The Benefits of Writing Classes by Marian Lanouette

 

First, Happy Birthday to my nephew Louis, I hope you’re having a wonderful day! Love ya!

What I’m reading this week—Frozen Heat by Richard Castle.

This week I want to ask you if you’ve taken writing classes or seminar and which ones you felt you benefited from the most.

No matter what you chose to be in life, you needed to study or train for it to succeed. Writing is the same as any other profession, but more fun. Your skill set will set you apart from the crowd.

Me, I could have been a professional student. Learning and experiencing new things brings me such joy. So it seemed natural when I decided to take my writing seriously I’d research the field thoroughly, to see what it would take to be published.

I put grammar classes at the top of my list. Thinking that would do the trick, I signed up for all the free grammar courses or websites I could find. Yes, it was a great beginning but not nearly enough. With all those classes and advice under my belt I started to submit my work. Well, rejection after rejection (form letters) told me nothing. It couldn’t possibly be this Brooklyn Girl’s grammar or speech pattern. Could it?

No feedback meant the problem couldn’t be fixed. How do you target a problem when you don’t know what it is?

I continued my research and found organizations that brought like minds together. Organizations like Sisters in Crime (NE) and Romance Writers of America (CT); and online writing communities like Savvyauthors.com is another source to check out. These are phenomenal organizations that work to improve the skill set of mystery and romance writers alike. I suggest you look into them.

Finally, I got a rejection letter with some information. A kind editor pointed out where I needed help. You can bet the house on it, I ran out and took all the classes I could find on POV (point of view).  And voila! I’d like to think a great readable novel was created. Make no mistake. I still rely on editors. As a writer the story unravels so fast, what you thought andwhat  hits the paper might leave a few gaps. A good editor is worth their weight in gold, in my opinion.

Did I stop there? Oh no. I started attending seminars, conferences and became an online course junkie.

Here are some of my favorites: If you ever have the opportunity to take Deep Story with Carol Hughes, don’t hesitate, sign up first. How to write multi-novels in a year  by Kerri Nelson is also great. Here are some more; Revising by Sylvie Kurtz, Pitching on Savvyauthor.com, Edit-Palozza to name a few.  I’ve taken so many which are too numerous to mention here but I really want to hear what your favorite craft class was.

Remember, creativity comes from the heart, the mind and the soul!

 

Author bio: Marian’s debut novel hit the shelves on September 7th. She’s currently working on the third novel in series.

http://www.marianl.com

http://www.marian-l.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/#!/marian.lanouette

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorMarian

http://www.amazon.com/Fail-Carring ton-Mystery-Series-ebook/dp/B0095GCVX4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348799881&sr=8-1&keywords=if+i+fail Buy links:

Watch the book trailer click here: http://youtu.be/MlTDOdydRsI

 

Filed under: romance