Writing Workshops

 

   

I've talked a lot about the benefit of local writers groups--I learn so much more from being in the room than "just" whatever that day's program is about. But not all writers groups are local; there's value in distance groups too.

My MFA was low-res, which meant all the students and faculty got together for ten very intense days twice a year. But during the semesters, I submitted a packet of work (newly written or revised fiction + annotations on whatever I was reading) to my mentor every month. Then we'd meet via Zoom to go over their feedback on my work.

I'm also in several Discord writers groups--those can be great.

But my favorite non-local writing group is a group of 8-12 grads from my MFA program--some from my cohort and others from before or after I graduated. We spend a week together every summer doing intense workshopping. There are lots of ways to structure a group like this. 

For my currently nameless group, we all submit 50 pages of fiction (stories, novellas, portions of novels, screenplays) to the group in April. Optionally, you can also submit an entire novel. We all read each participant's 50 pages. If you submit an entire novel, you also read two other participants' novels. Then we rent a house and meet for a week in June--last year, we were in Portland, Oregon--and intensely workshop the writing we've submitted. Every morning, we workshop two people's 50-page submissions. In the afternoons, we break off into smaller novel workshops or present seminars for each other. Submitting to various short-story markets. World building. Character development. Querying. Building horror. Increasing tension. Whatever someone's become fascinated with over the past year. I cannot recommend a group like this enough, if you find writers whose work you respect and whose company you enjoy--and they feel the same about you. Especially if they're also good cooks!

 

 

 

I cannot say enough about the importance of local writers groups. I belong to both Sisters in Crime and the St. Louis Writers Guild, and both are invaluable. But I've learned more about the business of writing from Missouri Romance Writers of America than I have learned anywhere else--everywhere else combined. 

I don't write genre romance, though I love to read it, and I admire the craft. I try to work strong romance subplots into all my novels. But the romance writers let me hang out with them anyway. And my local group has a ton of incredible authors who are also very savvy business people.

A few weeks ago, MORWA and the St. Louis Public Library co-hosted a free mini-conference (Fiction Writing Workshop) at the gorgeous SLPL Central Branch downtown. The weather was dark and stormy, very autumnal, while the atmospheric interior of the library was warmly haunted by romance and crime writers. Sisters in Crime hosted a cozy mystery panel. I also attended seminars by Jeannie Lin ("Write Page-Turning Fiction with Action and Love Scenes") and Shawntelle Madison ("Unlocking Emotion to Strengthen Story" and "Romancing the Beat with LaVyrle Spencer"). And that's just a fraction of the sessions that were available.

Seriously, if you write, want to write, or struggle with writing, look into local writing groups!

Happy 60th, Gateway Arch!

Today is the 60th anniversary of the completion of St. Louis's Gateway Arch! If you're nearby, you can come visit--the government is closed, but the National Park is back open. (I hope all the rangers and employees get paid.) But if you're not local, or if you'd rather not venture out on this cool, misty autumn day ...  

Check out this fun crime anthology set in St. Louis! All the stories at least mention the Arch. I'm in this one, as are several Sisters in Crime and a couple of my weekly critique partners.

Yeet Me in St. Louis from White City Press

2025 Update

 I decided to address my reader's (and writer's) block during the pandemic by going back to school! While my kids were still learning from home, I joined them and started Stonecoast's low-residency MFA program. I loved that experience so much and managed to keep up with my regular writing pace in addition to the reading and writing I did for the program. I graduated in 2023, added adjunct writing instructor to my resumé, and am still writing.

Since the novel that got me my first agent, I've completed two other novels and am in the middle of a third. Obviously, I'm very excited by the project I'm working on at the moment: Ali Hazelwood meets a modern-day Lessons in Chemistry with a murder-mystery twist. I'm having a blast with this one and have enjoyed learning a lot of physics!

Meanwhile, I'm back in the query trenches looking for a new agent for the aforementioned two complete manuscripts. I'm still meeting with my weekly critique group and have added week-long annual destination workshop events with some of my former Stonecoast classmates. Every spring, we send each other what we've been working on over the past year. Then in June, we rent a house for a week and meet up for some intense workshopping of each others' novels/novellas/scripts/projects. We also put together PowerPoint presentations to share with the group: submissions to various short-story markets, how to query your completed novel, building dread, worldbuilding, etc. And of course I'm still active in local writers' groups. I can't overstate the significance of building a community of writers for yourself (as a writer).

And now it's time to close the browser window and hop back into the short story I'm writing for an anthology. 

(I'm 53 books into my 2025 reading year. Reddit is still a problem, but I'm doing okay.)

Reader’s Block

 Let’s skip over the fact that I’ve failed to blog for nearly two years. Lots has happened! I started grad school. Switched to a very, very cool program. (I’m working on my MFA in Creative Writing at Stonecoast and am currently studying epistolary fiction and non-traditional novel forms.)

I’m currently 14 books into my 2022 reading year, and it’s going great so far. But my phone (Reddit) has been a huge distraction to prolonged focus. This issue started in the early days of the pandemic and hasn’t lessened. I have to choose my books carefully, and if I reach too hard for a “should read” book, I play game after game on my phone instead. (See, for example, <i>An American Marriage </i>. It’s good! But I know the read is going to hurt, which makes it hard for me to keep going.) 

Apparently, David Markson wrote a novel called </i> Reader’s Block</i>. I haven’t read it. But that title! Resonance. I’m adding the book to my thesis reading list for next semester. 

Hunger Games Birthday Party

I don't think of myself as creative.  I think of myself more as a reteller or a modify-er or an adapter than a creator of original content.  I'm not sure what it means to be original, exactly.  I write novels.  But, is any story truly original?  For Mother-Son Glow Night at the elementary school, my son and I wore all black instead of neon on all white.  We took bright tape and made ourselves into colorful stick figures--love those black lights.  But, maybe I saw a picture of something like that somewhere?  And, I throw birthday parties.  Before kids, Paul and I threw themed parties for holidays and Harry Potter book/movies launches.  These days, it's mostly kid parties.  We've hosted The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Peter Pan/Tinker Bell, Super Mario, How to Train Your Dragon, firefighter, My Little Pony, Alton Brown's Good Eats (okay, that was creative), Angelina Ballerina, Sing, Warrior Cats, and Harry Potter.

This January, we recreated The Hunger Games as a 13th birthday party.

When guests arrived, they wrote their names on slips of paper and dropped those into a glass bowl for the reaping. They each chose a district and decorated a jumpsuit based their district's specialization.  The kids got really creative!  They modeled their attire, and the most creative uniform earned its creator a prize.

The next activity was makeup.  Tributes made up themselves or each other, and they could stencil on tattoos, do a beauty makeup, or practice their camouflaging skills.  Another judging, another prize. (The prizes were framed posters of quotes from the books.)

Now that they were all made-up and costumed, they had one-on-one interviews with Caesar Flickerman.  This activity was a version of the cannot-tell-a-lie/don't smile game.  Caesar shared with the audience one ridiculous thing about each tribute, and the tribute had to pretend it was true and elaborate on their supposed skill--without cracking up.  This was hilarious.  The winner (a girl who apparently chews others' fingernails when nervous) won a prize.

Enough stalling.  Time for the arena!  Decked out in their clothes-protecting coveralls, tributes entered the arena (about an acre and a half encompassing our yard and the yards of our two closest neighbors).  They were each armed with colored chalk powder (think Holi or a color run).  A pile of silver bags lay in the middle of the driveway at the start--the cornucopia.  Silver bags containing additional weaponry (liquid/powdered chalks and squirt bottles/guns), water bottles, and beef jerky lay scattered around the arena.  Every 15 minutes or so marked a new day, and if contestants went two days without finding food or water, they died.  Dead tributes--lost to hunger or battle--could reenter the arena as "mutts."  The contest lasted about 6 days.

Afterwards, cold kids warmed up with hot chocolate inside, and we moved on to the Victor's Feast.  In addition to cake and ice cream, attendees enjoyed capital stew with wild rice, "Peeta" bread, Prim's goat cheese, and nightlock berries (blueberries and blackberries).  In the center of the table was a tiny, glass goblet containing an emesis inducer. (It was just vinegar, and the kids enjoyed daring each other to try it.)

Once full, they moved on to "tributes for the Capital," or gifts for the birthday girl.  As they left, guests took silver "sponsor gifts" home with them.  These were the party favors and contained soup, bread from Mellark bakery, burn ointment, bandages, tracker-jacker repellent, and tracker-jacker antidote.  They also got a photo taken immediately after The Hunger Games, when they were muddy, cold, and covered in colored chalk.

We had a blast!

Writing from Hobby to Career--Part 2

I've always wanted to be a writer.  When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor.  (And I was already writing stories.)  By the time I was a teenager, I wanted to be a doctor-writer.  I read my mom's copy of Prince of Tides and imagined my days as both a psychiatrist and an author.  I went away to college (full pre-med track but also an English Lit major) and saved all my science textbooks and notes for future use in fiction.

Fortunately, I realized that "it sounds fun and also might make for good stories" wasn't good enough reason to go to medical school.  (If it were free, I'd totally still go.  Medical school still sounds fun to me! But I still don't want to actually work as a doctor.)

I want to work as a writer.  So, here's how I took my writing from hobby status to career status.

Hobby status.  I wrote novels (4+ of them), short stories, and essays.  I blogged daily.  I threw myself into NaNoWriMo.  I drafted in a cafe while my daughter was at preschool.  I participated in a critique group.  I read a lot.  I followed industry blogs and websites.  I took classes on campus and online.  I joined a writing group and attended a convention.  Pretty serious hobby, right?

Career status.  I got more serious about all of the above.  I wrote three more novels, each time identifying my weakest tendencies and attacking them.  I don't like hurting my precious characters?  Fine.  Next novel has DEAD CHILDREN in the backstory.  My close-third-person perspective isn't close enough?  Fine.  Next novel is first person, present tense.  My pacing is soggy?  Fine.  I'll outline a novel I love and map my own outline/character/story to the pacing of the published novel I like.  I began writing year 'round, not just when it fit into my schedule.  I threw myself into a weekly critique group then joined a monthly critique group on top of that.  I submitted work to contests and first page reads for feedback.  I had headshots taken and a website developed.  I became more thoughtful and intentional in my social media presence.  I joined a second writing organization (and a goaltenders group and a writing accountability group).  I started querying my critiqued manuscripts to agents.

But the biggest switch was mental.  I stopped thinking of writing as a "some day" activity.  I stopped putting everything else in my life first.  I stopped apologizing for the time and money I spend on writing.  I started acting like writing was my job.  "I won't be here when you get home from school, because I'll be with my writing group.  Let yourself in and text me--I'll be home soon."  "No, I'm sorry, I can't volunteer in the school library on Tuesday afternoons--I'm in critique group then."  I began thinking of myself as a writer.

And you know what?  I am a writer.  I have many career goals I have yet to achieve, but I'm doing the work I can do to achieve them.  My writing is far better than it was ten years ago, but hopefully nowhere near as good as it will be ten year from now.

In the meantime, as they say, "Writers write."