RWA-Women's Fiction Inaugural Workshop

I am thrilled to announce the inaugural workshop for the RWA-Women's Fiction Chapter. Direct Your Book! Theatrical Techniques to a Blockbuster Novel by Leanna Renee Hieber. And although RWA-Women's Fiction would love to have YOU as a member, you need not be a member to participate in this fabulous workshop!

Best selling, award winning, multi-published author Leanna Renee Hieber will teach her unique hybrid approach in writing novels. Leanna uses this remarkable theatrical background to crack open a whole new way to think about your fiction. She utilizes techniques inherent to actors, directors and other theatre professionals in the creation and telling of stories and teaches you to use these techniques to bolster story structure and characterization. As an author, think about what it takes to step into the role of actor, director, cinematographer, etc. and feel the lightbulbs go off as you troubleshoot your way towards an engaging, character-rich, one-of-a-kind hit novel.

I am very excited to participate in this workshop because one of the gifts of writing is that as a writer I have always something to learn. Writers are life-long learners. Each time we sit at the keyboard we discover something new about our story, whether it be a plot twist or a character quirk there is always something unexpected popping onto the screen of our computers.

There is also the craft and business of writing. I know from a cursory glance over my past books that my knowledge of craft has changed over the years. This knowledge is often hardwon and sometimes self taught. The result of trial and error, rewrite after rewrite, constant critique and a keen editorial eye that grows more astute with each word written. However as a life long learner I am always looking for ways to facilitate the next step in my writing whether it be deeper characterization, stronger POV or a tighter plot. And, in part, this is the brilliance of RWA-WF. We, as a group, are able to participate in workshops, critiques (soon), meetings, and panels to help us learn our craft and the business of writing.

I hope you will join me March 26, 27, 28 & 29 as Leanna teaches her workshop Direct Your Book! Theatrical Techniques to a Blockbuster Novel. This workshop is sure to bring many insights to all writers of all levels.

The final day to register is March 20th and EVERYONE is welcome. You need not be a member of RWA or RWA-WF to participate in this fabulous workshop. The price of the workshop is $20 for RWA-WF members and $25 for all non-members. Details on how to register are at the bottom of the article here.

The workshop will be a yahoo loop. You will be notified with an invitation to join the loop prior to the workshop date. RWA-WF reserves the right to cancel this workshop should fewer than 20 participants sign up for this workshop. Upon a cancellation of this workshop by RWA-WF all registered participants will receive a full refund. Please contact Maggie Marr at maggiemarr AT mac DOT net for more information.

You need to post!

How is it Tuesday already and I haven't posted since last Wednesday? I'm not sure.

I could blame it on the kids. I could blame it on my dear friend Ally and her challenge to me that I write 2k a day for 25 days. I could blame it on the impending arrival of my Mom and MIL. I could even blame it on my self imposed deadline to finish this draft of The Billionaire's Proud Mistress and the newest screenplay by the end of March. But while I'd like to blame my lackadaisical blog writing on any or all of those things...I simply can't.

I mean take for example my agent: Kristin Nelson. She works nearly as hard as I do (please know I write that with a grin and wink there are very few people that work harder than Kristin and I'm certainly not one) and she manages to post daily on her very famous, very witty, and very informative blog Pub Rants.

For goodness sake if Kristin can post daily, why can't I?

Hmm. Good question. So along with every other quest I seem to be on this year... (write more, complain less...exercise more, eat less...go out more, stay at home less...I see a theme emerging) I am going to attempt a minimum of three posts a week.

Three.

There. I've written it. Now back to that word challenge....

xomm

I Just Can't Choose

A bounty of riches! The women of the GCC (Girlfriend's Cyber Circuit) just keep cranking out the successes! The latest is Megan Crane aka Caitlin Crews. Megan/Caitlin has not one but two books out this week. And she offered up both to her fellow GCC'ers stating we could pick which book to highlight. But I'm just not good at choices...onion rings or fries? I'll have both. Red wine or white...a glass of each. Chocolate or...well chocolate...okay that one is easy. So I've decided to mention both books.

The first book is Pure Princess Bartered Bride a classic romance that she's just written for the Harlequin Presents Line under her nom de plume Caitlin Crews.

Check out the cover:



and the second book is Everyone Else's Girl:



Amazing really, two books publishing in the same week! Megan stopped by to answer some questions:

Which comes easier for you - beginnings or endings?

Definitely beginnings. I like to launch myself into the beginning and write until I hit a wall, then go back and figure out what I'm doing.

Favorite thing about being a writer?

I get to make up stories in my head, and then tell them, and make my living that way. It’s more than a dream come true. And I don’t, in fact, need algebra, as I told my math teacher in high school long ago!


Least favorite thing about being a writer?

The blank page is usually filled with all my doubts and fears, and that’s not a whole lot of fun to sift through to get to the words I need to write. And you can never really take a vacation, because the work is always in your head. And I become a little bit of a crazy person as a deadline approaches. But I wouldn’t give any of it up.


What is one thing you’ve learned about the publishing industry since getting your first book deal?

There is writing, and then there is publishing, and there is only one part of that I can control: the writing.


What is your advice for those who looking to get their novel published?

Just write. No one can tell your story the way you can, and no one will get to read it until you write it.


What's your favorite food?

Chocolate. Seriously. I'm a complete addict. I like it dark, rich, and life-altering.

Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice?

I am pretty sure my extremely fat and ill-behaved cats feel that they are both muses and charms; they are not. I don't really have either, I don't think. I have written all my books (I'm on number 15!) on the same desk, which I'm a little superstitious about it these days. It's currently located in the office I share with my husband, overlooking a pretty sweep of trees and mountains and the Hollywood sign here in Los Angeles. It's filled with books and pictures, and somehow, helps the words come.


How many drafts until the final draft?

I am one of those desperately linear writers, who can't go forward if I know what's behind me is a big mess. So I usually write the day's words, then set it aside to pick up and read the next morning. I revise it before starting the next day's writing. So when I have a full draft, it's usually pretty tight, and then I go over that at least once or twice. So... three?


What's your writing process/writing environment like?

I'm pretty fierce about my daily word quotas, which are really the only way I can write as much as I do. (I wrote five books last year and will write at least four this year.) I usually write 2,000 words a day--although at a certain point last fall I had to write 3000 a day to hit a particular deadline, and I found that dizzyingly difficult. The internet is my greatest time-waster. I'm starting to use Mac Freedom to turn it off for stretches here and there, because I can't be trusted--and I will often look up to see that hours have passed and there I am reading Jezebel and hitting refresh on Twitter... Not good.


What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten about writing?

Just do it. Just write. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.


What's next for you?

I am currently working on my fifteenth novel, a romance, which should be out sometime next year!


Excellent job Megan! Now go buy one, or better yet, both of her books!

A Challenge

There is nothing like a challenge to get me revved up. And this week I've got two challenges that actually work together.

So a good friend of mine has challenged me to write 2,000 words a day for 25 days.

I'm in. All in. Except for Sundays, even God took off Sundays (or Saturdays depending on which ecclesiastical historian you believe.)

Luckily for me, this challenge also coincides with the LARA (Los Angeles Romance Writers of America) SPEW (Stop Procrastinating Everyone Write) challenge.

Now, for my needs, I am modifying the challenge...a bit. My latest Work In Progress demands a little different approach. Usually I write an entire first draft, just spew it onto the page and then go back and rewrite. But with this project I've found my process is more akin to Lois Lowry's process. I am actually editing as I go along. So some days I get 2,000 or even 3,000 words down and some days I may get 5 - 10 pages edited with actually very few new words. So to accomodate this process I am setting my goals as follows:

For the next 25 days (except Sundays) I will either write 2,000 words a day or I will write for 4 hours a day.

This new goal also accommodates my screenwriting needs. Because we have a NEW screenplay that we are working on. Right now the writing partner is taking his pass but when he emails it to me...well it's my turn. And word count? Just doesn't work the same way with screenplays. Screenplays, once you have the scenes worked out (and believe me with a 19 page single-spaced outline we have the scenes worked out) are more like a constant editing process.

So who's with me?! Any writers out there who need to jumpstart their latest WIP? Set a fire under their tushy?

Let's go, go, go!

xoMaggie

Sins of the Mother

Great news for the GCC all week long! Do you remember Orange Mint and Honey, the fabulous book by Carleen Brice? This Sunday, 8 pm eastern time, Orange Mint and Honey premieres on Lifetime Movie Network as Sins of The Mother! That's right, Carleen's book is now a TV movie!



Sins of the Mother is getting great reviews:

“…With great acting all around, including Mimi Rogers as Nona’s sponsor, this adaptation of Carleen Brice’s novel, Orange Mint and Honey is one dramatic powerhouse of a TV movie. It’d be a sin to miss it!“—NATIONAL ENQUIRER, Best Bets on TV

"As a reformed alcoholic mother trying to reconnect with her tightly wound, emotionally stunted daughter, Jill Scott (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) delivers a performance that makes you forget you knew her as a singer first." — ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“The magnificent Jill Scott shines as a former mess of a mother struggling to make amends to the daughter she abused…“—TV GUIDE, Hot List

So please tune in to Lifetime Movie Network on Sunday, February 21st at 8 pm Eastern Time.