burden you with “assignments”.  He asks you to take the work you have already created and examine it from a different perspective. 

Lukeman’s writing style is easy and conversational.  He talks to us in the lowest common denominator, which really helps if you are reading this past midnight.

Perhaps, my only real criticism may not be with the content as much as the publisher. All his excerpts were difficult to read because of the size of the type.  Passages looked as if they are in 8 pt., New Times Roman, italic.  Anyone in the business knows that comfortable reading is  10 pt. or higher.

This book gets a thumbs up from me for its content and usefulness.  Noah Lukeman may not have all the answers to keep your first novel from being rejected, but if you practice what he outlines in his book, your work will surely show promise.

I really don’t know how I connected with this well designed and well written site for writers, but I am glad I did.

Camy Tang, www.camytang.com, is a Christian romance writer, focusing on Asian American characters.   She describes her genre:

Nosy relatives, sibling rivalry, and parental angst are the same whatever your ethnic background, and I hope my stories give people a fun taste of Asian American culture.

Although I have not yet read her work, I have read her articles on writing.  If she writes anywhere near her understanding of the mechanics of novel writing, she will no doubt receive due recognition.

I encourage you to read her articles.  They are succinct and supported with great examples.  Her writing is easily digested and punctuated with humor. 

These articles serve not only the novice fiction writer, but the mid-list writer.  If you read Camy’s suggestions, and are able to dissect and analyze your own pieces with a modicum of objectivity, you might find the answer to pushing your writing efforts out of the midlist.

Marketing, perseverence, discipline and talent are the essentials to boost sales.  Read Camy Tang and let me know what you think.

www.camytang.com

If you don’t know who Sy Safransky is, don’t feel bad. I didn’t either until a few months ago. As a gift, my husband, always encouraging me to find my path, bought me a subscription to a literary magazine called The Sun.

Sy Safransky is the editor and publisher. Although I am not familiar with the details about how The Sun came to be, I understand that Safransky’s vision was to publish a magazine that mirrors our concerns of the present, without advertising I might add. As a magazine, it is a work of art.

The content is creative, inspirational, and sometimes raw with emotion. Some contributors make you chuckle, as they tell the story of what they hold as truth. Some pull at our heartstrings because injustice runs rampant. And some are just great stories. All are well written and teases the intellectual in all of us. Whether it is fiction or non-fiction, we walk away touched by the thought that life represents both black and white elements.

We recognize the human element as reflections of our own lives. The overarching pain and joy resonates in all of us and therefore makes each of these entries powerful.

One can’t help but notice how poignant the black and white photographs are. Each reveals a story, a hidden truth that we must ferret out. The discovery is refreshing and is a tonic for the soul.