A few weeks ago I attended the American Fork Writers conference. It was fantastic. It was a smaller scaled conference from others that I've gone to in the past, but the information given was still just as pertinent and helpful as all the others. Plus you just couldn't beat the price - $29. Guest authors included Ginger Churchill, Ally (Allison) Condie, Eric James Stone, Shannon Guymon, Natalie Whipple, Sara Larson, Linda Jefferies, and Caleb Warnock. Visiting Editors included Derk Koldewyn of Deseret Book, and Greg Finn of Granite Publishing.
The following is the first installment of what I learned from the various Keynote Speakers:
Ginger Churchill
- 3 Things That I Wish I Knew Before Becoming A Writer
- 1) How to Write
- It is important to learn the ins and outs of writing. Attend classes if necessary and make sure to attend as many conferences as you can so that you can learn from other writers.
- It is okay to admit that you are a writer. There is no shame in using your creative abilities to create stories. Be proud of who you are and what you are attempting to do/become.
- 2) How to Take a Critique
There are two types of critiques
- 1) The Cheerleader
The cheerleader only focuses on the positives and tells you how wonderful you are. Though it is nice to hear cheerleading critiquing it is almost impossible to find out how to improve your work through it.
- 2) Slasher/Helper
The Slasher/Helper is often harder to hear as it will feel harsh, but take a moment to step back from the writer role and look at their critique from an evaluators role and you should be able to see which of their feedback might help improve the story and which of their feedback you can choose to disregard.
- No matter whether you received the Cheerleader or the Slasher/Helper critique maker sure to thank them for taking the time to look at your work and provide feedback.
- While they are providing the feedback do not defend your work if you disagree with them. Consider having someone else critique your work and if they come back with the same feedback then you need to step back and admit that there may be a problem with that part of the story.
- 3) Writing is a Team Effort
- - It's not all about you. When you write you have to make it not about you, but about your readers and what they think, see, and hear when they read your story.
- - You get out what you put in. So if you want to be published you need to work at being consistent with your efforts to write.
I really enjoyed listening to Ginger speak and am looking forward to checking out some of the picture books she has written for my kids. Keep checking the NedaraTree regularly for the next installment of what I learned from author Ally (Allison) Condie who has written YA Novels for the National as well as LDS markets. Hope you have an awesome day and don't forget...Have faith in what you are doing? You deserve to live the dream and to write the dream.
