A Book is Born!

At our recent writing event, I had a great time observing our attendees as they plunged right into a writing activity that was presented before them.  Before the event I had gathered miscellaneous items from my home to create various centerpieces for the tables at the event. At our previous writing conference in November, we had learned about story structure and how there has to be characters (protagonist and antagonist) and a setting as well as a goal to be achieved through various pivot points in the story.   So I created scenes that could provide at least one character in the story and a possible setting. Each table then had to work together to come up with a story outline within a half an hour.  

Writers are amazing!  With four or five trinkets and a little bit of time, book ideas were born!  It was so fun for me to wander around the room as they were doing this activity and listen to the brainstorming that was going on. "There are three children in the picture. Who are they? What does this lantern represent?"  Another table wondered, "Whose shoe does this puppy have?" "There is a symbol on the holster that has all the suits from a deck of cards, yet on the cowboy belt, there is a praying cowboy. How are the two related?"

At the end of the half hour, they were asked to share their stories.  Some brought their centerpieces with them and explained how they came up with the story outline. They were energetic as if practicing their elevator speech for their future book! In fact, one woman who had attended our last event actually took the outline her group made that day and is turning it into a work of fiction!

I have just recently started dabbling in fiction. I don't feel very creative when it comes to "What if" scenarios. These writers made it look so easy to come up with an outline!  I wondered why I haven't done this activity for myself at home to get the ideas rolling. You can bet I will be doing it in the future!

Get creative and write on!

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An Amazing Event!

It has been a week since the Idaho Creative Authors Network hosted the Spring Writers' Symposium and I am still trying to absorb all that I learned and observed.  We had the privilege of having some great speakers!

Joanna Tucker shared a wealth of information in regards to editing. She taught us everything from misplaced modifiers to what could get you in trouble legally in our writing, especially when it comes to writing nonfiction.  We were thankful to have her on the panel at the end of the day as many of the questions were in regards to editing.  

Lance Thompson gave us some great lessons on how to show not tell in your writing.   He gave an analogy of using a camera and zooming in on the action. You want to take the reader right there. Don't tell the reader what is happening, show them! Let them experience it with you! I am anxious to try to do this myself as I start writing fiction.   It was also discussed that this is an awesome way to write nonfiction as well!

The main theme of our day was networking.  Speaker, Pamela Thompson, used perfect personal illustrations to explain what networking looked like. I appreciated Pamela's transparency in revealing how shy she is and that networking used to be a real struggle for her. I am an introvert by nature and have to really push myself to meet new people.   She shared tips on how to remember a person's name but also how to recover if you have forgotten a name.  After supplying us with the tools to network, she then gave us an opportunity to put it into action. We  had to find someone in the room that we did not know well and find out information about each other. Then we had to bring our partner to the front of the room and introduce our new friend to Pamela.

Each of these speakers stretched us and brought much insight into the world of writing!  We continued our theme through the lunch hour as Carol Green facilitated the network lunch by revealing the talents that were in the room: book coaches, illustrators, freelancers, editors, etc. With labels on the tables and a host at each one, people were then able to fix their plate from our beautifully catered lunch table (hosted by the talented Laura) and sit at whichever table they wanted to know more information about.  We used every minute of the day to gather tools for our writing toolbox!

We gave the attendees opportunities to exercise and share their writing talents through a story outline activity in the morning. Everyone was so amazing with the stories they came up with and all within a half an hour!  I am always blown away by the courage and boldness new authors have in getting up and sharing their stories.  It was also fun to have some seasoned authors/writers in our midst to help encourage those who are new to this journey!

Towards the end of the day we had a panel discussion, facilitated by Sheila Eismann. Questions were taken from the attendees and answered by our I CAN team and special speakers.  It was amazing to see the talents that were combined to make this whole event work.  We needed each person that was there to make our team complete.

To finish the day off, Phyllis Vavold led the awards ceremony for the writing contest.   She handed out certificates, formal critiques, and a gift to the winners. It is thrilling for us to see the winners so excited to be rewarded for their hard work and achievements.

Now that the spring event is over, we are looking forward to planning the 2nd Annual Treasure Valley Writers' Fest which is our November event!  There is always something new to learn!

Keep writing!

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Lesson Learned!

As the old saying goes, “You learn something new every day”. That is so true. Some days we have to look a bit harder than others, but I am always happy when I have learned a new tidbit of information.  Let me share with you what I learned today:  don’t try a new hairstyle 30 minutes before you have to be somewhere.  

Recently I shared some videos on facebook that demonstrated fun hairstyles for long hair.   I tend to wear my hair in the same four styles: partially up in a barrette, in a French braid, in a braided ponytail, or in a bun on the run. So when I see a video with fresh styles I Pin It or share it or save it to my picture files.   Apparently, I have never tried any of these examples before. 

My husband texted me today and asked me to meet him in town for coffee. I had been doing errands  and had a wrinkled t-shirt on and my hair up in a bun on the run.   I didn’t want to meet my husband looking like that so I put on a nice shirt and thought to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be fun to try one of those new styles we watched on the videos this week?”  “Yes, Self, let’s!”

I’m not sure I will take Self’s advice next time.   Apparently, these videos that show the examples being done on someone with long, sleek, shiny hair are not supposed to be done on people who have long, naturally curly, mind-of-its-own hair. There should really be a disclaimer on this.

I go to the mirror and pull back my first section of hair that is usually in the barrette. The barrette doesn’t normally give me any problems; I slide it across the section and latch it. Done.  Obviously, I have not ever tried to put a section of long hair into a ponytail holder. I pulled it through once. No problem. I twist it and pull it through again, catching some of the extra dangling hair.  With a bit of pain, I pulled it through. I flipped that section over my head, hoping it would not catch like that again, but this time it caught on its own self. More tugging and adjusting was needed.  Finally, that FIRST part was done.  Now I had to pull back another section…and go through the same process.  Same results. But I’m over half way done and not giving up now.  Whew! Okay, done with that part. 

Next, I had to push the bottom ponytail over the top and through the top ponytail. I put my fingers through an opening trying to grab the whole section of hair and pulled it half way through. I’m in trouble. I painfully get it through. I find a mirror and look at my….not so much of a masterpiece that definitely doesn’t look like the picture. I can’t go like this! 

It is now five minutes away from the time that I was supposed to meet my husband who is sitting and waiting for me in a restaurant 20 minutes away.   I painfully pull the ponytail back through and begin the task of trying to take the elastic bands out of my rat’s nest. Pulling and tugging strand by strand, trying to unwind 2 ½ feet of hair from the bands had me looking in the mirror and laughing.  “What am I going to do?” I actually asked Self out loud, but was not willing to take Self’s advice when she said, “You’ll have to cut it.”    I couldn’t cut the bands out without getting a good chunk of hair with it. 

 I left the first and started on the second one thinking it would come out easier. Yeah…not sure why I thought that.  It didn’t .  I just grabbed each band and started tugging and tugging, clumps of hair falling to the floor.

FINALLY! They were off my head. I prayed I could get a brush through it. Painfully, I did. I tossed my hair into a full ponytail and braided it and out the door I ran. I was 15 minutes late to my very important date but walked in refreshed enough to visit. I let my secret out when I got home.

Lesson learned!

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