Learning Ever After by Stacy Hoff

My debut romance novel, DESIRE IN THE EVERGLADES, went “live” on Amazon on Wednesday. Seeing my book’s cover by the iconic pictures of a shopping cart and smiling mouth was a fantasy come true.

Mostly.

I had always assumed that once I became a published author, I would be perfect at the craft of writing. Flawless. Unparalleled. Ready to teach at the graduate university level. After all, since I’d be part of the writing elite, why guild the lily by bothering to learn more?

Because I do need to learn more—lots more.

Look, I love my book, but only the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God, can truly be perfect. A mere mortal myself (and a flawed one at that), all I can do with perfection is aim for it. And the only way to do that is to take more classes.

I find the classes that help me most are the ones aimed towards authors, not academics. Looking at writing from an academic eye is not the pragmatic guidance I’m looking for. I don’t want to merely analyze someone else’s work, I want to know how to better work on my own stories.

This is why I recently attended a full weekend-long workshop taught by New York Times bestselling author Cherry Adair. The course was sponsored by my writing group, CTRWA. For two days, eight hours a day, Cherry taught us practical ways of plotting, making our characters three-dimensional, creating effective dialogue, and how to stop a sagging middle from sinking our manuscript. My right hand was flying across the notepad as I tried to capture all her comments. For those I missed, or failed to master, she’s got a writer’s bible on-line that I’m buying (you can find “Cherry Adairs’ Writers’ Bible” on-line, if you’re curious). Because learning doesn’t stop when we type “the end.”

If it does, it might be “the end” of our career.

My thanks to CTRWA, and Cherry Adair, for holding this wonderful workshop. What classes have you taken that make you better at what you do?

Find Stacy on Social Media:

www.facebook.com/authorStacyHoff Twitter: twitter.com/authorStacyHoff   Web: http://www.stacyhoff.com

Desire in the Everglades available now. http://www.amazon.com/Desire-Everglades-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00NFSMCYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410289138&sr=8-1&keywords=desire+in+the+everglades

 

Filed under: Characters, Emotions, Plot, Stacy Hoff, Writer Workshops, Writer's Life, Writing, Writing Topics